Final Report Summary - SHERACA PLUS (Shaping Egypt’s association to the European Research Area and Cooperation Action Plus)
Executive Summary:
Executive Summary
In continuity of attained objectives of the ShERACA Project (First BILAT), ShERACA Plus commenced as a 2nd phase that aims at supporting the policy dialogue, outlining and participating in the implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation between the European Union and Egypt, while drawing on the success stories and the lessons learned from ShERACA project on a micro level.
These objectives were carried out in synergy with the regional and bilateral actions currently running; mainly INCO-NET Mediterranean MedSpring, ERA-NET Med, ERA-Wide and R2I-ENP projects in addition to the RDI Programme and through the 5 WP, which were carefully designed to back-up each other to be able to mitigate identified challenges in the STI Cooperation between EU and EGYPT. Also the connection and collaboration between the consortium members of ShERACA Plus assured a smooth implementation phase to attain the objectives designed in the Project. Though some political instability due to political changes and the change of the Cabinet of Ministers various times during the life-cycle of the project affected the performance which could haven been much stronger in a more stable environment on the administration level of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, yet most of the planned activities during the life-cycle of the project have been successfully implemented and reported on through the requested deliverables as per the Description of Work (DoW) of the project.
ShERACA Plus project had a wide impact on the research community in Egypt through various tools that were integrated in the designed work packages of the project.
ShERACA Plus updated portal (STIP.eg.net) was one of the major tools that widened up the communication platform between the STI Stakeholders and the research community. Though, a lot of planning for joint activities of common interest should be foreseen to be able to cater to the needs of the societal challenges that Egypt is witnessing at this critical stage.
ShERACA Plus movie is a strong documentation for the S&T Collaboration between the EU and EGYPT, which allows a better understanding of the history of this collaboration, its impact on the national and international levels. The movie titled “EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation” in its longer and shorter version showcase success stories and experiences of senior and junior experts who participated in various FP7 projects in relation to various fields as one of the main objectives of the movie to promote the H2020 by encouraging Egyptian researchers to participate in it.
Moreover, ShERACA Short Mobility Grants and the 3 Study Visits had their impact in facilitating collaboration between Egypt and MS countries through researchers who are capable of participating in H2020 Call for proposals and have all the means to proceed with collaborative projects.
All the activities implemented during the life-cycle of the project were also fostered with a strong background derived from the STI Policy Review, the STI foresight, the report on bilateral and regional actions with possible synergies; these were reports that were produced and updated within the life-cycle of the ShERACA Plus project and contributed to implement successful activities.
Project Context and Objectives:
Publishable summary
Introduction and Background
Building on the overall objective of the first BILAT project titled “Shaping Egypt’s Association to the European Research Area and Cooperation Action Plus, ShERACA” (ShERACA is an Arabic word meaning “Partnership”) to enhance the participation and the involvement of Egyptian R&D stakeholders and key players in the various ERA activities, ShERACA Plus (ShERACA +) project, the second BILAT project, is designed to continue achieving these objectives while aspiring to address the current challenges of STI cooperation in the context of the European Neighbourhood Partnership (ENPI).
On a macro level, the objective of ShERACA Plus is to support the policy dialogue, outline and participate in the implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation between the European Union and Egypt while drawing on the success stories and the lessons learned from ShERACA (First BILAT) project on a micro level.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is pursuing its comprehensive plan to reform and strengthen the science and technology capacities in Egypt foremost though initiatives that foster international partnership and cooperation, especially with the European Union. EU-EGYPT S&T cooperation evolved through signing the “Agreement for Scientific and Technology Cooperation” in 2005, which was followed in 2007 with funding the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Programme, phase I in 2007 and phase II in 2011. Alongside the bilateral cooperation between Egypt and the EU, Egypt had a pivotal role in supporting regional cooperation within the Mediterranean Countries and Africa, which is evident in its participation through FP7 and H2020 Programmes in the concluded MIRA Project (Mediterranean Innovation and Research Coordination Action) and currently in the MEDSPRING Project (Science, Policy, Research and Innovation Gateway) as well as in CAASTNet Plus (Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe), in INCO GCC (Science, Technology and Innovation International Cooperation Network between European Union and the Arab Gulf Countries) and in the 4PRIMA CSA.
Though various initiatives to enhance EU-Egypt S&T collaboration and partnership, Egypt’s participation in different ERA activities sought efforts for further improvements according to findings of ShERACA Project (first BILAT), which acknowledged the increase in the number of projects with Egyptian participation as well as the levels of funds through the assessment of EU-Egypt collaboration and Egypt’s participation in FP6 and FP7 projects. ShERACA’s assessment spotted various challenges that hinder further evolvement of STI cooperation between Egypt and the EU. These challenges are:
1. limited impact of the EU-Egypt scientific projects
2. lack of established mechanisms to support STI Cooperation Agreement and decisions of the Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC)
3. limited means to implement the roadmap defined by the JSTCC
4. scarcity of research and technological development training
5. maintaining contacts between EU and Egypt programme or project officers
Project Summary and Objectives
Building on the activities and lesson learnt from the first BILAT project (ShERACA) while taking the EU-Egypt partnership a step further towards a sustained partnership in Horizon 2020, ShERACA Plus is designed to support the institutional dialogue and foster the collaborative activities between Egypt and the EU in the fields of research and innovation.
The overall objective of ShERACA Plus is to support the policy dialogue and contribute to the definition and implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation between the European Union and Egypt.
This objective were carried out in synergy with the regional and bilateral actions currently running; mainly INCO-NET Mediterranean MedSpring, ERA-NET Med, ERA-Wide and R2I-ENP projects in addition to the RDI Programme.
Pursuing ShERACA Plus overall objective aligned with the stated objectives of the INCO action of the FP7 Capacities programme, the work packages (WPs) of the project, highly interrelated, were designed and developed to ensure the achievement of the following aims through relevant core activities:
- WP1: monitor and analyze EU-Egypt STI Cooperation in order to identify the specific measures need to be taken for boosting and increasing the cooperation. This objective has been partially attained through the Review Report on the Progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation and the STI Policy review and its updates attained within the life cycle of the project.
- WP2: To ensure coordination and coherence with other relevant actions at bilateral and regional level. Accomplishing the fundamental basis to further work on realizing this objective has been achieved through a report on the bilateral and regional actions with possible synergies, best practices and lessons learnt as well as the roadmap assigned for better coordination on bilateral joint activities targeting the identified societal challenges together with the recommendations and action plan on regional joint activities. The results of activities have been concluded in the report on the status and outcomes of joint activities.
- WP3: To foster stakeholders’ awareness and engagement through communication and outreach activities entailed the development of the Communication Strategy that would guide the relevant activities as well as the development and frequently update of database. Both deliverables guided the development of relevant printing and promotion materials needed for the launching period of the project. Two of specific significance to the project that would assure the distribution of relevant information to all target groups and relevant stakeholders were the deployment of the EU-Egypt STI Cooperation Portal and the production of the ShERACA Plus movie (in its two versions; long and short) aiming at facilitating more knowledge about the EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation, highlighting success stories from the Egyptian participation in the FP7 projects and further promoting H2020 through the experience of various researchers involved in various activities of the ShERACA Plus Project. The study visits to Germany, Italy and France organized within the framework of the communication activities of the project were an additional milestone that reflected the synergy with other bilateral project, partners and the integration of the project within the Ministry’s activities in relation to the enhancement of the policy dialogue with other European countries.
- WP4: To provide supportive measures to enable and increase EU-Egypt collaborative projects through various capacity building for Egyptian FPs, NCPs and thematic advisors as well as the development of reliable IPR and Project Management helpdesk and launching of the Short Mobility Grant Scheme, of which its impact was assessed on the participants’ level.
The core activities of the projects were designed and carried out by the consortium members encompassing:
1. The Ministry of Scientific Research (MoSR) in Egypt, the coordinator of ShERACA Plus Project
2. The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) in Egypt
3. The International Bureau of Federal Ministry of Educationi and Research at the Project Management Agency (c/o German Aerospace Centre) (DLR) in Germany
4. Institute for Research and Development (IRD) in France
5. Forum for the Euro-Mediterranean Innovation in Action (FEMIA) in France
6. Centre for European Policy Study (Centre for European) in Belgium
ShERACA Plus (Agreement Number 609574) final report is covering the activities carried out within the first 36 months of the project namely from the 13th of October 2013 to 13th of October 2016 according to the given ‘Description of Work’ (DoW)
Within the lifetime of ShERACA Plus the institutional policy dialogue was fostered and enhanced through various collaborative activities between the EU and Egypt in the fields of R&I. The main objective was to create synergies between EU-Egypt STI Cooperation stakeholders on the bilateral and regional level to be able to enhance and further stimulate EU – Egypt scientific research cooperation enabling a sustained partnership in H2020.
The main focus of ShERACA Plus project lied in adding up to the capacities of the network of FPs, H2020 thematic NCPs and thematic advisors by providing practical information on how to get involved and increase the Egyptian participation in H2020. Serving this purpose, ShERACA Plus exerted effort in renewing the EU-Egypt STI Portal as a main tool of communication, where all relevant information about Egypt research capacities as well as EU-Egypt funded running projects and new feature as the Help Desk has been hosted. The main aim of the portal is to establish an open platform that would help to create an information flow and create the critical mass for a growing traffic that would sustain the existence of the portal even after the lifetime of the ShERACA Plus.
Additionally, the EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation movie was produced to be able to highlight the importance of this cooperation, shed light on success stories and experiences gained through the involvement in EU funded projects.
Other milestones were attained through various activities and engagement with stakeholders that resulted in the development of various reports aiming at fostering STI stakeholders as well as relevant target groups with a better overview, practical information and further recommendations that would enable them to embark on new aspects of means of cooperation with the EU based on common interest. These reports are the Progress Review of the EU-Egypt STI Cooperation and its updates, the STI Policy Review, the Report on Bilateral and Regional Actions, the roadmap and recommendations on regional joint activities.
Another Milestone within the project lifestyle is the launch of the Short Mobility Grants of ShERACA Plus aimed at support promising and well justified initiatives of research and innovation actors in Egypt on competitive basis that have been decided by a panel. The Short Mobility Grant was followed by an impact assessment to be able to measure level of satisfaction and the benefit gained from the mobility grant.
Study Visits were also another engaging and outreach activities that took place within the life style of the project to be able to increase bi-lateral collaboration with Egypt and other MS countries as Germany, Italy and France. According to the reports presented from the Egyptian Delegation the Study Visits reflected an interest of collaboration from both sides and assisted in paving the way in front of researchers from Egypt to be introduced and know more about research capacities and collaborative opportunities available in Europe. The Study Visit to Germany showed also another mean of collaboration with ‘FETRIC’ (Tunisia BILAT), which increased the impact of the study visit. The Study Visit was encompassed 11 researchers from Egypt and 8 researchers from Tunisia. The Italian Study Visit was organized mainly in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Egypt, the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and the Ministry of Scientific Research, for which ShERACA Plus Project was nominated for the coordination with the Italian side. The study visit was of a high rank impact as the Delegation to Italy was headed by the former Minister for Scientific Research H.E. Sherif Hammad. The Egyptian Delegation encompassed 37 senior scientists. The Study Visit to France was organized in Collaboration with two ShERACA PLUS partners namely: FEMIA - Forum of Euro-Mediterranean pour L'Innovation en Action and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). The Study Visit encompassed 8 Egyptian Researchers.
Project Results:
Main results / foregrounds
The primary and the most important outcome of the project is answering how to alleviate the quality of research capacities in Egypt to increase the participation of Egyptian Researchers within the H2020 Call for proposals, encourage bilateral collaboration with MS countries and to thrive research area of mutual interest between EU and Egypt. The impact of this outcome is creating more future collaboration opportunities in the field of science and innovation that will benefit both parties.
The activities and reports attained within the lifetime of ShERACA Plus contributed to the answer of this question from different aspects.
WP1: MONITOR & ANALYZE EU-EGYPT STI COOPERATION
Since the beginning of FP7, Egypt has demonstrated a noticeable progress of funds received and success in its participation, which increased from 7% in 2007 to 20% in 2014. According to the Review Report on Progress of the EU-Egypt STI Cooperation 125 Projects were funded with Egyptian Participants who received approximately Euro 15 million. In relation to other Mediterranean Partner Countries, Egypt in FP7 currently had the highest number of proposals submitted and selected. Italy, France and Germany are the top three countries with most collaborative links (followed by Spain and the United Kingdom), not a surprising result considering these three countries' broader scientific collaboration programme with Egypt.
In H2020’s first 2 rounds of call for proposals (2014 – 2015) 19 projects were funded with an Egyptian participation, of which almost half are supported by the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions for Research and Innovation Staff Exchange.
ShERACA Plus Project exerted efforts to investigate the status of EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation by collecting qualitative information from researchers and officials through a semi-structured interviews carried out through the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The questions focused mainly on the Egyptian participants’ experience in EU funded projects, particularly on the factors that facilitated or hindered their involvement, and their suggestions on how to improve future STI Cooperation. Additionally, the Review Report on Progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation included the feedback received by the IRD while conducting a project mapping exercise for the ShERACA Plus Project in relation to WP2. Main concerns and recommendations that came in the feedback could be summarized in the following points:
• Application process: Some interviewees discussed the complexity of the application process, and emphasized that they overcame this complexity by learning more about the application process and receiving proper training on proposal writing.
• Research Permits: Several project coordinators and participants expressed the need for support to interviewees was a suggestion for the ministry to be able no support researchers in their activities through developing an office to help with permits of excavations and visits and to help researchers work their way through the governmental red tape.
• General Administrative and Financial Issues: Many Egyptian participants mentioned the lack of compatibility between home institution and EU regulation as one of a key difficulty they encounter during the implementation of the project. The lack of qualified administrative, financial and project management staff was pointed out in many interviews, particularly by those based in governmental universities.
• Political Situation: Some EU project coordinators highlighted that over the past couple of years the unstable political situation has made it difficult to work in and travel to Egypt. They mentioned the importance of being flexible and able to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.
• Role of Home Institution: The majority of Egyptian interlocutors expressed that their parent organizations have been generally supportive of their involvement in European projects, but noted the internal regulations of their institutions as a major challenge.
• Role of the MoSR: The Ministry was well regarded and acknowledged as playing a positive role in encouraging EU-Egypt STI collaboration. Many interviewees highlighted the importance of visibility and support provided to EU funded programs by the ministry and particularly the RDI program. Some emphasized that new and young researchers need to be more targeted to participate in EU funded projects. A few EU coordinators stressed the importance of involving high-level officials in the project in order to achieve results.
• Role of the NCPs/Focal Points: Many Egyptian researchers pointed to the important role of NCPs and focal points as information multipliers. Some suggested that in order to make their role more effective, the people performing these roles should have strong administrative and management background. It was also proposed that information sessions and networking events organized by NCPs/Focal Points become structured and call oriented. It was proposed that NCPs in some EU Member States (such as Italy) and Turkey, who work exclusively on their tasks and are well trained could serve as good examples for Egypt.
• Project Execution & Communication: Issues related to the size of the consortium, the deliverables and decision taking were not commonly emphasized by Egyptian participants as challenging. Some stressed the importance of the European project coordinator as the main factor of the success or failure of the communication within the consortium. Some EU coordinators mentioned that it would have been beneficial for the project if Egyptian participants included the community, and integrated more closely the social-environmental and economic landscape in their work.
• Quality/Nature of Egypt’s Participation: Feedback received from EU coordinators was mixed regarding the role of Egyptian participants in the project. Some highlighted difficulties of communication, receiving deliverables late and low quality of contribution, while others praised individual Egyptian scientists by name in the survey and expressed willingness to work together in the future. For the most part, the role of the Egyptian participant focused on collecting local information pertinent to the topic of the project.
• Capacity Building: Interviewees were in accord that Egyptian researchers and administrators alike would greatly benefit from targeted capacity building activities. Capacity building could be advantageous to Egypt’s absorption capacity, which was highlighted in some interviews as one area with great potential for improvement and broader societal impact, considering the country’s immense human resource pool.
• Short-Term/Travel Support: Respondents emphasized the importance of existing personal contacts and face-to-face encounters for establishing and enhancing their collaborations with their European colleagues, and expressed that the EU and the Ministry further support their participation in relevant meetings, workshops and conferences outside Egypt.
During the 5th JSTCCM meeting held in 2012, the Egyptian delegation emphasized that despite the country's political and economic situation, the government remains committed to supporting research and innovation. The increase of funds that Egypt has placed to support the PRIMA initiative, Article 185, as well as bilateral Joint Research Funds, clearly demonstrates the ongoing dedication and weight that the government has placed on STI and cooperation with international partners. In addition, it shows that with more bi-regional cooperation, more EU-Egypt STI Cooperation can exist. However, capacity building remains of high priority for the country. With the launch of H2020 and the culmination of efforts at the regional level towards developing a common Euro-Mediterranean agenda for innovation, it is now is an opportune time to establish a renewed S&T framework of cooperation that is accompanied with the appropriate instruments and actions and reflects the contemporary geo-political and socio-economic realities in Egypt, Europe and the Mediterranean region. This could be attained through aligning the policy framework with desired objectives through revisiting the agreement and road map and action plan of the EU-EGYPT S&T Cooperation aiming at better structure the mechanisms of implementation and follow up on cooperation activities as well as injection of feasible fields that is sought within the regional and national agenda as ‘Innovation’ for example and stimulating the uptake of RTD results by the industry and SME. Thus, establishing the desired interaction mechanisms between research and industry as well as public and private sector.
On the regional level the support of the PRIMA INITIATIVE that would create a common Innovation Agenda within the Euro – Mediterranean basin is a step forward in the EU-Egypt Cooperation due to the stable long-term and sustainable frame of partnership that is foreseen in specific topics based on co-ownership, co-decision and co-financing. However, some formalities in relation to the legalization of the initiative are at the moment a challenge that needs to be addressed.
On another front, within the 6th JSTCCM discussions took place in May 2015, Egypt expressed a strong interest in exploring the feasibility of becoming an associate member to H2020 (similarly to Tunisia).
In the same meeting NCPs for societal challenges 2, 3 and 5 identified the following specific topics for future collaboration:
• small scale energy generation
• renewable energy particularly waste- to- energy generation
• energy-water nexus
• energy-water-food-nexus
• Sustainable Food Security and Blue Growth
• wastewater treatment and water reuse
the EC pointed that the ERANETs in the Bio economy area are open to third country participation and that it has plans for developing, at a later stage, a regional strategy mainly oriented toward solar energy with a strong industrial component.
The EC also highlighted the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue and its importance to explore opportunities for Egypt in particular, with regards to Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture. Additionally, The EC encouraged Egypt to participate in wider networks and main multilateral initiatives; such as the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness' (GloPID-R) and the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD).
The foresight report explored the alternative scenarios for the future of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation to the future EU-Egypt STI cooperation in view of the current developments of STI in Egypt. The report elaborated on the economic business and usual and alternative scenarios underpinned in the analysis undertaken in the MEDPRO project for the case of Egypt and explores the potential development of the Egypt-EU STI cooperation. This attempt was supported by the inputs in Tasks 1.1 and 1.2 respectively EU-Egypt STI cooperation review and STI policy mix peer review and the foresight meeting held on 19 October 2014 in Egypt to discuss the status of STI developments in Egypt and cooperation with the EU.
WP2: ENSURE COORDINATION AND COHERENCE WITH OTHER RELEVANT ACTIONS AT BI-LATERAL AND REGIONAL LEVEL
Building on the results attained information from the Review of EU-EGYPT S&T Cooperation, the French partner (IRD) pursued an interesting mapping exercise to be able to have an overview of the funded projects in an attempt to create a synergy between the activities of these projects.
The results of the mapping showed that the type of participation stretches out from public institutions and Universities to ministries and its affiliated organizations to the private sector encompassing enterprises or SMEs. The mapping also identified the scope of work that Egyptian Participants are fulfilling within these projects, which varies from scientific analysis, conducting field experiments, feasibility assessments, organizing brokerage events, thematic workshops and trainings etc. Amongst various finding the barriers, lesson learnt and best practices in relation to Egypt participation to FP7 is of significant importance allowing a better understanding to the ecosystem in Egypt in order to be able to enhance the participation of Egyptian Researchers in EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
Important barriers that the report reflected that might affect the progress of Egyptian participation in the EU Framework Programme are the political instability Egypt witnessed due to the Arab Spring, which occurred in 2011. The change in the political scene caused a volatile political environment resulted in complication in administrational procedure within institutions. On another front the report stated various institutional challenges that would affect the Egyptian participation as bureaucracy within the institutions and lack of experienced trained calibers capable of delivering tasks and requirements are another barrier that is mentioned, lack of effective communication that may cause tension, poor infrastructure in some locations and lack of involvement of communities and high officials within the implementation time of the project. Other aspects were mentioned like the lack of trust between academia and industry and private and public sector. Also gender issues and hierarchical order related to culture issues in the report were notified. Yet, culture differences were attested as beneficial in constructive and open discussions. The most significant barrier mentioned in the report was the one related to lack of entrepreneurial culture, which needs to exist to advance the implementation process of projects on one hand, allow a better understanding to the nature of projects and its importance and better integrate this projects within an innovation system that needs to exist to increase the competiveness of the Egyptian researchers applying to the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
The report also acknowledged the best practices the projects’ coordinators experienced within the course of work with Egyptian partners, which could be summarized in the partners’ flexibility and full engagement in work to overcome challenges encountered due to above-mentioned barriers. It also stated that the Egyptian level of raising awareness to the public about some projects increased the interest in these projects from the scientific, business and local communities. The high quality calibers involved in the WPs as well as the high quality experts and stakeholders participating in the activities of some of these projects are one of the best practices reported.
The report gave a glimpse on successful coordination and cooperation between the projects highlighting MHESR as a good catalyst to building up these synergies with other projects on the national and regional level.
The report ended by giving a list of activities that could be recommended for Egyptian participation and could be supported by the “Short Mobility Grant Scheme” that is scheduled within the ShERACA Plus activities. The report was concluded by analysis and recommendations highlighting the importance of synergy between some activities as brokerage, training and dissemination events in order to avoid overlapping and be able to exploit existing opportunities as well as effectively utilize resources. The Egyptian partners in the report were described as ‘trustful’ enabling them for further future activities. One of the important aspect also that was mentioned in this regard, the requisite to broaden the communication platform and dissemination of information to be able to spot new partners and benefit from the experience of Egyptian Partners in EU funded projects. The report highlighted the importance of personal contact with the Egyptian partners as a main mean of cooperation titled with ‘informal cooperation’ which is the first step followed by an institutional cooperation. From the thematic aspect of the project that report acknowledged the significant importance to continue focusing on Water, Energy and Food Security and main topics that need to be addressed within the southern Mediterranean region and foremost Egypt. A specific weight has been given to the two projects, namely MERID as it is mandated to boost existing collaboration between the EU and the Middle East countries by creating new channels and forging new links, especially with countries that are newcomers to EU cooperation in Research and Innovation. The ERECI Project (Egyptian Renewable Energy Cluster Initiative), a project funded by the RDI Programme is another project of importance due to its objectives aiming at setting-up a stable cluster organization in renewable energy field that would support Egyptian technology transfer, industrial development and partnership between institutions, researchers and enterprises.
The report titled ‘Report on Bilateral and regional actions with possible synergies, best practices and lesson learnt’ (D1.2) was followed by a ‘Roadmap for a better coordination on bilateral joint activities targeting the identified societal challenges”. The aim of the latter is to assist the preparation and implementation of bi-lateral joint activities between the EU and Egypt as well as other MS. The document took the first report (D1.2) as the main reference, which has identified various opportunities for collaborations with different partners. The main aim of the report is to avoid fragmented efforts and optimize results, capitalize on existing opportunities as well as effectively and efficiently utilize available resources.
Another aspect of collaboration was given in the report titled “Recommendations and action plan on regional joint activities”, which were based on previous reports mentioned aiming at highlighting the complementarities of existing regional projects to reduce dispersion of efforts across projects as well as sharing best practices for coordination. One of the most important points that came in this report and is related one of the endorsed actions by the EuroMed Ministerial meeting held in 2007 in the Cairo Declation is to “promote innovation, knowledge – sharing and its return on the industry and economy in the Mediterranean Partner Countries”. This needs as mentioned before be reflected in the EU-Egypt S&T Cooperation Agreement to be able to stimulate the uptake of RTD results by the industry and SMEs by establishing the desired interaction mechanisms between research and industry as well as public and private sector. Therefore, it is pivotal to develop practical and efficient means at the regional level to support research, innovation and SMEs through new instruments and schemes.
To be able also to ensure coordination and coherence with other relevant actions at bi-lateral level and regional level, ShERACA Plus facilitated a number of travel activities in relation to Egypt’s participation in preparation meetings for the PRIMA INITIATIVE, which will be launched by 2017.
WP3: FOSTER STAKEHOLDERS AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT THROUGH COMMUNICATION AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
Following the design of the project that aims at supporting the policy dialogue, outline and participate in the implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation between the EU and Egypt while drawing on the success stories, ShERACA Plus developed a communication strategy that was followed in order to be able to bridge the gap between stakeholders involved in the STI ecosystem in Egypt. The communication strategy identifies pillars of the communication strategy that would comply with the general and specific objectives of the ShERACA Plus Project. These pillars have been summed up in the following questions:
• WHAT are the key communication objectives and messages
• WHO is the target audience
• HOW to reach this audience
• WITH WHAT type of material the target audience will be approached? What are the communication materials that should be used to reach out to these target groups?
• WHEN and WHERE the different activities and events will take place
• What are the risk factors that need to be tackled (obstacles when crossing boundaries)?
The document also presents the projects’ main deliverables and events, and provides a tentative timeline to be used by all consortium members.
Within the communication strategy a database of all target stakeholders has been developed and utilized in dissemination of information for various activities as well as to receive answers on a number of surveys that has been conducted within the framework of activities of the project.
One of the important assets of ShERACA Plus Project is the revision and restructure of EU-EGYPT STI Portal (www.stip.eg.net) which is considered one of the main resources of information within the research community to know more about EU-Egypt STI Cooperation and have updated in formation about existing projects and activities. The Portal has been updated frequently and reported about three times within the lifecycle of the project.
Another important asset to the ShERACA Plus Project was the produced movie about the EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation, which has been produced in two versions. The long version of the movie (17 minutes) gives an overview about the evolvement of the EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation since its early start. It gives also a glimpse of successful FP7 funded projects with Egyptian participation through testimonials form researchers who contributed to these projects. It also showcase the experience of other researchers who have various attempts to participate in the H2020 calls for proposals and were involved in various activities organized and run under the ShERACA Project. In its shorter version, the movie focuses on promoting the participation in EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation through interviewed researchers and experts who talked about their experiences and gave advises in this regard.
Long version ~ 14 min.: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b8rihv40oh6aw81/AAC5_n7VJTwAYhzXCZliyQKza?dl=0
Short version ~ 5 min. : https://www.dropbox.com/s/peup22fbejngoa6/Short%20Vr.%20of%20EU%20Egypt%20co.op%20video%20with%20Subtitles.mp4?dl=0
Within the design & structure of the project three study-visits to Germany, Italy and France has been carried out and reported about separately. The main objective of this study visits is to better link Egyptian researchers, entrepreneurs, idea carriers, policy makers to the European research community by offering them the opportunity to get together with European partners to develop an enabling environment for collaboration opportunities.
The study visit embarked also on opportunities of synergy that were indicated in the ‘Roadmap for a better coordination on bilateral joint activities targeting the identified societal challenges’. Synergizing activities was witnessed through the collaboration with “FETEIC” (Tunisia BILAT Project), where the study visit to Germany was jointly organized. More details about the study visit have been given in the report (D 3.8). Another type of synergy was developed through the coordination and organization of the “MedSpring ScienceCafe” that has been organized and added to the Agenda of the Study Visit to Italy (D3.9). Within the design and implementation of the ShERACA Plus 3rd study visit to France another type of synergy took place between partners (IRD and FEMIA) aiming at maximizing the impact of the study visit and optimizing the use of resources. (D3.10) (recommendations)
WP4: PROVIDE SUPPORTIVE MEASURES TO ENABLE AND INCREASE EU-EGYPT COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
Stressing on the importance of dissemination of information to various target groups identified within the communication strategy, ShERACA Plus was keen to provide supportive measures to disseminate adequate information to the stakeholders about the EU Framework Programme on Research and Innovation as well as other activities that will be or have been carried out within the framework of the project. These measures have been determined accordingly, namely the support to the work of the Central Liaison Unit (CLU) for Egypt – EU STI Cooperation within the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which is in charge of coordinating all activities of the project.
The Central Liaison Unit gained its importance from being recognized as the main coordinator and manager of the national network of multipliers, as well as the main display/gateway of Egyptian RDI potential to Europe.
Within the first year the first tailor-made training was organized back to back with the first annual meeting of the ShERACA Plus project. The training was jointly organized with the RDI Programme and the INCONTACT 2020 and tackled legal and financial issues in relation to FP7 Projects and H2020. Trainers who helped deliver this training session were thematic NCPs who were recruited by an open call conducted ShERACA plus partners (FEMIA and IRD). This was to ensure the expertise of the trainers and also to ensure the contribution of all responsible partners.
Based on the feedback of this training, a ‘training needs assessment’ has been conducted aiming at enhancing the training quality for the CLU in order to answer specific questions to specific target groups. The training needs assessment gave the following priority to the topics that needs to be tackled:
1. How to identify funding opportunities
a. How to articulate your research idea
b. How to align the research idea with the relevant H2020
Societal Challenges/actions
2. Managing an EU grant contract
a. Financial reporting
b. Technical reportng
c. How to manage the Financial aspects of a project (for
financial administrators)
d. How to manage the Financial aspects of a project (for faculty
or researcher PI)
3. Developing an EU grant contract
4. Developing effective partnerships for H2020 proposals
a. How to seek partnership for the H2020 proposals
b. How to form and manage a consortium
5. Compliance monitoring and reporting on EU funds
a. Financial reporting
b. Technical reporting
6. Preparing successful H2020 proposals
a. How to prepare the budget for a project proposal
b. How to plan a project (logical framework)
3. Do’s and Don’ts when writing a H2020 proposal
The following other topics were identified through the assessment:
• Technology transfer within EU projects
• Research ethics and Intellectual Property Rights
• Explanation of a few examples of successful proposals that have previously been awarded a grant through the program
• The evaluation criteria and selection criteria for a successful proposal
• Managing the international grants office and finding funds for it
Other tailor-designed mechanism that was introduced by ShERACA Plus for the EU funded projects was the IPR & Project Management Helpdesk (D4.4) which offers first-line support on Innovation Management, IP and IPR issues by giving advices on individual IP and IPR questions and provides a written answers within four working days. The helpdesk offers also the service to assess and revise IP issues within contracts and other agreements such as licensing or distribution agreements, joint ownership agreement and consortium agreements. The helpdesk utilized a support ticket system. Every request is assigned to a unique ticket number through which the user can track the progress and responses of his request online supported by a complete online archiving system of all requests.
Business Coaching is another service that has been developed within the course of work of WP4 in 2015 aiming at supporting researchers to well-present their idea and commercialize it on a further phase of the project. The ‘business coaching’ was a step forward to be able to identify potential researchers who are interested in funding their projects and are in the phase of looking for potential partners.
A total number of 10 researchers were identified as possible candidates for marketable research. The dedicated business coach for the 10 researchers were 10 hours/ researcher that accumulated 97 hours of counselling. The feedback analysis proved that 96% of candidates were satisfied with the outcome of the counselling.
The module of business coaching was further utilized within the Mediterranean region in collaboration with MedSpring Project, where the counselling process took place for projects from the Mediterranean countries (as Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Italy and Iraq). The researchers were chosen from Euro Mediterranean countries through an open call. A panel of expertise assessed innovative ideas for these projects. 40 researchers were identified as of eligible projects. The ideas varied in their objectives whether addressing a certain societal challenge or some resources’ scarcity or a better utilization of certain resources in their community and applicable to other countries within the region.
Launching the Short Mobility Grant of ShERACA Project was an additional mean to support Egyptian researchers, entrepreneurs and STI stakeholders who residing in Egypt to submit new innovative ideas aiming at enriching the EU-Egypt STI cooperation to solve pertinent global challenges, mainly scarcity and quality of food, water and energy topics. The call targeted consolidating previous collaboration, preparation of new collaborative activities as well as the engagement of new Egyptian and European stakeholders in the EU-Egypt STI cooperation. The call supported networking and partnering activities such as:
1. Building consortium for H2020 calls and/or participating in networking events in EU, MPCs and Africa
2. Participation in brokerage events, info sessions or building upon other initiatives targeting EU-Egypt partnership.
3. Any other activities that targets increasing the visibility of Egypt's research capacity to the European countries that could lead to effective partnerships within EU research and innovation programs.
This action was supported by an Impact Assessment Survey (D4.7) consisting of 10 questions covering awarded applicants contact details, application procedures, feedback, mission outcome and views on how to promote their ideas. The survey was prepared on basis of both text questions and choices. The survey was administrated through the online tool ‘Survey Monkey’. According to the survey the fields of specializations that benefited from the Short Mobility Grant varied according to the following percentage;
Health 30% - ICP 10% - Energy 10% - Water 20% - Food and Agriculture and Biotechnology 30%
The Impact Assessment Survey showed also a rate of satisfaction that exceeded 75% on the majority of questions.
WP5: COORDINATION AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Within the project cycle the coordination between Consortium Members went smooth and various collaboration took place in relation to Study visits, training organization and finalization of deliverables within the 4 work packages.
Yet, various tasks witnessed a deviation from work plan due to its dependent from other factors as the delay in the consultation / interviews for the STI Policy Reviews, STI Foresight report, Report on bilateral and regional actions, Roadmap for better coordination, the organization of study visits which required an intensive coordination with partners as well as with other national organization for the nomination of candidates and to create synergy with other national activities that took place. Also the impact assessment on the mobility grants which witness a delay due to the delay in answers from the researchers who participated in this tasks.
Though these delays we need to state that the ShERACA Project did have its useful impact on the Research Community in relation to senior researchers and junior ones who participated and reported positively on their involvement in the ShERACA Plus various and multi-dimensional activities and tasks. These experiences have been documented in the short- and long version movie that was produced within the framework of Workpage 3.
Apart from the good collaboration and synergy in planned and implemented activities, ShERACA Plus witnessed deterioration in two activities, namely the Board Meetings on months 25 and 36 due to a pre-agreement that the meetings will be done through conference calls and skype calls for the best utilization of resources. Exceptional Board Meeting could be organized as that was organized in Brussels on the 28th April 2014 titled "ShERACA Plus Ad-Hoc Meeting".
Second deterioration was the Final Conference, which did not take place due to administration issues and change of management within the EU-Egypt Cooperation Unit.
Please find below a list of significant activities that took place within the 36-months duration of ShERACA Plus Project.
Date of event Event name
# MHESR
1 7-8 Nov.2013 Travelling for Ms.Zeinab Sl Sadr -8th International Learning Network
to Budapest
2 6-7 Dec 2013 ShERACA Board Meeting Traveling for Prof.Hazem Mansour, Ms. Zeinab El Sadr rFrom 5-8 December 2013,,Coordination and Project Management,to Hurgada/El Gouna /
3 2-4 Apr.2014 Travelling for Ms. Zeinab El Sadr From 1-5 April 2014,Providing Supportive Measures to enable and increase EU-Egypt collaborative Projects & 2nd ICRI2014 ,to Athens
4 7-Sep-14 "S & T policy Mix Peer Review Scoping Event " Workshop / Cairo (organization Costs) 6-7 September 2014(Dinner-Lunch-Coffee Break-Equipment-Video)
5 26 Sep.2014 Travellingfor Ms. Zeinab El Sadr From 26-27 September 2014,Coordinator's Day & 19th EU Comittee Meeting Med GSO,to Brussels
6 26-28 Nov.2014 Travelling Ms.Zeinab El Sadr from 25-29 November 2014,International NCPs Workshop Promoting the International Dimension of H2020 & 9th International Learning Network"ILN" International Cooperation in H2020,to Brussels
7 7-12 Dec 2014 Study Visit to Germany /Traveling Ms.Zeinab El sadr from 10-12 December 2014 & Dr. Ola Gomaa from 7-12 December 2014
8 14-16 Dec.2014 Workshop / Cairo (organization Costs): S&T Policy Mix Review ,Validation event to Present and Validate deliverables of task 1.1,1.2 and 1.3 ,14-16 December 2014(Dinner-Lunch-Printing Materials-Local Transportation)
9 17-18 Dec 2014 Training Workshop H2o2o focal points / Cairo
10 14-15 Feb.2015 Traveling Ms.Malak Marzouk from 13-15 February 2015, Foster stakeholders awareness and engagement through communication and outreach activities to Alexandria-Egypt
11 23-24 Feb.2015 Travelling Prof.Hazem Mansour,Prof.Mahmoud Sakr and Prof.Amr Adly from 24-27 February 2015,Med Spring 2nd Euromed. Innovation brokerage & venturing Event on R&I-to Germany
12 30 Apr. 2015 Travelling for Amr Radwan - Meeting of NCP for Societal Challenge 1 Health, Demographic Change and well-being under H2020 from 29 April - 1 May 2015 to Brussels
13 2 - 6 June 2015 Travelling for Zeinab El Sadr, Reem Awad, Manar Mohsen to Cheltenham Science Festival and Annual Meeting 2 - 6 June 2015
14 15-16 June 2015 Study visit to Italy TRAVELING for Prof. Hazem Mansour , Zeinab El Sadr, Reem Awad from 13 - 17 June, Tarek Tawfik, Mohmoud El Halwagy, Suzanne Kholeif, Soheir Hedayet - from 14 - 17 June 2015
15 16-Jun-15 Travelling for Amr Radwan to attend 1st training for SC1 NCP's "Proposal Preparation for Health related Calls in H2020" in Brussels from 15 - 17 June 2015
16 30-Jun-15 Travelling for Maha Tawfik to attend Brokerage Event Hellenic Forum 2015 in Athens from 29 Jun-1st Jul 2015
17 16 - 18 Sep. 2015 Study Visit to France / Travelling for Zeinab El Sadr (from 17 - 19 September), Ahmad Huzayyin,Pakinam Idris (16 - 19 September), Prof. Habiba Wassef, Dr. Nabil Thabet, Dr. Hossam Saffaa, Prof. Maha Tawfik,Dr. Osama Dowidar, Dr. Hamdy El Ghitany (16 - 18 September
18 17 - 18 Sep. 2015 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to attend info day & brokerage event in Brussels form 16 - 19 September 2015
19 20 - 21 Oct. 2015 Travelling for Dr. Haitham Safwat Hamza for Brokerage event ICT 2015: Innovate, Connect and Transform in Lisbon from 19 - 22 October 2015
20 04-07 Nov. 2015 Travelling for Dr. Mohamed Wagih Budapest from 4 - 7 November 2015 to attend UNESCO 7th World Science Forum
21 25 - 26 Nov. 2015 Travelling for Dr. Amr Helal to attend the info week on Societal Challenge 2 WP 2016/2017 and brokerage event in Brussels from 24 - 27 November 2015
22 02 - 03 Dec. 2015 Travelling for Zeinab El Sadr (ShERACA PLUS Coordinator) to attend a meeting in Rome - Italy for the PRIMA CSA for preparation and support of regional joint activities from 2 - 3 December 2015
23 9-11 Dec. 2015 Travelling for Prof. Hazem Mansour – Assistant to Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research to Italy to attend preparation meeting for PRIMA Initiative
24 12 - 14 Jan. 2016 Travelling for Zeinab El Sadr (ShERACA Plus Coordinator) to Rome -Italy to attend 2nd meeting for preparation and support of regional activities form 12 - 14 January 2016
25 24- 25 Jan. 2016 Travelling for Zeinab to Brussels to attend a preparation meeting for ERA Net Cofund SFS-41-20 from 23 - 26 January2016
26 25 Jan. 2016 Travelling for Prof. Ola Gomaa to Brussels to Info day and brokerage for FET Open and FE - Proactive Calls for Proposals 2016" from 24 - 26 January 2016
27 02 Feb. 2016 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to Brussels to attend NCP info day for the Science with and for Society from 1 - 2 February 2016
28 3 – 6 Feb. 2016 Travelling Prof. Hazem Mansour to Brussels to attend PRIMA Workshop organized by the EU titled “Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals for Water and Food Systems Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area”
29 3 March 2016 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to Brussels to attend Science with and for Society Brokerage Event from 2 - 5 March 2016
30 15 – 20 March 2016 Travelling of Prof. Hazem Mansour – Assistant to Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research, Ms. Zeinab El Sadr – ShERACA Coordinator and Ms. Reem Awad – Communication Expert to attend the Stakeholders’ Consultation for the Prima Initiative
31 10-11 May 2016 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to Bonn - Germany to attend 3rd HNN 2.0 on - site training course on "exploitation IPR Business Plan in the life of Sciences" from 9 - 12 May 2016
32 21-22 June 2016 Travelling for - Prof. Amr Helal to Denmark to attend the Conference for International Food and Agri Business Management from 20 - 23 June 2016
33 6 July 2016 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to Brussels to attend Meeting for NCP for Societal Challenge 1,Demographic Change and well-being under H2020 from 5 - 7 July 2016
34 27-29 July 2016 Travelling for Prof. Taha Mattar to attend a networking on future R&D Meeting at the University of Genoa-Italy from 26 - 30 July 2016
35 31 August – 2 Sept. 2016 Travelling for Prof. Hazem Mansour – Assistant to the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research to Spain to attend General Assembly for Prima Initiative
Date of event Event name
# ASRT
1 6-7 Dec 2013 Travelling: participation of Amr Radwan at the SHERACA+ kickoff meeting in Gouna, Egypt on 6-7 December 2013
2 24-25 Feb.2015 Travelling: Participation of Amr Radwan at 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Brokerage & Venturing Event on Research and Innovation in Berlin, Germany – 25/26 February, 2015.
3 12-13 March 2016 Travelling :Travel cost of Dr.Mahmoud Sakr, an employee at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, for participating and representing ShERACA project in the international cooperation forum of strategic planning and economic development organised on 12,13 March 2016 in Italy
4 2-3 May 2016 Travelling Travel cost of Dr.Mahmoud Sakr, an employee at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, for participating and representing ShERACA project in the "Transnational cooperation in Education, Research and Innovation Conference" organised on 2-3 May 2016 in Germany.
5 11-13 July 2016 Travelling Travel cost of Dr.Mahmoud Sakr, an employee at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, for participating and representing ShERACA project in Arab German cooperation forum organised by the Arab-Germany Young Academy of Sciences in Germany.
Date of event Event name
# DLR
1 12-20 Dec2014 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, Cairo, Egypt, Validation Workshop and Annual Meeting
2 5-8 Dec 2013 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, , El Gouna, Egypt, Kick-off Meeting
3 29 Apr 14 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, , Brussels, Belgium 143.60
Introduction, discussion and agreement on implementing the Task 1.2 where DLR is a leader
4 6-9 Sep 2014 TRAVELING: Roman Noetzel, Cairo, Egypt, Scoping event for the STI Policy Mix Peer Review
5 6-13 Sep 2014 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, Cairo, Egypt, Scoping event for the STI Policy Mix Peer Review as well as interview of Egyptian authorities
6 10 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, , Brussels, Belgium, Coordination Meeting with CEPS & Mona El Tobgui for discussion &coordination of future procedure concerning the Synthetic Draft Report as well as how to bring the results of the Policy Mix Peer Review into the Foresight
7 10 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Roman Noetzel, Brussels, Belgium, Coordination Meeting with CEPS & Mona El Tobgui for discussion &coordination of future procedure concerning the Synthetic Draft Report as well as how to bring the results of the Policy Mix Peer Review into the Foresight
8 17-21 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, Cairo, Egypt, Foresight Meeting, preparation for the foresight study visit
9 10-11 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: EXTERNAL: Christian Weise,Ralf Parl, Jörg Pallentin Bonn, Germany, Hotel costs, Study visits
10 7-10 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Oliver Maria Dilly,Susanne Ruppert-Elias, Ralf Hermann,Berlin, Germany, Study Visits
11 6-9 Sep 2014 TRAVELING: EXTERNAL: Jacues Van der Meer, Peter Wycisk, Moez Jbara,Judith Schick,Holger Kohl, Noha Saad Hussein ,Cairo, Egypt, STI Policy Mix Peer Review
12 7-12 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: EXTERNAL: Ismail Ashraf Elsaye, Abdelwahab Manal Abd, Boshta Mostafa Abdel, Elhabbasha Elsayed,Huzayyin Ahmed Ali, Mahmoud Tarek Samir, Salama Sherif Mohamad, Sarmani Ayman Ali, Sharaf Hebatallah, Tawfik Maha Mohsen, various cities, Germany, Flights for the 10 Egyptian Participants of Study visits,Germany
13 7-12 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: EXTERNAL: Susanne Klages, various cities, Germany, Expert, participated in Study Visits (Food Group)
Date of event Event name
# FEMIA
1 4-8 Dec 2013 TRAVELING:: Travel of Dr. Kyriaki Papageorgiou, Cairo-Gouna for Kick off meeting
2 3-14 Feb 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Kyriaki Papageorgiou, Barcelona-Cairo for MedSpring/ShERACA
brokerage event
3 14-21 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Spela Majcen, Ljubljana-Cairo for ShERACA Plus foresight meeting
4 13-19 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Spela Majcen, Ljubljana-Cairo for project Annual meeting and ShERACA Plus workshop on Horizon2020
5 5-7 Sep 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry, Ljubljana-Cairo for STI Policy Review workshop
6 18-22 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry, Ljubljana-Cairo for ShERACA Plus Foresight meeting
7 13-17 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry , Ljubljana-Cairo for the project validation workshop and Horizon20202 training
8 16-19 Feb 2015 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry, Brussels-Cairo for support to EU-Egypt JSTCC
Date of event Event name
# CEPS
1 Dec.2013
Oct .2014 TRAVELING: Kick-off meeting in Hurghada, December 2013: de Groen;
Workshop in Cairo, October 2014; Ayadi
# Date of event Event name
IRD
1 28-29 Apr 2014 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): travel from Marseille to Brussels to attend the interim project meeting
2 13-19 Dec 2015 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): travel from Marseille to Cairo to participate in the annual project meeting
3 5-9 Sept 2014 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): travel and subsistence allowances to attend the workshop "Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Review"
6 16 – 18 Sept 2014
TRAVELING: Visite d'étude Paris / Montpellier
4 14-Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): subsistence allowances to attend the validation event
5 17-18 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): travel and subsistence allowances for the participation in the H2020 training for Egyptian NCPs/NFPs
The activities implemented and report submitted by ShERACA Plus various stakeholders as well as the impact assessments that took place within the framework of the project pinpointed some essential facts and recommendations that should be considered and supported through various mechanisms and funds related to EU-Egypt STI Collaboration.
Broadening the platform of communication with Egyptian Researchers (at Universities and Research Centers) and STI stakeholders (business sectors, incubators, accelerators, funding agents) needs to be fostered and nurtured through a the STI Portal that would facilitate information as well as funding and collaboration opportunities. This challenge needs an intensive work on the content and better exposure of the STI Portal, that has been already developed and equipped with all necessary tool to be able to mitigate the gap between academia and STI Stakeholders. However, the STIP Portal needs a better exposure in international events and to the international research community to be acknowledged as the gate to EU - Egyp STI collaboration. Broadening the communication platform and working on engaging STI Stakeholders would allow a better dissemination of information (better information flow) to be able to identify new collaboration opportunities and increase the synergy between implemented activities within the STI Stakeholders in Egypt as well as within funded projects funded by the EU or within the bilateral agreements that exists with other MS countries.
The lack of entrepreneurial culture which was identified in the Review of EU-Egypt S&T Collaboration needs to be supported for a better implementation of joint projects and collaboration activities between Egypt and the EU and to allow a better understanding of the objectives of the projects and the collaboration especially on the inter-institutional level. The foster of entrepreneurial culture will result in a strong existence of an innovation system that needs to flourish to increase the level of competitiveness of Egyptian Researchers and STI Stakeholders. This challenge has been also identified in the Euro-Med Ministerial meeting held back in 2007 and was recommended in the Cairo declaration, yet a lot need to be projected, planned and implemented in this aspect.
Potential Impact:
Impact:
ShERACA Plus Project had its resonance within the EU-EGYPT STI Collaboration in terms of widening the communication platform of STI stakeholders by introducing new research capacities for potential collaborative projects and enabling the institutional dialogue for further STI collaboration. These results were achieved through multiple measures driven by a well-designed and implemented WPs of the ShERACA PLUS Project.
One of the main milestones that developed this resonance was the EU-EGYPT STI Portal, which is considered as the main communication tool for ShERACA Project. The portal was designed to provide researchers from Egypt and Europe with updated information about the EU funded projects and activities of mutual collaboration nature. The portal present also the Egyptian research capacities and give links to all possible platform that would enhance and enable the EU-EGYPT Collaboration. The IPR Helpdesk was a new tool introduced through the portal aiming at enabling researchers and idea carriers to present new ideas and provide them with various consultation aspects for their projects as well as agreements with other partners.
The ShERACA Plus Movie was produced aiming at familiarize researchers and other stakeholders with the history of the EU-Egypt S&T collaboration and present successful stories and examples on how this collaboration should move on in future and be invested for better understanding to reach common objectives.
The Short Mobility Grant contributed also to this resonance by offering an opportunity to Egyptian researchers to travel to present their ideas and work on them with European partners aiming at enhancing the EU-Egypt STI collaboration and their engagement in further projects. This was also witnessed in the Study Visits organized to 3 European Countries in addition to their exposure to the various hosting research institutions, which presented to Egyptian Researchers their interest, capacities and potential collaboration opportunities. From the Egyptian side during these study visits various presentations from research institutions were presented to the European partners to showcase the important research work, research interest and tendencies to be able to embark on new collaborative projects of mutual interest.
The synergy developed with partners, STI stakeholders as well as other projects on the regional level added to this resonance on the regional level and widened the aspects of mutual understanding and potential collaboration for common interests. This synergy was was witnessed throughout the various activities organized by ShERACA Project. ShERACA Plus project also facilitated the participation in various regional meetings to coordinate and support bi-regional working activities related to the PRIMA INITIATIVE and that resulted also in the 4PRIMA CSA Project, which Egypt took part in it.
The STI Policy Review, its updates and the STI foresight report developed within the ShERACA Plus Project were instrumental in understanding Egypt’s national innovation system and broader societal challenges. The reports were fundamental to be able to define the Agenda for the future EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation in H2020 based on mutual interests and shared benefits.
Submitted deliverables
WP n°
Deliverable N°
Title
Version
Lead beneficiary
Person months
Nature
Dissemination level
Delivery date from Annex I (proj month)
Actual date
Status
Ares/Hermes Id
1 1 Review report on the progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 16/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1150391
1 2 Review report on the progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2015 (24 months) 06/10/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5795828
1 3 Review report on the progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2016 (36 months) 07/10/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5813522
1 4 STI Policy Review
1.0 DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUER LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1400888
1 5 STI Foresight report
1.0 CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN POLICY STUDIES 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 29/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1375980
2 1 Report on bilateral and regional actions with possible synergies, best practices and lessons learned
1.0 INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT 2.0 Report RE 31/05/2014 (8 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1401904
2 2 Roadmap for a better coordination on bilateral joint activities targeting the identified societal challenges
1.0 INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2015 (18 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1429864
2 3 Recommendations and action plan on regional joint activities
1.0 FEMIA - FORUM EURO-MEDITERRANEEN POUR L'INNOVATION EN ACTION 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2015 (18 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1429859
2 4 Report on the status and outcomes of joint activities
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2016 (30 months) 23/11/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)6590239
3 1 Communication Strategy Report
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Other RE 31/12/2013 (3 months) 29/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1375894
3 2 Database of all targeted stakeholders
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2014 (6 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1400760
3 3 Development of communication and visibility materials
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Other PU 31/03/2014 (6 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1429857
3 4 EU-Egypt STI Cooperation Portal formal updates 1
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 1.0 Other PU 31/03/2014 (6 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1401822
3 5 EU-Egypt STI Cooperation Portal formal updates 2
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 2.0 Other PU 31/03/2015 (18 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1401367
3 6 EU-Egypt STI Cooperation Portal formal updates 3
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 2.0 Other PU 30/11/2015 (26 months) 29/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5672812
3 7 Video highlighting EU-Egypt STI cooperation success stories and best practices
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Other PU 31/05/2015 (20 months) 30/11/2016 Received Ares(2016)6721648
3 8 Report on the study visits of Egyptian delegations in Europe (1st report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1401470
3 9 Report on the study visits of Egyptian delegations in Europe (2nd report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2015 (24 months) 30/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5688042
3 10 Report on the study visits of Egyptian delegations in Europe (3rd report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2016 (36 months) 30/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5688048
4 1 Periodic report on the support activities provided to the Central Liaison unit and the network of multipliers (1st report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 01/04/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1430358
4 2 Periodic report on the support activities provided to the Central Liaison unit and the network of multipliers (2nd report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2015 (24 months) 30/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5688169
4 3 Periodic report on the support activities provided to the Central Liaison unit and the network of multipliers (3rd report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2016 (36 months) 30/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5688252
4 4 Periodic report on the support activities provided by the IPR and Project Management helpdesks (1st report)
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 1.5 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1400917
4 5 Periodic report on the support activities provided by the IPR and Project Management helpdesks (2nd report)
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 1.5 Report RE 30/09/2015 (24 months) 29/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5672847
4 6 Periodic report on the support activities provided by the IPR and Project Management helpdesks (3rd report)
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 1.5 Report RE 30/09/2016 (36 months) 29/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5672911
4 7 Impact assessment of the short travel grants scheme
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2016 (30 months) 29/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5657174
5 1 Preparation of reporting forms
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 0.5 Report RE 31/10/2013 (1 months) 15/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1134046
5 2 Minutes of the Project Management Board meetings (1st meeting)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 31/10/2014 (13 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1429981
5 5 Project periodic reports (1st report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 4.0 Report RE 30/04/2015 (19 months) 26/12/2016 Received Ares(2016)7181146
TABLE 2. MILESTONES
Milestone
no. Milestone name Work package no
Lead beneficiary Delivery date from Annex I
dd/mm/yyyy Achieved
Yes/No Actual / Forecast achievement date
dd/mm/yyyy Comments
MS1 Kick-off Meeting WP5 Ministry of Scientific Research 1 yes 6-7/12/ 2013 Kick off Coordination and Project Management
MS2 Event Presenting the results of the STI Policy review and STI foresight report WP1 Ministry of Scientific Research 18 yes 1) 7 / 9 / 2014
2) 17-21 / 10 / 2014
3) 14-16 /12 / 2014 1) S & T policy Mix Peer Review Scoping Event Cairo
2) Foresight Meeting, preparation for the foresight study visit DLR /Cairo
3) S&T Policy Mix Review /Cairo
MS3 Events showcasing joint activities WP2 Ministry of Scientific Research 30 Yes
MS4 Networking and Brokerage event WP3 Ministry of Scientific Research 6 Yes Networking
1) 7-8 / 11 / 2013
2) 26-28 / 11 / 2014
3) 27-29 / 7 / 2016
Brokerage
4) 23-24 / 2 / 2015
5) 30 / 6 / 2015
6) 17-18 / 9 / 2015
7) 20-21 /10 / 2015
8) 25-26 / 11 / 2015
9) 25 / 1 / 2015
10) 3 / 3 / 2016
1) 8thInternationl Learning Network /Budapest
2) Networking on future R&D Meeting /Genoa- Italy
3) International NCPs Workshop Promoting the International Dimension of H2020 & 9th International Learning Network"ILN" International Cooperation in H2020/ Brussels
4)Med Spring 2nd Euromed. Innovation brokerage & venturing Event on R&I/ Germany
5)Brokerage Event Hellenic Forum 2015 in Athens
6) Info day & brokerage event/Brussels
7) Brokerage event ICT 2015: Innovate, Connect and Transform/ Lisbon
8) Info week on Societal Challenge 2 WP 2016/2017 and Brokerage event / Brussels
9) Info day and brokerage for FET Open and FE - Proactive Calls for Proposals 2016 /Brussels
10) Science with and for Society Brokerage Event /Brussels
MS5 Launch of the Short Grant Travel Scheme WP4 Ministry of Scientific Research 3 Yes 24/ 8/ 2015 No# of Grants:
1) Brokerage event ICT 2015: Innovate, Connect and Transform / Lisbon 19-22 October 2015
2) UNESCO 7th World
Science Forum / Budapest 4 - 7 November 2015
3) Info week on Societal Challenge 2 WP 2016/2017 and Brokerage event Brussels 24 - 27 November 2015
4) Info day and brokerage for FET Open and FE - Proactive
Calls for Proposals 2016 Brussels 24 - 26Jan2016
5) 3rd HNN 2.0 on - site training course on
"exploitation IPR Business Plan in the life of Sciences" Germany 9 - 12 May 2016
6) Conference for International Food and Agri Business Management Denmark 20 - 23 June 2016
7) Networking on future R&D Meeting at the
Genoa uni -Italy 26 - 30 July 2016
List of Websites:
Public Website: www.stip.eg.net
ShERACA Plus Website: http://www.sheracaplus.eg.net
Executive Summary
In continuity of attained objectives of the ShERACA Project (First BILAT), ShERACA Plus commenced as a 2nd phase that aims at supporting the policy dialogue, outlining and participating in the implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation between the European Union and Egypt, while drawing on the success stories and the lessons learned from ShERACA project on a micro level.
These objectives were carried out in synergy with the regional and bilateral actions currently running; mainly INCO-NET Mediterranean MedSpring, ERA-NET Med, ERA-Wide and R2I-ENP projects in addition to the RDI Programme and through the 5 WP, which were carefully designed to back-up each other to be able to mitigate identified challenges in the STI Cooperation between EU and EGYPT. Also the connection and collaboration between the consortium members of ShERACA Plus assured a smooth implementation phase to attain the objectives designed in the Project. Though some political instability due to political changes and the change of the Cabinet of Ministers various times during the life-cycle of the project affected the performance which could haven been much stronger in a more stable environment on the administration level of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, yet most of the planned activities during the life-cycle of the project have been successfully implemented and reported on through the requested deliverables as per the Description of Work (DoW) of the project.
ShERACA Plus project had a wide impact on the research community in Egypt through various tools that were integrated in the designed work packages of the project.
ShERACA Plus updated portal (STIP.eg.net) was one of the major tools that widened up the communication platform between the STI Stakeholders and the research community. Though, a lot of planning for joint activities of common interest should be foreseen to be able to cater to the needs of the societal challenges that Egypt is witnessing at this critical stage.
ShERACA Plus movie is a strong documentation for the S&T Collaboration between the EU and EGYPT, which allows a better understanding of the history of this collaboration, its impact on the national and international levels. The movie titled “EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation” in its longer and shorter version showcase success stories and experiences of senior and junior experts who participated in various FP7 projects in relation to various fields as one of the main objectives of the movie to promote the H2020 by encouraging Egyptian researchers to participate in it.
Moreover, ShERACA Short Mobility Grants and the 3 Study Visits had their impact in facilitating collaboration between Egypt and MS countries through researchers who are capable of participating in H2020 Call for proposals and have all the means to proceed with collaborative projects.
All the activities implemented during the life-cycle of the project were also fostered with a strong background derived from the STI Policy Review, the STI foresight, the report on bilateral and regional actions with possible synergies; these were reports that were produced and updated within the life-cycle of the ShERACA Plus project and contributed to implement successful activities.
Project Context and Objectives:
Publishable summary
Introduction and Background
Building on the overall objective of the first BILAT project titled “Shaping Egypt’s Association to the European Research Area and Cooperation Action Plus, ShERACA” (ShERACA is an Arabic word meaning “Partnership”) to enhance the participation and the involvement of Egyptian R&D stakeholders and key players in the various ERA activities, ShERACA Plus (ShERACA +) project, the second BILAT project, is designed to continue achieving these objectives while aspiring to address the current challenges of STI cooperation in the context of the European Neighbourhood Partnership (ENPI).
On a macro level, the objective of ShERACA Plus is to support the policy dialogue, outline and participate in the implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation between the European Union and Egypt while drawing on the success stories and the lessons learned from ShERACA (First BILAT) project on a micro level.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is pursuing its comprehensive plan to reform and strengthen the science and technology capacities in Egypt foremost though initiatives that foster international partnership and cooperation, especially with the European Union. EU-EGYPT S&T cooperation evolved through signing the “Agreement for Scientific and Technology Cooperation” in 2005, which was followed in 2007 with funding the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Programme, phase I in 2007 and phase II in 2011. Alongside the bilateral cooperation between Egypt and the EU, Egypt had a pivotal role in supporting regional cooperation within the Mediterranean Countries and Africa, which is evident in its participation through FP7 and H2020 Programmes in the concluded MIRA Project (Mediterranean Innovation and Research Coordination Action) and currently in the MEDSPRING Project (Science, Policy, Research and Innovation Gateway) as well as in CAASTNet Plus (Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe), in INCO GCC (Science, Technology and Innovation International Cooperation Network between European Union and the Arab Gulf Countries) and in the 4PRIMA CSA.
Though various initiatives to enhance EU-Egypt S&T collaboration and partnership, Egypt’s participation in different ERA activities sought efforts for further improvements according to findings of ShERACA Project (first BILAT), which acknowledged the increase in the number of projects with Egyptian participation as well as the levels of funds through the assessment of EU-Egypt collaboration and Egypt’s participation in FP6 and FP7 projects. ShERACA’s assessment spotted various challenges that hinder further evolvement of STI cooperation between Egypt and the EU. These challenges are:
1. limited impact of the EU-Egypt scientific projects
2. lack of established mechanisms to support STI Cooperation Agreement and decisions of the Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC)
3. limited means to implement the roadmap defined by the JSTCC
4. scarcity of research and technological development training
5. maintaining contacts between EU and Egypt programme or project officers
Project Summary and Objectives
Building on the activities and lesson learnt from the first BILAT project (ShERACA) while taking the EU-Egypt partnership a step further towards a sustained partnership in Horizon 2020, ShERACA Plus is designed to support the institutional dialogue and foster the collaborative activities between Egypt and the EU in the fields of research and innovation.
The overall objective of ShERACA Plus is to support the policy dialogue and contribute to the definition and implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation between the European Union and Egypt.
This objective were carried out in synergy with the regional and bilateral actions currently running; mainly INCO-NET Mediterranean MedSpring, ERA-NET Med, ERA-Wide and R2I-ENP projects in addition to the RDI Programme.
Pursuing ShERACA Plus overall objective aligned with the stated objectives of the INCO action of the FP7 Capacities programme, the work packages (WPs) of the project, highly interrelated, were designed and developed to ensure the achievement of the following aims through relevant core activities:
- WP1: monitor and analyze EU-Egypt STI Cooperation in order to identify the specific measures need to be taken for boosting and increasing the cooperation. This objective has been partially attained through the Review Report on the Progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation and the STI Policy review and its updates attained within the life cycle of the project.
- WP2: To ensure coordination and coherence with other relevant actions at bilateral and regional level. Accomplishing the fundamental basis to further work on realizing this objective has been achieved through a report on the bilateral and regional actions with possible synergies, best practices and lessons learnt as well as the roadmap assigned for better coordination on bilateral joint activities targeting the identified societal challenges together with the recommendations and action plan on regional joint activities. The results of activities have been concluded in the report on the status and outcomes of joint activities.
- WP3: To foster stakeholders’ awareness and engagement through communication and outreach activities entailed the development of the Communication Strategy that would guide the relevant activities as well as the development and frequently update of database. Both deliverables guided the development of relevant printing and promotion materials needed for the launching period of the project. Two of specific significance to the project that would assure the distribution of relevant information to all target groups and relevant stakeholders were the deployment of the EU-Egypt STI Cooperation Portal and the production of the ShERACA Plus movie (in its two versions; long and short) aiming at facilitating more knowledge about the EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation, highlighting success stories from the Egyptian participation in the FP7 projects and further promoting H2020 through the experience of various researchers involved in various activities of the ShERACA Plus Project. The study visits to Germany, Italy and France organized within the framework of the communication activities of the project were an additional milestone that reflected the synergy with other bilateral project, partners and the integration of the project within the Ministry’s activities in relation to the enhancement of the policy dialogue with other European countries.
- WP4: To provide supportive measures to enable and increase EU-Egypt collaborative projects through various capacity building for Egyptian FPs, NCPs and thematic advisors as well as the development of reliable IPR and Project Management helpdesk and launching of the Short Mobility Grant Scheme, of which its impact was assessed on the participants’ level.
The core activities of the projects were designed and carried out by the consortium members encompassing:
1. The Ministry of Scientific Research (MoSR) in Egypt, the coordinator of ShERACA Plus Project
2. The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) in Egypt
3. The International Bureau of Federal Ministry of Educationi and Research at the Project Management Agency (c/o German Aerospace Centre) (DLR) in Germany
4. Institute for Research and Development (IRD) in France
5. Forum for the Euro-Mediterranean Innovation in Action (FEMIA) in France
6. Centre for European Policy Study (Centre for European) in Belgium
ShERACA Plus (Agreement Number 609574) final report is covering the activities carried out within the first 36 months of the project namely from the 13th of October 2013 to 13th of October 2016 according to the given ‘Description of Work’ (DoW)
Within the lifetime of ShERACA Plus the institutional policy dialogue was fostered and enhanced through various collaborative activities between the EU and Egypt in the fields of R&I. The main objective was to create synergies between EU-Egypt STI Cooperation stakeholders on the bilateral and regional level to be able to enhance and further stimulate EU – Egypt scientific research cooperation enabling a sustained partnership in H2020.
The main focus of ShERACA Plus project lied in adding up to the capacities of the network of FPs, H2020 thematic NCPs and thematic advisors by providing practical information on how to get involved and increase the Egyptian participation in H2020. Serving this purpose, ShERACA Plus exerted effort in renewing the EU-Egypt STI Portal as a main tool of communication, where all relevant information about Egypt research capacities as well as EU-Egypt funded running projects and new feature as the Help Desk has been hosted. The main aim of the portal is to establish an open platform that would help to create an information flow and create the critical mass for a growing traffic that would sustain the existence of the portal even after the lifetime of the ShERACA Plus.
Additionally, the EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation movie was produced to be able to highlight the importance of this cooperation, shed light on success stories and experiences gained through the involvement in EU funded projects.
Other milestones were attained through various activities and engagement with stakeholders that resulted in the development of various reports aiming at fostering STI stakeholders as well as relevant target groups with a better overview, practical information and further recommendations that would enable them to embark on new aspects of means of cooperation with the EU based on common interest. These reports are the Progress Review of the EU-Egypt STI Cooperation and its updates, the STI Policy Review, the Report on Bilateral and Regional Actions, the roadmap and recommendations on regional joint activities.
Another Milestone within the project lifestyle is the launch of the Short Mobility Grants of ShERACA Plus aimed at support promising and well justified initiatives of research and innovation actors in Egypt on competitive basis that have been decided by a panel. The Short Mobility Grant was followed by an impact assessment to be able to measure level of satisfaction and the benefit gained from the mobility grant.
Study Visits were also another engaging and outreach activities that took place within the life style of the project to be able to increase bi-lateral collaboration with Egypt and other MS countries as Germany, Italy and France. According to the reports presented from the Egyptian Delegation the Study Visits reflected an interest of collaboration from both sides and assisted in paving the way in front of researchers from Egypt to be introduced and know more about research capacities and collaborative opportunities available in Europe. The Study Visit to Germany showed also another mean of collaboration with ‘FETRIC’ (Tunisia BILAT), which increased the impact of the study visit. The Study Visit was encompassed 11 researchers from Egypt and 8 researchers from Tunisia. The Italian Study Visit was organized mainly in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Egypt, the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and the Ministry of Scientific Research, for which ShERACA Plus Project was nominated for the coordination with the Italian side. The study visit was of a high rank impact as the Delegation to Italy was headed by the former Minister for Scientific Research H.E. Sherif Hammad. The Egyptian Delegation encompassed 37 senior scientists. The Study Visit to France was organized in Collaboration with two ShERACA PLUS partners namely: FEMIA - Forum of Euro-Mediterranean pour L'Innovation en Action and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). The Study Visit encompassed 8 Egyptian Researchers.
Project Results:
Main results / foregrounds
The primary and the most important outcome of the project is answering how to alleviate the quality of research capacities in Egypt to increase the participation of Egyptian Researchers within the H2020 Call for proposals, encourage bilateral collaboration with MS countries and to thrive research area of mutual interest between EU and Egypt. The impact of this outcome is creating more future collaboration opportunities in the field of science and innovation that will benefit both parties.
The activities and reports attained within the lifetime of ShERACA Plus contributed to the answer of this question from different aspects.
WP1: MONITOR & ANALYZE EU-EGYPT STI COOPERATION
Since the beginning of FP7, Egypt has demonstrated a noticeable progress of funds received and success in its participation, which increased from 7% in 2007 to 20% in 2014. According to the Review Report on Progress of the EU-Egypt STI Cooperation 125 Projects were funded with Egyptian Participants who received approximately Euro 15 million. In relation to other Mediterranean Partner Countries, Egypt in FP7 currently had the highest number of proposals submitted and selected. Italy, France and Germany are the top three countries with most collaborative links (followed by Spain and the United Kingdom), not a surprising result considering these three countries' broader scientific collaboration programme with Egypt.
In H2020’s first 2 rounds of call for proposals (2014 – 2015) 19 projects were funded with an Egyptian participation, of which almost half are supported by the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions for Research and Innovation Staff Exchange.
ShERACA Plus Project exerted efforts to investigate the status of EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation by collecting qualitative information from researchers and officials through a semi-structured interviews carried out through the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The questions focused mainly on the Egyptian participants’ experience in EU funded projects, particularly on the factors that facilitated or hindered their involvement, and their suggestions on how to improve future STI Cooperation. Additionally, the Review Report on Progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation included the feedback received by the IRD while conducting a project mapping exercise for the ShERACA Plus Project in relation to WP2. Main concerns and recommendations that came in the feedback could be summarized in the following points:
• Application process: Some interviewees discussed the complexity of the application process, and emphasized that they overcame this complexity by learning more about the application process and receiving proper training on proposal writing.
• Research Permits: Several project coordinators and participants expressed the need for support to interviewees was a suggestion for the ministry to be able no support researchers in their activities through developing an office to help with permits of excavations and visits and to help researchers work their way through the governmental red tape.
• General Administrative and Financial Issues: Many Egyptian participants mentioned the lack of compatibility between home institution and EU regulation as one of a key difficulty they encounter during the implementation of the project. The lack of qualified administrative, financial and project management staff was pointed out in many interviews, particularly by those based in governmental universities.
• Political Situation: Some EU project coordinators highlighted that over the past couple of years the unstable political situation has made it difficult to work in and travel to Egypt. They mentioned the importance of being flexible and able to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.
• Role of Home Institution: The majority of Egyptian interlocutors expressed that their parent organizations have been generally supportive of their involvement in European projects, but noted the internal regulations of their institutions as a major challenge.
• Role of the MoSR: The Ministry was well regarded and acknowledged as playing a positive role in encouraging EU-Egypt STI collaboration. Many interviewees highlighted the importance of visibility and support provided to EU funded programs by the ministry and particularly the RDI program. Some emphasized that new and young researchers need to be more targeted to participate in EU funded projects. A few EU coordinators stressed the importance of involving high-level officials in the project in order to achieve results.
• Role of the NCPs/Focal Points: Many Egyptian researchers pointed to the important role of NCPs and focal points as information multipliers. Some suggested that in order to make their role more effective, the people performing these roles should have strong administrative and management background. It was also proposed that information sessions and networking events organized by NCPs/Focal Points become structured and call oriented. It was proposed that NCPs in some EU Member States (such as Italy) and Turkey, who work exclusively on their tasks and are well trained could serve as good examples for Egypt.
• Project Execution & Communication: Issues related to the size of the consortium, the deliverables and decision taking were not commonly emphasized by Egyptian participants as challenging. Some stressed the importance of the European project coordinator as the main factor of the success or failure of the communication within the consortium. Some EU coordinators mentioned that it would have been beneficial for the project if Egyptian participants included the community, and integrated more closely the social-environmental and economic landscape in their work.
• Quality/Nature of Egypt’s Participation: Feedback received from EU coordinators was mixed regarding the role of Egyptian participants in the project. Some highlighted difficulties of communication, receiving deliverables late and low quality of contribution, while others praised individual Egyptian scientists by name in the survey and expressed willingness to work together in the future. For the most part, the role of the Egyptian participant focused on collecting local information pertinent to the topic of the project.
• Capacity Building: Interviewees were in accord that Egyptian researchers and administrators alike would greatly benefit from targeted capacity building activities. Capacity building could be advantageous to Egypt’s absorption capacity, which was highlighted in some interviews as one area with great potential for improvement and broader societal impact, considering the country’s immense human resource pool.
• Short-Term/Travel Support: Respondents emphasized the importance of existing personal contacts and face-to-face encounters for establishing and enhancing their collaborations with their European colleagues, and expressed that the EU and the Ministry further support their participation in relevant meetings, workshops and conferences outside Egypt.
During the 5th JSTCCM meeting held in 2012, the Egyptian delegation emphasized that despite the country's political and economic situation, the government remains committed to supporting research and innovation. The increase of funds that Egypt has placed to support the PRIMA initiative, Article 185, as well as bilateral Joint Research Funds, clearly demonstrates the ongoing dedication and weight that the government has placed on STI and cooperation with international partners. In addition, it shows that with more bi-regional cooperation, more EU-Egypt STI Cooperation can exist. However, capacity building remains of high priority for the country. With the launch of H2020 and the culmination of efforts at the regional level towards developing a common Euro-Mediterranean agenda for innovation, it is now is an opportune time to establish a renewed S&T framework of cooperation that is accompanied with the appropriate instruments and actions and reflects the contemporary geo-political and socio-economic realities in Egypt, Europe and the Mediterranean region. This could be attained through aligning the policy framework with desired objectives through revisiting the agreement and road map and action plan of the EU-EGYPT S&T Cooperation aiming at better structure the mechanisms of implementation and follow up on cooperation activities as well as injection of feasible fields that is sought within the regional and national agenda as ‘Innovation’ for example and stimulating the uptake of RTD results by the industry and SME. Thus, establishing the desired interaction mechanisms between research and industry as well as public and private sector.
On the regional level the support of the PRIMA INITIATIVE that would create a common Innovation Agenda within the Euro – Mediterranean basin is a step forward in the EU-Egypt Cooperation due to the stable long-term and sustainable frame of partnership that is foreseen in specific topics based on co-ownership, co-decision and co-financing. However, some formalities in relation to the legalization of the initiative are at the moment a challenge that needs to be addressed.
On another front, within the 6th JSTCCM discussions took place in May 2015, Egypt expressed a strong interest in exploring the feasibility of becoming an associate member to H2020 (similarly to Tunisia).
In the same meeting NCPs for societal challenges 2, 3 and 5 identified the following specific topics for future collaboration:
• small scale energy generation
• renewable energy particularly waste- to- energy generation
• energy-water nexus
• energy-water-food-nexus
• Sustainable Food Security and Blue Growth
• wastewater treatment and water reuse
the EC pointed that the ERANETs in the Bio economy area are open to third country participation and that it has plans for developing, at a later stage, a regional strategy mainly oriented toward solar energy with a strong industrial component.
The EC also highlighted the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue and its importance to explore opportunities for Egypt in particular, with regards to Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture. Additionally, The EC encouraged Egypt to participate in wider networks and main multilateral initiatives; such as the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness' (GloPID-R) and the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD).
The foresight report explored the alternative scenarios for the future of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation to the future EU-Egypt STI cooperation in view of the current developments of STI in Egypt. The report elaborated on the economic business and usual and alternative scenarios underpinned in the analysis undertaken in the MEDPRO project for the case of Egypt and explores the potential development of the Egypt-EU STI cooperation. This attempt was supported by the inputs in Tasks 1.1 and 1.2 respectively EU-Egypt STI cooperation review and STI policy mix peer review and the foresight meeting held on 19 October 2014 in Egypt to discuss the status of STI developments in Egypt and cooperation with the EU.
WP2: ENSURE COORDINATION AND COHERENCE WITH OTHER RELEVANT ACTIONS AT BI-LATERAL AND REGIONAL LEVEL
Building on the results attained information from the Review of EU-EGYPT S&T Cooperation, the French partner (IRD) pursued an interesting mapping exercise to be able to have an overview of the funded projects in an attempt to create a synergy between the activities of these projects.
The results of the mapping showed that the type of participation stretches out from public institutions and Universities to ministries and its affiliated organizations to the private sector encompassing enterprises or SMEs. The mapping also identified the scope of work that Egyptian Participants are fulfilling within these projects, which varies from scientific analysis, conducting field experiments, feasibility assessments, organizing brokerage events, thematic workshops and trainings etc. Amongst various finding the barriers, lesson learnt and best practices in relation to Egypt participation to FP7 is of significant importance allowing a better understanding to the ecosystem in Egypt in order to be able to enhance the participation of Egyptian Researchers in EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
Important barriers that the report reflected that might affect the progress of Egyptian participation in the EU Framework Programme are the political instability Egypt witnessed due to the Arab Spring, which occurred in 2011. The change in the political scene caused a volatile political environment resulted in complication in administrational procedure within institutions. On another front the report stated various institutional challenges that would affect the Egyptian participation as bureaucracy within the institutions and lack of experienced trained calibers capable of delivering tasks and requirements are another barrier that is mentioned, lack of effective communication that may cause tension, poor infrastructure in some locations and lack of involvement of communities and high officials within the implementation time of the project. Other aspects were mentioned like the lack of trust between academia and industry and private and public sector. Also gender issues and hierarchical order related to culture issues in the report were notified. Yet, culture differences were attested as beneficial in constructive and open discussions. The most significant barrier mentioned in the report was the one related to lack of entrepreneurial culture, which needs to exist to advance the implementation process of projects on one hand, allow a better understanding to the nature of projects and its importance and better integrate this projects within an innovation system that needs to exist to increase the competiveness of the Egyptian researchers applying to the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
The report also acknowledged the best practices the projects’ coordinators experienced within the course of work with Egyptian partners, which could be summarized in the partners’ flexibility and full engagement in work to overcome challenges encountered due to above-mentioned barriers. It also stated that the Egyptian level of raising awareness to the public about some projects increased the interest in these projects from the scientific, business and local communities. The high quality calibers involved in the WPs as well as the high quality experts and stakeholders participating in the activities of some of these projects are one of the best practices reported.
The report gave a glimpse on successful coordination and cooperation between the projects highlighting MHESR as a good catalyst to building up these synergies with other projects on the national and regional level.
The report ended by giving a list of activities that could be recommended for Egyptian participation and could be supported by the “Short Mobility Grant Scheme” that is scheduled within the ShERACA Plus activities. The report was concluded by analysis and recommendations highlighting the importance of synergy between some activities as brokerage, training and dissemination events in order to avoid overlapping and be able to exploit existing opportunities as well as effectively utilize resources. The Egyptian partners in the report were described as ‘trustful’ enabling them for further future activities. One of the important aspect also that was mentioned in this regard, the requisite to broaden the communication platform and dissemination of information to be able to spot new partners and benefit from the experience of Egyptian Partners in EU funded projects. The report highlighted the importance of personal contact with the Egyptian partners as a main mean of cooperation titled with ‘informal cooperation’ which is the first step followed by an institutional cooperation. From the thematic aspect of the project that report acknowledged the significant importance to continue focusing on Water, Energy and Food Security and main topics that need to be addressed within the southern Mediterranean region and foremost Egypt. A specific weight has been given to the two projects, namely MERID as it is mandated to boost existing collaboration between the EU and the Middle East countries by creating new channels and forging new links, especially with countries that are newcomers to EU cooperation in Research and Innovation. The ERECI Project (Egyptian Renewable Energy Cluster Initiative), a project funded by the RDI Programme is another project of importance due to its objectives aiming at setting-up a stable cluster organization in renewable energy field that would support Egyptian technology transfer, industrial development and partnership between institutions, researchers and enterprises.
The report titled ‘Report on Bilateral and regional actions with possible synergies, best practices and lesson learnt’ (D1.2) was followed by a ‘Roadmap for a better coordination on bilateral joint activities targeting the identified societal challenges”. The aim of the latter is to assist the preparation and implementation of bi-lateral joint activities between the EU and Egypt as well as other MS. The document took the first report (D1.2) as the main reference, which has identified various opportunities for collaborations with different partners. The main aim of the report is to avoid fragmented efforts and optimize results, capitalize on existing opportunities as well as effectively and efficiently utilize available resources.
Another aspect of collaboration was given in the report titled “Recommendations and action plan on regional joint activities”, which were based on previous reports mentioned aiming at highlighting the complementarities of existing regional projects to reduce dispersion of efforts across projects as well as sharing best practices for coordination. One of the most important points that came in this report and is related one of the endorsed actions by the EuroMed Ministerial meeting held in 2007 in the Cairo Declation is to “promote innovation, knowledge – sharing and its return on the industry and economy in the Mediterranean Partner Countries”. This needs as mentioned before be reflected in the EU-Egypt S&T Cooperation Agreement to be able to stimulate the uptake of RTD results by the industry and SMEs by establishing the desired interaction mechanisms between research and industry as well as public and private sector. Therefore, it is pivotal to develop practical and efficient means at the regional level to support research, innovation and SMEs through new instruments and schemes.
To be able also to ensure coordination and coherence with other relevant actions at bi-lateral level and regional level, ShERACA Plus facilitated a number of travel activities in relation to Egypt’s participation in preparation meetings for the PRIMA INITIATIVE, which will be launched by 2017.
WP3: FOSTER STAKEHOLDERS AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT THROUGH COMMUNICATION AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
Following the design of the project that aims at supporting the policy dialogue, outline and participate in the implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation between the EU and Egypt while drawing on the success stories, ShERACA Plus developed a communication strategy that was followed in order to be able to bridge the gap between stakeholders involved in the STI ecosystem in Egypt. The communication strategy identifies pillars of the communication strategy that would comply with the general and specific objectives of the ShERACA Plus Project. These pillars have been summed up in the following questions:
• WHAT are the key communication objectives and messages
• WHO is the target audience
• HOW to reach this audience
• WITH WHAT type of material the target audience will be approached? What are the communication materials that should be used to reach out to these target groups?
• WHEN and WHERE the different activities and events will take place
• What are the risk factors that need to be tackled (obstacles when crossing boundaries)?
The document also presents the projects’ main deliverables and events, and provides a tentative timeline to be used by all consortium members.
Within the communication strategy a database of all target stakeholders has been developed and utilized in dissemination of information for various activities as well as to receive answers on a number of surveys that has been conducted within the framework of activities of the project.
One of the important assets of ShERACA Plus Project is the revision and restructure of EU-EGYPT STI Portal (www.stip.eg.net) which is considered one of the main resources of information within the research community to know more about EU-Egypt STI Cooperation and have updated in formation about existing projects and activities. The Portal has been updated frequently and reported about three times within the lifecycle of the project.
Another important asset to the ShERACA Plus Project was the produced movie about the EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation, which has been produced in two versions. The long version of the movie (17 minutes) gives an overview about the evolvement of the EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation since its early start. It gives also a glimpse of successful FP7 funded projects with Egyptian participation through testimonials form researchers who contributed to these projects. It also showcase the experience of other researchers who have various attempts to participate in the H2020 calls for proposals and were involved in various activities organized and run under the ShERACA Project. In its shorter version, the movie focuses on promoting the participation in EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation through interviewed researchers and experts who talked about their experiences and gave advises in this regard.
Long version ~ 14 min.: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b8rihv40oh6aw81/AAC5_n7VJTwAYhzXCZliyQKza?dl=0
Short version ~ 5 min. : https://www.dropbox.com/s/peup22fbejngoa6/Short%20Vr.%20of%20EU%20Egypt%20co.op%20video%20with%20Subtitles.mp4?dl=0
Within the design & structure of the project three study-visits to Germany, Italy and France has been carried out and reported about separately. The main objective of this study visits is to better link Egyptian researchers, entrepreneurs, idea carriers, policy makers to the European research community by offering them the opportunity to get together with European partners to develop an enabling environment for collaboration opportunities.
The study visit embarked also on opportunities of synergy that were indicated in the ‘Roadmap for a better coordination on bilateral joint activities targeting the identified societal challenges’. Synergizing activities was witnessed through the collaboration with “FETEIC” (Tunisia BILAT Project), where the study visit to Germany was jointly organized. More details about the study visit have been given in the report (D 3.8). Another type of synergy was developed through the coordination and organization of the “MedSpring ScienceCafe” that has been organized and added to the Agenda of the Study Visit to Italy (D3.9). Within the design and implementation of the ShERACA Plus 3rd study visit to France another type of synergy took place between partners (IRD and FEMIA) aiming at maximizing the impact of the study visit and optimizing the use of resources. (D3.10) (recommendations)
WP4: PROVIDE SUPPORTIVE MEASURES TO ENABLE AND INCREASE EU-EGYPT COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
Stressing on the importance of dissemination of information to various target groups identified within the communication strategy, ShERACA Plus was keen to provide supportive measures to disseminate adequate information to the stakeholders about the EU Framework Programme on Research and Innovation as well as other activities that will be or have been carried out within the framework of the project. These measures have been determined accordingly, namely the support to the work of the Central Liaison Unit (CLU) for Egypt – EU STI Cooperation within the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which is in charge of coordinating all activities of the project.
The Central Liaison Unit gained its importance from being recognized as the main coordinator and manager of the national network of multipliers, as well as the main display/gateway of Egyptian RDI potential to Europe.
Within the first year the first tailor-made training was organized back to back with the first annual meeting of the ShERACA Plus project. The training was jointly organized with the RDI Programme and the INCONTACT 2020 and tackled legal and financial issues in relation to FP7 Projects and H2020. Trainers who helped deliver this training session were thematic NCPs who were recruited by an open call conducted ShERACA plus partners (FEMIA and IRD). This was to ensure the expertise of the trainers and also to ensure the contribution of all responsible partners.
Based on the feedback of this training, a ‘training needs assessment’ has been conducted aiming at enhancing the training quality for the CLU in order to answer specific questions to specific target groups. The training needs assessment gave the following priority to the topics that needs to be tackled:
1. How to identify funding opportunities
a. How to articulate your research idea
b. How to align the research idea with the relevant H2020
Societal Challenges/actions
2. Managing an EU grant contract
a. Financial reporting
b. Technical reportng
c. How to manage the Financial aspects of a project (for
financial administrators)
d. How to manage the Financial aspects of a project (for faculty
or researcher PI)
3. Developing an EU grant contract
4. Developing effective partnerships for H2020 proposals
a. How to seek partnership for the H2020 proposals
b. How to form and manage a consortium
5. Compliance monitoring and reporting on EU funds
a. Financial reporting
b. Technical reporting
6. Preparing successful H2020 proposals
a. How to prepare the budget for a project proposal
b. How to plan a project (logical framework)
3. Do’s and Don’ts when writing a H2020 proposal
The following other topics were identified through the assessment:
• Technology transfer within EU projects
• Research ethics and Intellectual Property Rights
• Explanation of a few examples of successful proposals that have previously been awarded a grant through the program
• The evaluation criteria and selection criteria for a successful proposal
• Managing the international grants office and finding funds for it
Other tailor-designed mechanism that was introduced by ShERACA Plus for the EU funded projects was the IPR & Project Management Helpdesk (D4.4) which offers first-line support on Innovation Management, IP and IPR issues by giving advices on individual IP and IPR questions and provides a written answers within four working days. The helpdesk offers also the service to assess and revise IP issues within contracts and other agreements such as licensing or distribution agreements, joint ownership agreement and consortium agreements. The helpdesk utilized a support ticket system. Every request is assigned to a unique ticket number through which the user can track the progress and responses of his request online supported by a complete online archiving system of all requests.
Business Coaching is another service that has been developed within the course of work of WP4 in 2015 aiming at supporting researchers to well-present their idea and commercialize it on a further phase of the project. The ‘business coaching’ was a step forward to be able to identify potential researchers who are interested in funding their projects and are in the phase of looking for potential partners.
A total number of 10 researchers were identified as possible candidates for marketable research. The dedicated business coach for the 10 researchers were 10 hours/ researcher that accumulated 97 hours of counselling. The feedback analysis proved that 96% of candidates were satisfied with the outcome of the counselling.
The module of business coaching was further utilized within the Mediterranean region in collaboration with MedSpring Project, where the counselling process took place for projects from the Mediterranean countries (as Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Italy and Iraq). The researchers were chosen from Euro Mediterranean countries through an open call. A panel of expertise assessed innovative ideas for these projects. 40 researchers were identified as of eligible projects. The ideas varied in their objectives whether addressing a certain societal challenge or some resources’ scarcity or a better utilization of certain resources in their community and applicable to other countries within the region.
Launching the Short Mobility Grant of ShERACA Project was an additional mean to support Egyptian researchers, entrepreneurs and STI stakeholders who residing in Egypt to submit new innovative ideas aiming at enriching the EU-Egypt STI cooperation to solve pertinent global challenges, mainly scarcity and quality of food, water and energy topics. The call targeted consolidating previous collaboration, preparation of new collaborative activities as well as the engagement of new Egyptian and European stakeholders in the EU-Egypt STI cooperation. The call supported networking and partnering activities such as:
1. Building consortium for H2020 calls and/or participating in networking events in EU, MPCs and Africa
2. Participation in brokerage events, info sessions or building upon other initiatives targeting EU-Egypt partnership.
3. Any other activities that targets increasing the visibility of Egypt's research capacity to the European countries that could lead to effective partnerships within EU research and innovation programs.
This action was supported by an Impact Assessment Survey (D4.7) consisting of 10 questions covering awarded applicants contact details, application procedures, feedback, mission outcome and views on how to promote their ideas. The survey was prepared on basis of both text questions and choices. The survey was administrated through the online tool ‘Survey Monkey’. According to the survey the fields of specializations that benefited from the Short Mobility Grant varied according to the following percentage;
Health 30% - ICP 10% - Energy 10% - Water 20% - Food and Agriculture and Biotechnology 30%
The Impact Assessment Survey showed also a rate of satisfaction that exceeded 75% on the majority of questions.
WP5: COORDINATION AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Within the project cycle the coordination between Consortium Members went smooth and various collaboration took place in relation to Study visits, training organization and finalization of deliverables within the 4 work packages.
Yet, various tasks witnessed a deviation from work plan due to its dependent from other factors as the delay in the consultation / interviews for the STI Policy Reviews, STI Foresight report, Report on bilateral and regional actions, Roadmap for better coordination, the organization of study visits which required an intensive coordination with partners as well as with other national organization for the nomination of candidates and to create synergy with other national activities that took place. Also the impact assessment on the mobility grants which witness a delay due to the delay in answers from the researchers who participated in this tasks.
Though these delays we need to state that the ShERACA Project did have its useful impact on the Research Community in relation to senior researchers and junior ones who participated and reported positively on their involvement in the ShERACA Plus various and multi-dimensional activities and tasks. These experiences have been documented in the short- and long version movie that was produced within the framework of Workpage 3.
Apart from the good collaboration and synergy in planned and implemented activities, ShERACA Plus witnessed deterioration in two activities, namely the Board Meetings on months 25 and 36 due to a pre-agreement that the meetings will be done through conference calls and skype calls for the best utilization of resources. Exceptional Board Meeting could be organized as that was organized in Brussels on the 28th April 2014 titled "ShERACA Plus Ad-Hoc Meeting".
Second deterioration was the Final Conference, which did not take place due to administration issues and change of management within the EU-Egypt Cooperation Unit.
Please find below a list of significant activities that took place within the 36-months duration of ShERACA Plus Project.
Date of event Event name
# MHESR
1 7-8 Nov.2013 Travelling for Ms.Zeinab Sl Sadr -8th International Learning Network
to Budapest
2 6-7 Dec 2013 ShERACA Board Meeting Traveling for Prof.Hazem Mansour, Ms. Zeinab El Sadr rFrom 5-8 December 2013,,Coordination and Project Management,to Hurgada/El Gouna /
3 2-4 Apr.2014 Travelling for Ms. Zeinab El Sadr From 1-5 April 2014,Providing Supportive Measures to enable and increase EU-Egypt collaborative Projects & 2nd ICRI2014 ,to Athens
4 7-Sep-14 "S & T policy Mix Peer Review Scoping Event " Workshop / Cairo (organization Costs) 6-7 September 2014(Dinner-Lunch-Coffee Break-Equipment-Video)
5 26 Sep.2014 Travellingfor Ms. Zeinab El Sadr From 26-27 September 2014,Coordinator's Day & 19th EU Comittee Meeting Med GSO,to Brussels
6 26-28 Nov.2014 Travelling Ms.Zeinab El Sadr from 25-29 November 2014,International NCPs Workshop Promoting the International Dimension of H2020 & 9th International Learning Network"ILN" International Cooperation in H2020,to Brussels
7 7-12 Dec 2014 Study Visit to Germany /Traveling Ms.Zeinab El sadr from 10-12 December 2014 & Dr. Ola Gomaa from 7-12 December 2014
8 14-16 Dec.2014 Workshop / Cairo (organization Costs): S&T Policy Mix Review ,Validation event to Present and Validate deliverables of task 1.1,1.2 and 1.3 ,14-16 December 2014(Dinner-Lunch-Printing Materials-Local Transportation)
9 17-18 Dec 2014 Training Workshop H2o2o focal points / Cairo
10 14-15 Feb.2015 Traveling Ms.Malak Marzouk from 13-15 February 2015, Foster stakeholders awareness and engagement through communication and outreach activities to Alexandria-Egypt
11 23-24 Feb.2015 Travelling Prof.Hazem Mansour,Prof.Mahmoud Sakr and Prof.Amr Adly from 24-27 February 2015,Med Spring 2nd Euromed. Innovation brokerage & venturing Event on R&I-to Germany
12 30 Apr. 2015 Travelling for Amr Radwan - Meeting of NCP for Societal Challenge 1 Health, Demographic Change and well-being under H2020 from 29 April - 1 May 2015 to Brussels
13 2 - 6 June 2015 Travelling for Zeinab El Sadr, Reem Awad, Manar Mohsen to Cheltenham Science Festival and Annual Meeting 2 - 6 June 2015
14 15-16 June 2015 Study visit to Italy TRAVELING for Prof. Hazem Mansour , Zeinab El Sadr, Reem Awad from 13 - 17 June, Tarek Tawfik, Mohmoud El Halwagy, Suzanne Kholeif, Soheir Hedayet - from 14 - 17 June 2015
15 16-Jun-15 Travelling for Amr Radwan to attend 1st training for SC1 NCP's "Proposal Preparation for Health related Calls in H2020" in Brussels from 15 - 17 June 2015
16 30-Jun-15 Travelling for Maha Tawfik to attend Brokerage Event Hellenic Forum 2015 in Athens from 29 Jun-1st Jul 2015
17 16 - 18 Sep. 2015 Study Visit to France / Travelling for Zeinab El Sadr (from 17 - 19 September), Ahmad Huzayyin,Pakinam Idris (16 - 19 September), Prof. Habiba Wassef, Dr. Nabil Thabet, Dr. Hossam Saffaa, Prof. Maha Tawfik,Dr. Osama Dowidar, Dr. Hamdy El Ghitany (16 - 18 September
18 17 - 18 Sep. 2015 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to attend info day & brokerage event in Brussels form 16 - 19 September 2015
19 20 - 21 Oct. 2015 Travelling for Dr. Haitham Safwat Hamza for Brokerage event ICT 2015: Innovate, Connect and Transform in Lisbon from 19 - 22 October 2015
20 04-07 Nov. 2015 Travelling for Dr. Mohamed Wagih Budapest from 4 - 7 November 2015 to attend UNESCO 7th World Science Forum
21 25 - 26 Nov. 2015 Travelling for Dr. Amr Helal to attend the info week on Societal Challenge 2 WP 2016/2017 and brokerage event in Brussels from 24 - 27 November 2015
22 02 - 03 Dec. 2015 Travelling for Zeinab El Sadr (ShERACA PLUS Coordinator) to attend a meeting in Rome - Italy for the PRIMA CSA for preparation and support of regional joint activities from 2 - 3 December 2015
23 9-11 Dec. 2015 Travelling for Prof. Hazem Mansour – Assistant to Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research to Italy to attend preparation meeting for PRIMA Initiative
24 12 - 14 Jan. 2016 Travelling for Zeinab El Sadr (ShERACA Plus Coordinator) to Rome -Italy to attend 2nd meeting for preparation and support of regional activities form 12 - 14 January 2016
25 24- 25 Jan. 2016 Travelling for Zeinab to Brussels to attend a preparation meeting for ERA Net Cofund SFS-41-20 from 23 - 26 January2016
26 25 Jan. 2016 Travelling for Prof. Ola Gomaa to Brussels to Info day and brokerage for FET Open and FE - Proactive Calls for Proposals 2016" from 24 - 26 January 2016
27 02 Feb. 2016 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to Brussels to attend NCP info day for the Science with and for Society from 1 - 2 February 2016
28 3 – 6 Feb. 2016 Travelling Prof. Hazem Mansour to Brussels to attend PRIMA Workshop organized by the EU titled “Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals for Water and Food Systems Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area”
29 3 March 2016 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to Brussels to attend Science with and for Society Brokerage Event from 2 - 5 March 2016
30 15 – 20 March 2016 Travelling of Prof. Hazem Mansour – Assistant to Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research, Ms. Zeinab El Sadr – ShERACA Coordinator and Ms. Reem Awad – Communication Expert to attend the Stakeholders’ Consultation for the Prima Initiative
31 10-11 May 2016 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to Bonn - Germany to attend 3rd HNN 2.0 on - site training course on "exploitation IPR Business Plan in the life of Sciences" from 9 - 12 May 2016
32 21-22 June 2016 Travelling for - Prof. Amr Helal to Denmark to attend the Conference for International Food and Agri Business Management from 20 - 23 June 2016
33 6 July 2016 Travelling for Dr. Amr Radwan to Brussels to attend Meeting for NCP for Societal Challenge 1,Demographic Change and well-being under H2020 from 5 - 7 July 2016
34 27-29 July 2016 Travelling for Prof. Taha Mattar to attend a networking on future R&D Meeting at the University of Genoa-Italy from 26 - 30 July 2016
35 31 August – 2 Sept. 2016 Travelling for Prof. Hazem Mansour – Assistant to the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research to Spain to attend General Assembly for Prima Initiative
Date of event Event name
# ASRT
1 6-7 Dec 2013 Travelling: participation of Amr Radwan at the SHERACA+ kickoff meeting in Gouna, Egypt on 6-7 December 2013
2 24-25 Feb.2015 Travelling: Participation of Amr Radwan at 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Brokerage & Venturing Event on Research and Innovation in Berlin, Germany – 25/26 February, 2015.
3 12-13 March 2016 Travelling :Travel cost of Dr.Mahmoud Sakr, an employee at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, for participating and representing ShERACA project in the international cooperation forum of strategic planning and economic development organised on 12,13 March 2016 in Italy
4 2-3 May 2016 Travelling Travel cost of Dr.Mahmoud Sakr, an employee at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, for participating and representing ShERACA project in the "Transnational cooperation in Education, Research and Innovation Conference" organised on 2-3 May 2016 in Germany.
5 11-13 July 2016 Travelling Travel cost of Dr.Mahmoud Sakr, an employee at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, for participating and representing ShERACA project in Arab German cooperation forum organised by the Arab-Germany Young Academy of Sciences in Germany.
Date of event Event name
# DLR
1 12-20 Dec2014 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, Cairo, Egypt, Validation Workshop and Annual Meeting
2 5-8 Dec 2013 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, , El Gouna, Egypt, Kick-off Meeting
3 29 Apr 14 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, , Brussels, Belgium 143.60
Introduction, discussion and agreement on implementing the Task 1.2 where DLR is a leader
4 6-9 Sep 2014 TRAVELING: Roman Noetzel, Cairo, Egypt, Scoping event for the STI Policy Mix Peer Review
5 6-13 Sep 2014 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, Cairo, Egypt, Scoping event for the STI Policy Mix Peer Review as well as interview of Egyptian authorities
6 10 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, , Brussels, Belgium, Coordination Meeting with CEPS & Mona El Tobgui for discussion &coordination of future procedure concerning the Synthetic Draft Report as well as how to bring the results of the Policy Mix Peer Review into the Foresight
7 10 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Roman Noetzel, Brussels, Belgium, Coordination Meeting with CEPS & Mona El Tobgui for discussion &coordination of future procedure concerning the Synthetic Draft Report as well as how to bring the results of the Policy Mix Peer Review into the Foresight
8 17-21 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Susanne Ruppert-Elias, Cairo, Egypt, Foresight Meeting, preparation for the foresight study visit
9 10-11 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: EXTERNAL: Christian Weise,Ralf Parl, Jörg Pallentin Bonn, Germany, Hotel costs, Study visits
10 7-10 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Oliver Maria Dilly,Susanne Ruppert-Elias, Ralf Hermann,Berlin, Germany, Study Visits
11 6-9 Sep 2014 TRAVELING: EXTERNAL: Jacues Van der Meer, Peter Wycisk, Moez Jbara,Judith Schick,Holger Kohl, Noha Saad Hussein ,Cairo, Egypt, STI Policy Mix Peer Review
12 7-12 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: EXTERNAL: Ismail Ashraf Elsaye, Abdelwahab Manal Abd, Boshta Mostafa Abdel, Elhabbasha Elsayed,Huzayyin Ahmed Ali, Mahmoud Tarek Samir, Salama Sherif Mohamad, Sarmani Ayman Ali, Sharaf Hebatallah, Tawfik Maha Mohsen, various cities, Germany, Flights for the 10 Egyptian Participants of Study visits,Germany
13 7-12 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: EXTERNAL: Susanne Klages, various cities, Germany, Expert, participated in Study Visits (Food Group)
Date of event Event name
# FEMIA
1 4-8 Dec 2013 TRAVELING:: Travel of Dr. Kyriaki Papageorgiou, Cairo-Gouna for Kick off meeting
2 3-14 Feb 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Kyriaki Papageorgiou, Barcelona-Cairo for MedSpring/ShERACA
brokerage event
3 14-21 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Spela Majcen, Ljubljana-Cairo for ShERACA Plus foresight meeting
4 13-19 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Spela Majcen, Ljubljana-Cairo for project Annual meeting and ShERACA Plus workshop on Horizon2020
5 5-7 Sep 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry, Ljubljana-Cairo for STI Policy Review workshop
6 18-22 Oct 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry, Ljubljana-Cairo for ShERACA Plus Foresight meeting
7 13-17 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry , Ljubljana-Cairo for the project validation workshop and Horizon20202 training
8 16-19 Feb 2015 TRAVELING: Travel of Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry, Brussels-Cairo for support to EU-Egypt JSTCC
Date of event Event name
# CEPS
1 Dec.2013
Oct .2014 TRAVELING: Kick-off meeting in Hurghada, December 2013: de Groen;
Workshop in Cairo, October 2014; Ayadi
# Date of event Event name
IRD
1 28-29 Apr 2014 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): travel from Marseille to Brussels to attend the interim project meeting
2 13-19 Dec 2015 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): travel from Marseille to Cairo to participate in the annual project meeting
3 5-9 Sept 2014 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): travel and subsistence allowances to attend the workshop "Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Review"
6 16 – 18 Sept 2014
TRAVELING: Visite d'étude Paris / Montpellier
4 14-Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): subsistence allowances to attend the validation event
5 17-18 Dec 2014 TRAVELING: Flavia Mariani (project manager, temporary): travel and subsistence allowances for the participation in the H2020 training for Egyptian NCPs/NFPs
The activities implemented and report submitted by ShERACA Plus various stakeholders as well as the impact assessments that took place within the framework of the project pinpointed some essential facts and recommendations that should be considered and supported through various mechanisms and funds related to EU-Egypt STI Collaboration.
Broadening the platform of communication with Egyptian Researchers (at Universities and Research Centers) and STI stakeholders (business sectors, incubators, accelerators, funding agents) needs to be fostered and nurtured through a the STI Portal that would facilitate information as well as funding and collaboration opportunities. This challenge needs an intensive work on the content and better exposure of the STI Portal, that has been already developed and equipped with all necessary tool to be able to mitigate the gap between academia and STI Stakeholders. However, the STIP Portal needs a better exposure in international events and to the international research community to be acknowledged as the gate to EU - Egyp STI collaboration. Broadening the communication platform and working on engaging STI Stakeholders would allow a better dissemination of information (better information flow) to be able to identify new collaboration opportunities and increase the synergy between implemented activities within the STI Stakeholders in Egypt as well as within funded projects funded by the EU or within the bilateral agreements that exists with other MS countries.
The lack of entrepreneurial culture which was identified in the Review of EU-Egypt S&T Collaboration needs to be supported for a better implementation of joint projects and collaboration activities between Egypt and the EU and to allow a better understanding of the objectives of the projects and the collaboration especially on the inter-institutional level. The foster of entrepreneurial culture will result in a strong existence of an innovation system that needs to flourish to increase the level of competitiveness of Egyptian Researchers and STI Stakeholders. This challenge has been also identified in the Euro-Med Ministerial meeting held back in 2007 and was recommended in the Cairo declaration, yet a lot need to be projected, planned and implemented in this aspect.
Potential Impact:
Impact:
ShERACA Plus Project had its resonance within the EU-EGYPT STI Collaboration in terms of widening the communication platform of STI stakeholders by introducing new research capacities for potential collaborative projects and enabling the institutional dialogue for further STI collaboration. These results were achieved through multiple measures driven by a well-designed and implemented WPs of the ShERACA PLUS Project.
One of the main milestones that developed this resonance was the EU-EGYPT STI Portal, which is considered as the main communication tool for ShERACA Project. The portal was designed to provide researchers from Egypt and Europe with updated information about the EU funded projects and activities of mutual collaboration nature. The portal present also the Egyptian research capacities and give links to all possible platform that would enhance and enable the EU-EGYPT Collaboration. The IPR Helpdesk was a new tool introduced through the portal aiming at enabling researchers and idea carriers to present new ideas and provide them with various consultation aspects for their projects as well as agreements with other partners.
The ShERACA Plus Movie was produced aiming at familiarize researchers and other stakeholders with the history of the EU-Egypt S&T collaboration and present successful stories and examples on how this collaboration should move on in future and be invested for better understanding to reach common objectives.
The Short Mobility Grant contributed also to this resonance by offering an opportunity to Egyptian researchers to travel to present their ideas and work on them with European partners aiming at enhancing the EU-Egypt STI collaboration and their engagement in further projects. This was also witnessed in the Study Visits organized to 3 European Countries in addition to their exposure to the various hosting research institutions, which presented to Egyptian Researchers their interest, capacities and potential collaboration opportunities. From the Egyptian side during these study visits various presentations from research institutions were presented to the European partners to showcase the important research work, research interest and tendencies to be able to embark on new collaborative projects of mutual interest.
The synergy developed with partners, STI stakeholders as well as other projects on the regional level added to this resonance on the regional level and widened the aspects of mutual understanding and potential collaboration for common interests. This synergy was was witnessed throughout the various activities organized by ShERACA Project. ShERACA Plus project also facilitated the participation in various regional meetings to coordinate and support bi-regional working activities related to the PRIMA INITIATIVE and that resulted also in the 4PRIMA CSA Project, which Egypt took part in it.
The STI Policy Review, its updates and the STI foresight report developed within the ShERACA Plus Project were instrumental in understanding Egypt’s national innovation system and broader societal challenges. The reports were fundamental to be able to define the Agenda for the future EU-EGYPT STI Cooperation in H2020 based on mutual interests and shared benefits.
Submitted deliverables
WP n°
Deliverable N°
Title
Version
Lead beneficiary
Person months
Nature
Dissemination level
Delivery date from Annex I (proj month)
Actual date
Status
Ares/Hermes Id
1 1 Review report on the progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 16/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1150391
1 2 Review report on the progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2015 (24 months) 06/10/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5795828
1 3 Review report on the progress of EU-Egypt STI Cooperation
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2016 (36 months) 07/10/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5813522
1 4 STI Policy Review
1.0 DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUER LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1400888
1 5 STI Foresight report
1.0 CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN POLICY STUDIES 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 29/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1375980
2 1 Report on bilateral and regional actions with possible synergies, best practices and lessons learned
1.0 INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT 2.0 Report RE 31/05/2014 (8 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1401904
2 2 Roadmap for a better coordination on bilateral joint activities targeting the identified societal challenges
1.0 INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2015 (18 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1429864
2 3 Recommendations and action plan on regional joint activities
1.0 FEMIA - FORUM EURO-MEDITERRANEEN POUR L'INNOVATION EN ACTION 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2015 (18 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1429859
2 4 Report on the status and outcomes of joint activities
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2016 (30 months) 23/11/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)6590239
3 1 Communication Strategy Report
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Other RE 31/12/2013 (3 months) 29/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1375894
3 2 Database of all targeted stakeholders
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2014 (6 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1400760
3 3 Development of communication and visibility materials
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Other PU 31/03/2014 (6 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1429857
3 4 EU-Egypt STI Cooperation Portal formal updates 1
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 1.0 Other PU 31/03/2014 (6 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1401822
3 5 EU-Egypt STI Cooperation Portal formal updates 2
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 2.0 Other PU 31/03/2015 (18 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1401367
3 6 EU-Egypt STI Cooperation Portal formal updates 3
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 2.0 Other PU 30/11/2015 (26 months) 29/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5672812
3 7 Video highlighting EU-Egypt STI cooperation success stories and best practices
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Other PU 31/05/2015 (20 months) 30/11/2016 Received Ares(2016)6721648
3 8 Report on the study visits of Egyptian delegations in Europe (1st report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1401470
3 9 Report on the study visits of Egyptian delegations in Europe (2nd report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2015 (24 months) 30/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5688042
3 10 Report on the study visits of Egyptian delegations in Europe (3rd report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2016 (36 months) 30/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5688048
4 1 Periodic report on the support activities provided to the Central Liaison unit and the network of multipliers (1st report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 01/04/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1430358
4 2 Periodic report on the support activities provided to the Central Liaison unit and the network of multipliers (2nd report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2015 (24 months) 30/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5688169
4 3 Periodic report on the support activities provided to the Central Liaison unit and the network of multipliers (3rd report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 30/09/2016 (36 months) 30/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5688252
4 4 Periodic report on the support activities provided by the IPR and Project Management helpdesks (1st report)
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 1.5 Report RE 30/09/2014 (12 months) 30/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1400917
4 5 Periodic report on the support activities provided by the IPR and Project Management helpdesks (2nd report)
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 1.5 Report RE 30/09/2015 (24 months) 29/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5672847
4 6 Periodic report on the support activities provided by the IPR and Project Management helpdesks (3rd report)
1.0 ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ASRT 1.5 Report RE 30/09/2016 (36 months) 29/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5672911
4 7 Impact assessment of the short travel grants scheme
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2.0 Report RE 31/03/2016 (30 months) 29/09/2016 Accepted Ares(2016)5657174
5 1 Preparation of reporting forms
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 0.5 Report RE 31/10/2013 (1 months) 15/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1134046
5 2 Minutes of the Project Management Board meetings (1st meeting)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1.0 Report RE 31/10/2014 (13 months) 31/03/2015 Accepted Ares(2015)1429981
5 5 Project periodic reports (1st report)
1.0 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 4.0 Report RE 30/04/2015 (19 months) 26/12/2016 Received Ares(2016)7181146
TABLE 2. MILESTONES
Milestone
no. Milestone name Work package no
Lead beneficiary Delivery date from Annex I
dd/mm/yyyy Achieved
Yes/No Actual / Forecast achievement date
dd/mm/yyyy Comments
MS1 Kick-off Meeting WP5 Ministry of Scientific Research 1 yes 6-7/12/ 2013 Kick off Coordination and Project Management
MS2 Event Presenting the results of the STI Policy review and STI foresight report WP1 Ministry of Scientific Research 18 yes 1) 7 / 9 / 2014
2) 17-21 / 10 / 2014
3) 14-16 /12 / 2014 1) S & T policy Mix Peer Review Scoping Event Cairo
2) Foresight Meeting, preparation for the foresight study visit DLR /Cairo
3) S&T Policy Mix Review /Cairo
MS3 Events showcasing joint activities WP2 Ministry of Scientific Research 30 Yes
MS4 Networking and Brokerage event WP3 Ministry of Scientific Research 6 Yes Networking
1) 7-8 / 11 / 2013
2) 26-28 / 11 / 2014
3) 27-29 / 7 / 2016
Brokerage
4) 23-24 / 2 / 2015
5) 30 / 6 / 2015
6) 17-18 / 9 / 2015
7) 20-21 /10 / 2015
8) 25-26 / 11 / 2015
9) 25 / 1 / 2015
10) 3 / 3 / 2016
1) 8thInternationl Learning Network /Budapest
2) Networking on future R&D Meeting /Genoa- Italy
3) International NCPs Workshop Promoting the International Dimension of H2020 & 9th International Learning Network"ILN" International Cooperation in H2020/ Brussels
4)Med Spring 2nd Euromed. Innovation brokerage & venturing Event on R&I/ Germany
5)Brokerage Event Hellenic Forum 2015 in Athens
6) Info day & brokerage event/Brussels
7) Brokerage event ICT 2015: Innovate, Connect and Transform/ Lisbon
8) Info week on Societal Challenge 2 WP 2016/2017 and Brokerage event / Brussels
9) Info day and brokerage for FET Open and FE - Proactive Calls for Proposals 2016 /Brussels
10) Science with and for Society Brokerage Event /Brussels
MS5 Launch of the Short Grant Travel Scheme WP4 Ministry of Scientific Research 3 Yes 24/ 8/ 2015 No# of Grants:
1) Brokerage event ICT 2015: Innovate, Connect and Transform / Lisbon 19-22 October 2015
2) UNESCO 7th World
Science Forum / Budapest 4 - 7 November 2015
3) Info week on Societal Challenge 2 WP 2016/2017 and Brokerage event Brussels 24 - 27 November 2015
4) Info day and brokerage for FET Open and FE - Proactive
Calls for Proposals 2016 Brussels 24 - 26Jan2016
5) 3rd HNN 2.0 on - site training course on
"exploitation IPR Business Plan in the life of Sciences" Germany 9 - 12 May 2016
6) Conference for International Food and Agri Business Management Denmark 20 - 23 June 2016
7) Networking on future R&D Meeting at the
Genoa uni -Italy 26 - 30 July 2016
List of Websites:
Public Website: www.stip.eg.net
ShERACA Plus Website: http://www.sheracaplus.eg.net
