THE CALL 2012 WILL BE PUBLISHED THE 12 OF JULY!

Deadline: 06 December 2011 at 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)

Objectives:

Research for SMEs associations aims at developing technical solutions to problems common to a large number of SMEs in specific industrial sectors or segments of the value chain through research that could not be addressed under Research for SMEs scheme. Projects can, for example, aim to develop or conform to European norms and standards, and to meet regulatory requirements in areas such as health, safety or environment. Projects must be driven by the SME associations, which are given the opportunity to subcontract research to RTD performers for the benefit of their members and must involve a number of individual SMEs.

The overall approach:

The SME associations and their members are the direct beneficiaries of the project: they invest in the RTD project and outsource most of the research and demonstration activities to RTD performers and receive in return the technological know-how they need.

The relationship between the SMEs and the RTD performers under this programme is a “customer-seller” one. RTD performers undertake research on behalf of an international consortium of SME associations, and will be remunerated for their services with a significant portion of the research costs funded by the EU.

The idea is to allow SME associations to assist their members in further developing their activities by buying knowledge from RTD performers, who sell their expertise and work. Research and development activities undertaken by the SME associations themselves (and their members) with their own resources are essentially focussed on initial specifications and, later, on validation and testing of the acquired knowledge.

Principal focus:
As the focus of this scheme is on strengthening the competitiveness of SMEs and improving industrial competitiveness across the European Union, particular emphasis is given to the economic impact of the results for the participating SMEs. A consortium’s dissemination plan for the results of their project will be important in the evaluation process.

It is important to note, that Research for SME associations is a bottom-up scheme, the research topics cover the entire range of science and technology challenges faced by the SMEs.

Activities supported by Reseqrch for SME associations (SME-AGs):

Research for SME associations takes a multifaceted approach to enhancing participants’ competitiveness. Within the framework of each project, this scheme supports SMEs in:

• Research and technological development activities
• Demonstration activities
• Training and dissemination activities
• Management activities 

Requirements for the consortium:

For a project to be eligible for funding, consortium partners must meet certain requirements:

• SME Associations/Groupings (SME-AGs):
A consortium must contain at least three independent SME-AGs, or one European SME-AG established in a Member State or Associated Country according to it’s national law. In addition, a European SME-AG must comprise a minimum of two independent legal entities, established in two different Member States or Associated Countries.

SME-AGs are legal persons, composed mostly of and representing the interests of SMEs and/or physical persons having the same kind of activities. Examples of these are sectoral industrial associations, national or regional industrial associations and chambers of industry and commerce.

• RTD performers
A consortium must contain at least two RTD performers independent from any other participant and which can come from any country. They are legal entities able to carry out research and technological development activities for the benefit of SME-AG participants and their members. Examples are universities, research organisations and industrial companies, including research performing SMEs.

• Other enterprises and end-users
A project consortium may additionally include other enterprises and end-users that contribute to the project and help in solving specific problems, though only in a secondary role. However, a limited number of individual SMEs (2-5) must participate to ensure that the results of the project address SME needs, and may be used by a large number of SMEs. The scope of their activity will be focused on validation, take-up, training and dissemination activities, but not on research activities.

The size of the consortium should be between 10 and 15 participants. In addition, the SME end users group should be limited to 2 to 5 members. The overall budget of the project should be between € 1.5 million to €4.0 million and the duration of the project should normally be between 2 and 3years

The coordination of a funded project is normally assigned to one of the SME-AG participants or RTD performers. In some cases it may be entrusted to another enterprise and end-user specialised in professional projects management. The organisation acting as a coordinator must have the necessary competence to effectively assume all coordination responsibilities. The consortium has to ensure that no decision can be taken against the collective interest of the SME associations.

Intellectual property rights:

SME associations and it’s members retain full ownership of the intellectual property rights. However they have a possibility to find tailor-made solutions to organise the ownership of project results and its dissemination and use in a way that takes into account the needs, interests and capabilities of the SME-AGs and their members, of the Other enterprises and end-users involved in the project as well as the RTD performers.

EC contribution:

The European Community will provide a financial support to the project which covers only part of the total costs. The SME-AGs participants will therefore have to contribute with own resources, in cash or in-kind, to the project. The EC contribution is based on upper funding limits for individual activities:

• Research and technological development activities: maximum of 75 % of the eligible costs.
• Demonstration activities: maximum of 50%
• Management and other activities: maximum of 100%

One important rule for the calculation of the EC contribution:
In order to achieve the aim of promoting the outsourcing of research and demonstration activities, the financial support to the project will be limited to 110% of the total amount of the subcontracting to the RTD performers (price to be invoiced by RTD performers to SMEs).

Participating in Research for SME associations: