A
Acceding country:
This is a candidate country that has met the Copenhagen criteria and has completed negotiations for joining the European Union.
An access network:
An access network is that part of a communications network which connects subscribers to their immediate service provider. It is contrasted with the core network, for example the Network Switching Subsystem in GSM.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/future-networks/home_en.html
Access rights:
Access rights, a basic term relating to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), meaning those rights (e.g. licences or user rights) to use knowledge or pre-existing know-how given by the owners of the knowledge or pre-existing know-how to others.
For more information on IPR see http://cordis.europa.eu/ipr-helpdesk/en/home.html
Acknowledgement of receipt:
Applicants are informed electronically after the deadline that a proposal has been successfully submitted (but not that it is necessarily eligible). Contact the help desk urgently if you do not receive such an acknowledgement.
Activity report:
This is a part of a report on a project, periodic or final one, which describes results of research and other activities within a project. Another part of the report is a financial one, or Form C.
Agenda:
This term literally means "things to be done". It normally refers to the list of items for discussion at a meeting, but politicians also use it as a jargon term meaning "things we want to achieve". For example, the EU’s "Social Agenda" sets out what the Union wants to achieve, over the next few years, in terms of employment and social policies. It forms part of the “Lisbon Strategy”.
Ambient Intelligence:
Ambient Intelligence. Defined by the EC Information Society Technologies Advisory Group in a vision of the Information Society, Ambient Intelligence emphasises on greater user-friendliness, more efficient services support, user-empowerment, and support for human interactions. Ambient Intelligence builds on three key technologies: Ubiquitous Computing - integrates microprocessors into everyday objects like furniture, clothing, white goods, toys, even paint -, Ubiquitous Communication - enables these objects to communicate with each other and the user by means of ad-hoc and wireless networking -, and Intelligent User Interfaces - enables the inhabitants of the AmI environment to control and interact with the environment in a natural (voice, gestures) and personalised way (preferences, context).
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/enet/home_en.html
Associated countries:
Non-EU countries who have agreed, negotiated and paid to participate in the Framework Programme. In the context of proposal consortia, organisations from these countries are treated on the same footing as those in the EU. The list of associated countries can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/icpc_countries_en.pdf
Applicant:
The term used generally in this guide for a person or entity applying to the Framework programme. The term "participant" is used in the more limited sense of a member of a proposal or project consortium.
ARTEMIS Joint Technology Initiative:
ARTEMIS is a JTI focused on developing industrial platforms for the development and implementation of embedded systems responding to industry requirements in specific application domains. Find more at www.artemis-ju.eu.
Artificial intelligence:
Artificial intelligence deals with the design of intelligent agents and systems which perceive their environment and take actions which maximise its chances of success.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/challenge2_en.html
B
Background:
Information or knowledge held by the project partner prior to accession to the grant agreement.
Benchmarking:
This means measuring how well one country, business, industry, etc. is performing compared to other countries, businesses, industries, and so on. The 'benchmark' is the standard by which performance will be judged.
Beneficiary:
It is a legal entity which is a party in the Grant Agreement on FP7 project.
Best practice:
One way of improving policies in the EU is for governments to look at what is going on in other EU countries and to see what works best. They can then adopt this 'best practice', adapting it to their own national and local circumstances.
Budget:
Budget is a financial plan estimating all the resources and expenditure needed to carry out a research activity.
C
Call for proposals (or "call"):
An announcement, usually in the Official Journal, inviting proposals for research activities in a certain theme. Full information on the call can be found on the CORDIS web-site
(http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.FP7CallsPage).
Call fiche:
The part of the work programme giving the basic data for a call for proposals (e.g. topics covered, budget, deadline etc). It is posted as a separate document on the CORDIS web page devoted to a particular call.
Candidate country:
This means a country that has applied to join the European Union and that has officially been accepted as a candidate for accession to the European Union. At present, there are three candidate countries: Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. Before a candidate country can join the EU it must meet the 'Copenhagen criteria'.
"Capacities":
A programme of FP7 structured in seven areas. It addresses research infrastructures; research for the benefit of the SMEs; science in society; regions of knowledge; coherent development of research policies; international cooperation. It is carried mostly through collaborative projects.
Cognitive systems
Cognitive systems are different kinds of systems (e.g. robotic systems) which are naturally interacting, robust and flexible. They respond intelligently to situations by filling in gaps in their knowledge and adapting to changing conditions. As a result, they are capable of operating autonomously or in cooperation with humans in a largely unsupervised manner in open-ended environments and situations which have not been specified in their design.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/challenge2_en.html
Cognitive vision
Cognitive (computer) vision aims at the automatic and intelligent processing of data acquired by vision systems, covering perception, recognition, categorisation and interpretation.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/challenge2_en.html
Collaborative learning
Some ICT projects funded under the technology-enhanced learning objective investigate new forms of collaboration amongst groups of learners or workers, particularly for ambitious complex problem solving. This includes innovative solutions for communities of practice.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/telearn_en.html
Collaborative projects:
For certain funding schemes it is mandatory to have a consortium. The collaborative projects are: Small or medium-scale focused project; Large scale integrated projects; Research for the benefit of specific groups (SMEs, CSOs).
Combination of collaborative projects and coordination and support actions (CP-CSA):
CP-CSA involves two funding schemes – “Collaborative Projects” and “Coordination and Support Actions” - which allow to support under the same grant agreement research, coordination and support activities.
Commission contribution to the project:
This is the contribution to the budget of a project made by the European Commission. Its share depends on the type of partner organizations (research, SME, large industry, etc) and type of activities (RTD, demonstration, others, management).
Communication and Networking:
The sciences of connecting users or computers so to allow the transmission of information between any two or more users or points of the network. They are at the basis of the current Internet.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/home_en.html
Competences and skills:
ICTs for learning support the development of competences and skills through problem-solving, innovation and creativity, leading to improvements in performance (e.g. reduced time to competence) for individuals and organisations. This involves the use of technologies that can motivate and engage the learners such as serious games.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/telearn_en.html
Competitive call:
In FP7, many big projects are supported, including collaborative projects and networks of excellence. During their initial negotiation with the Commission, these projects may reserve a portion of their budgets for specific tasks to be carried out by a new beneficiary (or beneficiaries), who will join the consortium at a later date. These new beneficiaries are selected from proposals submitted in response to a "competitive call". This call is organized by the project consortium which presents all necessary documentation and background information on the project website. The competitive call announcements are published at http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/competitive-calls_en.html.
Consensus discussion:
The stage in the proposal evaluation process when experts come together to establish a common view on a particular proposal.
Consortium:
Most funding schemes require proposals from a number of participants (usually at least three) who agree to work together in a consortium.
Consortium agreement (CA):
It is an agreement made between participants in a project financed under FP7 to govern a number of issues that will or may arise during its implementation. The CA is required for all FP7 projects unless otherwise stipulated in the call for proposals. The Community is not a party to any CA.
Continuous submission:
Some calls are open for an extended period, during which proposals may be submitted at any moment. In these cases, proposals are evaluated in batches after fixed cut-off dates.
Convergence
Convergence defines a multi-media environment and/or network where signals regardless of type (i.e. voice, quality audio, video, data, etc.) and encoding methodology may be seamlessly exchanged between independent endpoints with similar characteristics.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/future-networks/home_en.html
Coordination and support actions (CSA):
This funding scheme supports activities aimed at coordinating or supporting research activities and policies (networking, exchanges, trans-national access to research infrastructures, studies, conferences, etc). It allows for two types of actions to be financed: a) co-ordination or networking actions, b) specific support actions.
Coordination or networking actions (CA):
One of the two types of actions under Coordination and Support Actions which covers the following activities: organization of events, related studies, exchanges of personnel, exchange and dissemination of good practices, organization and management of joint or common initiatives, etc. Consortium is normally composed of three participants from three different EU member states or associated countries.
Co-ordinator:
The member of the consortium who acts as the point of contact with the Commission.
"Cooperation":
A programme of FP7 structured into ten scientific Themes. Across all these themes, support to trans-national cooperation will be implemented through collaborative projects (consortium), Joint Technology Initiatives, technology platforms.
Copenhagen criteria:
In June 1993, EU leaders meeting in Copenhagen set three criteria that any candidate country must meet before it can join the European Union. First, it must have stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for minorities. Second, it must have a functioning market economy. Third, it must take on board all the acquis and support the various aims of the European Union. In addition, it must have a public administration capable of applying and managing EU laws in practice. The EU reserves the right to decide when a candidate country has met these criteria and when the EU is ready to accept the new member.
CORDIS service:
A web service providing access to all the documentation related to FP7, and access to the electronic proposal submission service (http://cordis.europa.eu/en/home.html)
The Council of the European Union:
Formerly known as the Council of Ministers, this institution consists of government ministers from all the EU countries. The Council meets regularly to take detailed decisions and to pass EU laws.
The Council of Europe:
This is not an EU institution. It is an intergovernmental organization based in Strasbourg, which aims (amongst other things) to protect human rights, to promote Europe's cultural diversity and to combat social problems such as xenophobia and intolerance. The Council of Europe was set up in 1949 and one of its early achievements was to draw up the European Convention on Human Rights. To enable citizens to exercise their rights under that Convention it set up the European Court of Human Rights.
Cross-thematic cooperation:
It’s the cooperation for proposals between two or more relevant FP7 themes with the appropriate financial input from them, e.g. the 'Factories of the Future' call is implemented with the financial support from the NMP and ICT, the “Energy-efficient Buildings' - from the NMP, Energy, ICT and Environment Themes, the 'Green Cars' - from the Transport, ICT, NMP, Energy, and Environment Themes. Cross-thematic cooperation is realized using two approaches: a) via the coordinated calls when ach theme is responsible for its own topics and budget, and b) via the joint calls when the topic(s) is the same for each theme. The joint call is evaluated and implemented jointly by the themes involved.
Cut-off date:
An intermediate date in the context of a call operating a continuous submission procedure. Proposals are evaluated in batches after each cut-off date.
D
Deadline:
For a particular call, the moment after which proposals will not be received by the Commission, and when the Electronic Proposal Submission Service closes for that call. Deadlines are strictly enforced.
Deliverable:
A deliverable represents a verifiable output of the project. Normally, each workpackage will produce one or more deliverables during its lifetime. Deliverables are often written reports but can also take another form, for example the completion of a prototype etc.
Description of Work:
The actual research project re-written after the recommendations of the experts and of the Project Officer. The Description of Work (also called Technical Annex) is a binding part to the contract (Annex I to the contract).
Designated Security Authority (DSA):
An authority responsible to the National Security Authority (NSA) of an EU Member State which is responsible for communicating to industry or other entities the national policy in all matters of industrial security and for providing direction and assistance in its implementation. The function of DSA may be carried out by the NSA.
DG:
The staff of the main EU institutions (Commission, Council and Parliament) are organized into a number of distinct departments, known as “Directorates-General” (DGs), each of which is responsible for specific tasks or policy areas. The administrative head of a DG is known as the 'Director-General' (a term sometimes also abbreviated to 'DG').
DG INFSO:
Directorate-General “Information Society and Media” (DG INFSO) is one of the distinct departments of the European Commission, known as “Directorates-General” (DGs). It supports the development and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the benefit of all citizens. Its role is to:
To implement its mission, the DG INFSO coordinates the “Information and Communication Technologies” Programme of the FP7 in close cooperation with DG Research. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/information_society/index_en.htm.
Digital Agenda for Europe:
This is the first flagship initiative under the EU2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth adopted in May 2010. It proposes ways to boost job creation, promote economic prosperity and improve the daily lives of EU citizens and businesses via the wider and smarter use of information and communication technologies (ICT).
The seven key objectives are the following:
1. A new Single Market to deliver the benefits of the digital era
2. Improve ICT standard-setting and interoperability
3. Enhance trust and security
4. Increase Europeans' access to fast and ultra fast internet
5. Boost cutting-edge research and innovation in ICT
6. Empower all Europeans with digital skills and accessible online services
7. Unleash the potential of ICT to benefit society
Digital agenda for Europe foresees some 100 follow-up actions for 2010-2020, of which 31 are legislative. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/index_en.htm.
Digital culture
Use of leading edge technologies (e.g. from knowledge management, semantic tools, graphics, interfaces) to foster applications that improve the meaningful use and experiences users get from cultural resources.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/digicult_en.html
Digital economy
Characterisation of the new global economy dominated by digital infrastructures, i.e. electronic or digital networks based upon ICT infrastructures and especially the Internet. (See also network economy).
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/enet/home_en.html
Digital Ecosystem:
Concept emerged in Europe in 2002. A digital ecosystem is a digital environment aimed at supporting the economic development, with special focus on SMEs and local development. The architecture exploits the characteristics of natural ecosystems, evolves and adapts to local conditions with the evolution of its components, allowing sharing and representating the information and services needed to economic development. The digital ecosystems are "populated" by any digitalised information/components expressed in a language (formal or natural), which can be processed (by computers and/or humans), like software components, applications, services, knowledge, business processes and models, training modules, trust relationships, etc.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/enet/home_en.html
Digital libraries:
Digital libraries research aims at improving the accessibility and use of cultural and scientific resources, through scalable and interoperable platforms supporting the digitisation and retrieval of heterogeneous content, in multimedia formats, from distributed collections and across languages.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/digicult_en.html
Digital preservation:
The rapid pace of change of electronic devices and formats for recording, storage and use represents a threat to the long-term accessibility of digital objects. Research targets methods and systems for ensuring availability of digital resources over time, through novel concepts, techniques and tools. This covers empirical research, needed to develop test-beds and systems capable of supporting long-term access to multi-sourced, multi-formatted and highly distributed resources. Longer-term research addresses the preservation of complex, dynamic and very high volume digital objects, including those with high levels of interactivity (see Web archiving).
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/digicult_en.html
Digital Repositories:
Digital Repositories of scientific information store digital research input and output data using a distributed architecture. All sorts of digital objects associated to the scientific cycle can be archived on a digital repository: (raw) data, measurements and annotations on raw data, models, software, simulations, and ultimately, published papers (it stores human readable objects too but it does not focus on these).
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/home_en.html
E
Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA):
A region formally named “CIS” which is composed of the following countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
E-commerce:
Electronic commerce. Term used to describe transactions that take place online where the buyer and seller are remote from each other.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/enet/home_en.html
eEurope:
The European Commission launched the eEurope initiative in December 1999, and it was approved by the Lisbon European Council in March 2000. The main objectives of the initiative were the following:
- bringing every citizen, home and school, every business and administration, into the digital age and online;
- creating a digitally literate Europe, supported by an entrepreneurial culture open to information technology;
- ensuring that the information society is socially inclusive.
To achieve this, the Commission adopted the eEurope 2002 action plan in May 2000. The main actions were intended to stimulate a cheaper, faster, more secure Internet, promote human and financial investment and stimulate the use of the Internet. It was followed up by eEurope 2005 focused on the deployment of broadband access at competitive prices, network security and better use of information technology by public bodies ("eGovernment").
Launched in June 2005, the "i2010" initiative is the current strategy framework of the Commission in the field of the information society and the media. i2010 is the first Commission initiative adopted in the context of the revised Lisbon Strategy and the partnership for growth and employment.
eGovernance:
It is now recognised that on-line collaborations have the potential to trigger and shape significant changes in the way future societies will function. Extrapolation of the present exponential growth leads to scenarios where very large percentages of populations could, if equipped with the right tools, simultaneously voice opinions and views on major and minor societal challenges, and thereby herald the transition to a different form of dynamically participative "eSociety".
eGovernance is about appropriate governance models, process flows, or analytical tools with which to properly understand, interpret, visualise and harness the forces that can be unleashed. By 2020 there could be no barriers any more for citizens and businesses to participate in decision making at all levels.
See: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/research/fp7/fp7_workshop/index_en.htm
e-Infrastructure:
This is ICT-based research infrastructure in support of a new environment in which all researchers - whether working in the context of their home institutions or in national or multinational scientific initiatives - have shared access to unique or distributed scientific facilities, regardless of their type or location in the world.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/home_en.html
Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS):
The recommended method in FP7 is electronic on-line preparation and submission. The Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS) is an internet-based application providing a secure work space for a consortium to prepare and submit a proposal jointly. Access requires only a standard web browser, no special software has to be installed on the users' computers.
For all details see the EPSS Online Frequently Asked Questions
Eligibility criteria:
The minimum conditions which a proposal must fulfil if it is to be evaluated. The eligibility criteria are generally the same for all proposals throughout FP7, and relate to submission before the deadline, minimum participation, completeness and scope. However, specific eligibility criteria may apply to certain calls, and applicants should check the work programme.
ENIAC:
ENIAC is a Joint Technology Initiative which will address two technological objectives which are a major part of the Strategic Research Agenda of the ENIAC Technology Platform. The first objective is to enhance the further integration and miniaturisation of devices, based on CMOS (the core technology of nanoelectronics). The second objective is to increase the number and diversifying the nature of the functionalities offered on a chip or in a package.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/nanoelectronics/home_en.html
ENIAC Joint Technology Initiative:
ENIAC is a JTI in nanoelectronics. It’s focused on industrial application-driven developments addressing mainly next generation technologies in the 'More Moore' and 'More than Moore' domains with the aim to prepare Europe for the design and manufacturing of the next generation components and miniaturized systems. Find more at www.eniac.eu
Enlargement:
In the 1950s, the EU began with just six member states. It now has 27. Growth in EU membership is known as 'enlargement', and it has happened several times:
- 1950 Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands
- 1973 Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom
- 1981 Greece
- 1986 Portugal, Spain
- 1995 Austria, Finland, Sweden
- 2004 Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
- 2007 Bulgaria and Romania.
Enquiry service:
A general information service on all aspects of FP7: http://ec.europa.eu/research/enquiries.
ERA-NET Scheme:
The objective of the ERA-NET scheme is to develop and strengthen the coordination of national
and regional research programmes through two specific actions:
– 'ERA-NET actions' - which provide a framework for actors implementing public research programmes to coordinate their activities,
– 'ERA-NET Plus actions'- which can provide additional EU financial support to facilitate joint calls for proposals between national and/or regional programmes.
ERASMUS Programme:
Named after the great Renaissance scholar, it is an EU-supported education programme that began in 1987. Well over 1.5 million students have so far benefited from Erasmus grants, which give European university students a chance of living and studying for the first time in a foreign country. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc80_en.htm.
Separate dimension of the programme named “Erasmus Mundus” aims to enhance quality in higher education through scholarships and academic cooperation between Europe and the rest of the world. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/education/external-relation-programmes/doc72_en.htm.
eSafety technologies:
eSafety technologies denotes all systems and applications for road safety which are based on modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/home_en.html
Ethics check list:
Ethics check list is a set of questions in the form of a separate table (Ethical issues table) which is included in every FP7 proposal and has to be filled in before applying. It asks whether research within a project touches upon humans, human embryo and animals, or if it could be used for military purposes.
Read more on http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ethics_en.html#ethics_cl
Ethics Help Desk:
The Ethics Help Desk for all FP7 projects provides information on issues and offers consultation regarding the ethical aspects of research that is funded under the 7th Framework Programme. The goal of the Help-Desk is to support scientists that are research participants in FP7 funded projects, to meet the EU and international ethical standards related to the issues outlined in the Ethics check list.
Via this service, scientists can receive advice from the Ethics Review Sector of DG research and by experts in the ethics field concerned, in order to reach their research objectives and meet the ethical requirements of their work.
The service is available at http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/get-support_en.html#ethics.
The European Commission:
Is the politically independent institution that represents and upholds the interests of the European Union as a whole. It proposes legislation, policies and programmes of action and it is responsible for implementing the decisions of Parliament and the Council. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm.
The European Council:
This is the meeting of Heads of State and Government (i.e. presidents and/or prime ministers) of all the EU countries, plus the President of the European Commission. The European Council meets, in principle, four times a year to agree overall EU policy and to review progress. It is the highest-level policy-making body in the European Union, which is why its meetings are often called “summits”.
European Research Area (ERA):
The European Research Area brings together all of the Community's resources to better coordinate research and innovation activities at the level of both the Member States and the European Union. This concept was launched by the Commission in 2000 with the idea of developing truly attractive opportunities for researchers.
Previously, research at European level had faced numerous difficulties: fragmentation of activities, isolation of national research systems, disparity of regulatory and administrative frameworks, and low levels of investment in knowledge.
Through the resources made available, the ERA should make it possible to share data, compare results, carry out multi-disciplinary studies, transfer and protect new scientific knowledge and gain access to centers of excellence and state-of-the-art equipment.
The European research area should thus fulfill an ambition of determining value for the European Union, namely to develop a genuine common research policy. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/index_en.html.
European Research Council (ERC):
An executive agency of the European Commission established to manage the Ideas programme of FP7. The ERC funds frontier-research, breakthrough research, of one individual team (no consortium is required).
European Technology Platforms (ETP):
This is an initiative set up in the area where the EU future competitiveness will depend upon major mainstream research and technological advances. This is achieved through public-private partnerships to bring together the efforts of all concerned stakeholders in the creation, implementation and development of a common European Strategic Agenda. Industry plays the main role in ETPs. Funded from different sources. By 2010, 36 ETPs have been defined in FP7 of which 9 are in ICT. More information: http://cordis.europa.eu/technology-platforms/home_en.html.
Evaluation criteria:
The criteria against which eligible proposals are assessed by independent experts. The evaluation criteria are generally the same for all proposals throughout FP7, and relate to S/T quality, impact and implementation. Relevance is also considered. However, specific evaluation criteria may apply to certain calls, and applicants should check the work programme.
Evaluation Summary Report:
The assessment of a particular proposal following the evaluation by independent experts. It normally contains both comments and scores for each criterion.
Experimental facilities:
A testing environment for new Internet paradigms and concepts, based on federating testbeds at different levels of maturity, in order to achieve synergies.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/home_en.html
Experimentally-driven long-term research:
A new research methodology in Internet concepts, tightly coupling the research and experimentation of long-term, potentially disruptive Internet concepts. New Internet paradigms require testing in large scale environments in order to adequately assess their potentially far-reaching implications. The results of such testing will then be fed back again as concrete requirements for the long-term research.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/home_en.html
F
Framework Programme 7 (FP7):
FP7 is the short name for the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. This is the EU's main instrument for funding research in Europe and it will run from 2007-2013.
FET (Future and Emerging Technologies):
It is a specific scheme within the ICT Programme of the FP7 which is intended to lay new foundations for future ICT by exploring new unconventional ideas that can challenge our understanding of the scientific concepts behind existing ICT and that can impact future industrial ICT research agendas. Hence, its priorities are influenced by new developments and emerging opportunities in a wide range of scientific areas, as well as by the need to nurture the emergence of new, often multidisciplinary, European research communities.
Financial Guarantee Fund:
It has been established and operated by the European Commission. At the beginning of a project each partner makes a contribution to the Guarantee Fund of maximum 5% of the EC contribution, to be returned at the end of the project.
If during a project, a partner defaults financially and the partners decide as a result to terminate the project, then the fund will ensure that they are all paid for completed accepted work. If the partners decide to continue work, then the fund will compensate the project for any lost funding caused by the default. In both cases the Commission would then pursue the defaulting partner for the lost funds. Any recovered funds would go back into the Guarantee Fund.
Foreground:
Results of the project.
Form C:
It’s a template used for financial reporting on FP7 project. It has to be submitted electronically via the Participant Portal. However, paper versions of Form C signed by the authorized person have to be collected by coordinator from partners and sent to the European Commission by regular mail.
Funding scheme:
The type of support that can be given to a project within a call. The funding schemes have different objectives, and are implemented through different grant agreement conditions.
G
Grant agreement:
The legal instrument that provides for Commission funding of successful proposals.
Grant Preparation Form (GPF):
An electronic form with all administrative and financial information about the proposal and the participants to the project.
GÉANT:
The high capacity communication infrastructure GÉANT is an EU funded e-Infrastructure that connects the resources of research and academic institutions via national networks in 34 European countries and provides international connections to regional networks beyond Europe, delivering levels of network bandwidth and services unobtainable from the commercial sector.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/home_en.html
Geni (Global Environment for Network Innovations):
This is a facility concept being explored by the US computing community with support from the National Science Foundation. It is expected that research performed on GENI will lead to capabilities beyond the current Internet.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/home_en.html
Global Virtual Research Communities:
These are groups of individuals having a common objective, who agree to work together and trust each other for sharing their resources to accomplish this objective.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/home_en.html
Governance toolbox:
Advanced tools embodying structural, organisational and new governance models to empower and engage all types of societal groups and communities, enable them to exploit mass cooperation platforms and allow governments to incorporate their input. Based on semantic co-operation platforms, these tools will enable the creation, learning, sharing and tracking of group knowledge that cuts across language and cultural interpretation. They should also facilitate transparency and tracking of inputs to the policy making process. The toolbox must include security, identity and access controls to ensure privacy and, where appropriate, the delineation of constituency domains according to the specific needs of government applications
See: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/research/fp7/fp7_workshop/index_en.htm
Guide for Proposers:
This is the official document in which the Commission gives practical information and advice on how to prepare and submit a proposal. There is a separate Guide for Proposers for each financial scheme in each call. Guides for Proposers are distributed only in electronic format via the respective CORDIS call page.
H
Hearing:
Applicants whose proposals have been favourably evaluated are sometimes invited to Brussels to answer any specific questions raised by the experts.
I
Ideal-ist:
Ideal-ist is an international partner search network specialized for ICT Theme, with more than 65.000 contacts in line with the international cooperation strategy of the European Commission. The Ideal-ist network consists of 70 ICT national partners from EU and Non-EU Countries, such as Associated States, Eastern Europe and Mediterranean Partner Countries, as well as from emerging countries like China, Brazil, India, and South Africa.
Ideal-ist offers:
• high expertise in proposal writing and project management : A network of over 65 National Contact Points (NCPs) in the ICT theme and organisations appointed by them are supporting proposers;
• long-standing experience in EU Framework programmes (Ideal-ist was established 1996)
• a unique quality labelled partner search tool to connect newcomers and experienced researchers;
• an international Quality team to support proposer e.g. to better focus proposals
• Ideal-ist information services: eNewsletter, Service Map, press releases, Work Programm information, etc.
Use Ideal-ist at http://www.ideal-ist.net.
Individual assessment:
The stage in the evaluation process when experts assess the merits of a particular proposal before discussion with their peers.
Information Days:
Open events organised by the Commission to explain the characteristics of specific calls, and often as well, a chance for potential applicants to meet and discuss proposal ideas and collaborations.
Information retrieval:
Research projects targeting application areas such as digital libraries and archives are creating methods and tools for (semi-)automatic indexing and semantic annotation of non-textual objects (music, speech, images). At the same time, they aim at improving information and knowledge retrieval through efficient search engines and user interfaces that will be able to deliver results from complex multimedia resources, from distributed collections and across languages.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/digicult_en.html
Information Society:
The information society is synonymous with what is meant by "new information and communication technologies" (ICT). Since the beginning of the 90s, the ICT have been booming. The universal use of electronic exchanges of information, convergence towards digital technologies, the exponential growth of the Internet and the opening up of telecommunications markets are all signs of this change.
The information society is revolutionizing many areas of everyday life, particularly access to training and knowledge (distance learning, e-learning related services), work organization and mobilization of skills (teleworking, virtual companies), practical life (e-health services) and leisure. It is also providing new opportunities in terms of participation of citizens by making it easier to express opinions and points of view. However, these positive advances go hand-in-hand with new concerns: mass use of the Internet means that steps have to be taken against new criminal behaviour, pirating, and questions of protection of personal data and intellectual property. Moreover, the information society may contribute to the marginalization of certain sections of society by emphasizing social inequalities.
In the light of these potential benefits and threats, the European Union has placed the information society at the heart of its strategy for the 21st century. Among other things it has launched a series of support and promotion actions (eEurope action plan) and adopted measures aimed at controlling and limiting the risks associated with the development of the information society such as an action plan aimed at promoting safe use of the Internet and combating unlawful and harmful messages.
Initial information letter:
A letter sent by the Commission to applicants shortly after the evaluation by experts, giving a report from the experts on the proposal in question (the Evaluation Summary report).
Integrated projects (IP):
This is the name given to the large RTD projects in FP6. It’s continued to be used in “Information and Communication Technologies” Programme of FP7 as a synonym of the “large-scale integrating projects” – one of the two types of collaborative projects.
IPs have clearly defined scientific and technological objectives directed at obtaining specific results, which could be applicable in terms of development or improvement of products, processes, services or policy.
In the ICT Programme IPs usually have a budget of 4-25 mln. Eur (average - 10 mln Eur) for typically 3-5 years and consortium of 10-20 partners.
International Cooperation in FP7 (INCO):
This term is used to describe the cooperation between the EU (and/or its member states and associated countries) with the “third” countries. The cooperation between the member states within the EU is called “intra-European”. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/index.cfm.
International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC):
A list of low-income, lower-middle income and upper-middle-income countries, can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/icpc_countries_en.pdf
Organisations from these countries can participate and receive funding in FP7, providing that certain minimum conditions are met.
International organisations of European interest:
International organisations, the majority of whose members are European Union Member States or Associated States, and whose principal objective is to promote European scientific and technological co-operation.
J
Joint Research Centre (JRC):
The Commission's own research laboratories.
Joint Technology Initiatives (JTI):
JTIs are a the EU pioneering approach to pooling public and private efforts, designed to leverage more R&D investments from Member States, Associated Countries and industry, and to reduce the fragmentation of EU R&D. In ICT Programme of the FP7, two JTIs are being implemented, ENIAC and ARTEMIS. More information: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/jtis/home_en.html.
L
Large-scale integrating projects:
This is one of the two types of collaborative projects in the FP7. In the ICT Programme the abbreviation “IP” (Integrated Project) is widely used for it coming from the FP6. Unlike to STREPs which are focused on the definite research objective, IPs have a comprehensive “programme” approach and include a coherent set of activities. IPs have clearly defined scientific and technological objectives directed at obtaining specific results, which could be applicable in terms of development or improvement of products, processes, services or policy.
In the ICT Programme IPs usually have a budget of 4-25 mln. Eur (average - 10 mln Eur) for typically 3-5 years and consortium of 10-20 partners.
Legal Entity Appointed Representative (LEAR):
This is a person within an organization appointed by a legal signatory of that legal entity to be the correspondent towards the Commission on all issues related to the legal status of the entity.
The LEAR provides the European Commission with up-to-date legal and financial data (including supporting documents, where necessary) and commits to maintain the organization's account up-to-date. This would enable the quick use of updated information for grants and other transactions between the entity and the Commission's research (and other) programmes. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/appmanager/participants/portal.
Lisbon strategy:
To compete with other major world players, the EU needs a modern efficient economy. Meeting in Lisbon in March 2000, the EU's political leaders set it a new goal: to become, within a decade, "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.”
The EU's leaders also agreed on a detailed strategy for achieving this goal. The 'Lisbon strategy' covers such matters as research, education, training, Internet access and on-line business. It also covers reform of Europe's social protection systems, which must be made sustainable so that their benefits can be enjoyed by future generations. Every spring the European Council meets to review progress in implementing the Lisbon strategy. More information: http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.htm.
M
Member state:
The countries that belong to an international organization are its 'member states'. The term is also often used to mean the governments of those countries. From 1 January 2007, the member states of the European Union are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Milestone:
Milestones are control points where decisions are needed with regard to the next stage of the project.
N
National Contact Points (NCP):
Persons officially nominated by the national authorities to provide tailored information and advice on each theme of FP7, in the national language(s).
Negotiation:
The process of establishing a grant agreement between the Commission and an applicant whose proposal has been favourably evaluated, and when funds are available.
Neighbourhood Policy:
The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was developed in the context of EU's 2004 enlargement with the aim of avoiding new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and neighbouring countries and instead strengthening the stability, security and well-being of everyone. It builds on shared values: democracy, human rights, rule of law, good governance, market economy and sustainable development. The level of ambition of the relationship is linked to the extent to which these values are shared. Key to the ENP is the bilateral ENP action plans agreed between the EU and each partner country in Eastern Europe, the Southern Mediterranean and the Southern Caucasus. These plans set out an agenda for a period of three to five years, covering political and economic reforms, closer alignment of legislation with that of the Community, participation in certain Community programmes and the development or strengthening of cooperation and dialogue.
The neighbouring countries also benefit from financial and technical assistance, mainly through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) for the period 2007 – 2013. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/index_en.htm.
Network economy:
Characterisation of the new global economy dominated by networks, i.e. multifarious nodes and connections in contrast to hierarchical and otherwise controlled economies. Normally means the electronic or digital network based upon ICT infrastructures and especially the Internet. (See also digital economy).
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/enet/home_en.html
Networks of Excellence (NoE):
This funding scheme supports the long-term durable integration of research resources and capacities (researchers, services, teams, organizations, institutions) in fields of strategic importance for European research, through the establishment of a single virtual centre of research, in order to overcome demonstrable, detrimental fragmentation, thus strengthening European scientific and technological excellence on a particular research topic.
P
Part A:
The part of a proposal dealing with administrative data. This part is completed using the web-based EPSS.
Part B:
The part of a proposal explaining the work to be carried out, and the roles and aptitudes of the participants in the consortium. This part is uploaded to the EPSS as a pdf file.
Participant Identification Code (PIC):
The Participant Identification Code (PIC) is a 9 digits unique identifier for every validated legal entity. Participants will not have to submit their legal and financial information (and supporting documents) each time they submit a proposal or negotiate a grant agreement, but just their PIC. More information http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/appmanager/participants/portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=myorganisations.
Participant Portal:
The Participant Portal is a single-entry point to interact with the research programmes of the European Commission. It offers you the possibility to use a great variety of tools that facilitate the monitoring and the management of your proposals and projects throughout their lifecycle. The Participant Portal currently allows you to register your organization through the Unique Registration Facility (URF), get a PIC which you can then use in your proposal submissions (EPSS), search for FP7-related support documents, view or to search for FP7 calls and view/manage ongoing projects. More information http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/appmanager/participants/portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=home.
Participants:
The members of a consortium in a proposal or project.
Partner Search Service:
This is a tool fostering partnerships to design, propose and launch new projects. There are several partner search services to help potential FP7 partners to find each other. CORDIS PSS is a non-specialized thematically service, http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/partners_en.html while the Ideal-ist PSS has been developed for the need of ICT community, http://www.ideal-ist.net.
Programme committee:
A group of official national representatives who assist the Commission in implementing the Framework Programme.
Project Officer:
This is a person in the European Commission who is in charge of the project.
Proposal:
A description of the planned research activities, information on who will carry them out, how much they will cost, and how much funding is requested. This is the same as an application for the project developed by the consortium in order to apply for the call.
R
Reporting period:
FP7 project is normally divided into 2 or more reporting periods which are indicated in a grant agreement. At the end of each reporting period a coordinator must submit to the European Commission periodic activity and financial reports.
Reserve list:
Due to budgetary constraints it may not be possible to support all proposals that have been evaluated positively. In such conditions, proposals on a reserve list may only be financed if funds become available following the negotiation of projects on the main list.
Review
This is a procedure of checking and controlling the project deliverables during the project life time and/or at the end of the project. It’s carried out by independent reviewers proposed by the Commission. In the “Information and Communication Technologies” Programme of the FP7 all the projects are subject to reviewing.
Risk-Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF):
A new mechanism to foster private sector investment in research, by increasing the capacity of the EIB and its financial partners to provide loans for European RTD projects.
RTD:
Research and technological development.
S
Score
This is a mark given by evaluators to a proposal.
Security sensitive project:
A security sensitive project is a project that will need to handle classified information or exchange sensitive material subject to transfer or export licensing or addressing a topic subject to specific national or international legal restrictions (as for example some biological research requiring a high level security experimental environment).
Search Engine:
Web search engines are the main tool designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Information may consist of web pages, images and other types of files. Some search engines also mine data available in newsgroups, databases, or open directories. Unlike Web directories, which are maintained by human editors, search engines operate algorithmically or are a mixture of algorithmic and human input. In this area a complete new generation of audiovisual search platforms is expected to soon start to populate the networked electronic media landscape.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/netmedia/home_en.html
SESAM:
SESAM is the European Commission on-line reporting tool for Research and Technological projects. It’s available at http://webgate.ec.europa.eu/sesam/index.do.
Small or medium-scale focused research actions:
This is one of the two types of collaborative projects in the FP7. In the ICT Programme the name “STREP” is widely used for it coming from the FP6. STREPs aim at generating new knowledge, including new technology, or common resources for research in order to improve European competitiveness, or to address major societal needs. They have clearly defined scientific and technological objectives directed at obtaining specific results, which could be applicable in terms of development or improvement of products, processes, services or policy.
In the ICT Programme STREPs usually have a budget of 1-4 mln. Eur (average - 2 mln Eur) for typically 1,5-3 years and consortium of 6-15 partners.
SME:
Small and medium sized enterprise.
Medium-sized enterprises are defined as enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and whose annual turnover does not exceed 50 million euro or annual balance sheet total does not exceed 43 million euro.
Small enterprises are defined as enterprises which employ fewer than 50 persons and whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total does not exceed 10 million euro.
Micro enterprises are defined as enterprises which employ fewer than 10 persons and whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total does not exceed 2 million euro.
Specific international cooperation actions (SICA):
In some calls on topics of mutual interest, special conditions apply to promote research collaborations between European organisations and those based in the International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC). This usually entails a minimum of two participants from EU or Associated countries, and two from ICPC.
Specific support actions (SA):
One of the two types of actions under Coordination and Support Actions which is aimed to contribute to the implementation of the Framework Programmes and the preparation of future Community research and technological development policy or the development of synergies with other policies, or to stimulate, encourage and facilitate the participation of SMEs, civil society organizations and their networks, etc. SAs may be carried out by a single participant based in any member state, associated country or a third country.
STREP:
This is the name given to the small or medium-scale research projects in FP6. It’s continued to be used in “Information and Communication Technologies” Programme of FP7 as a synonym of the “small or medium-scale focused research actions” – one of the two types of collaborative projects.
STREPs have clearly defined scientific and technological objectives directed at obtaining specific results, which could be applicable in terms of development or improvement of products, processes, services or policy.
In the ICT Programme STREPs usually have a budget of 1-4 mln. Eur (average - 2 mln Eur) for typically 1,5-3 years and consortium of 6-15 partners.
Sub-contracting in FP7:
As a general rule, beneficiaries must have the capacity to carry out work themselves. Subcontracting is a derogation to this general rule and is limited to specific cases.
T
Task:
This is the smallest sub-division of a project with a verifiable end-point – normally a deliverable or a milestone. Several tasks are united into into a work package.
Technology-enhanced learning:
This field of study researches how the right use of the right ICTs can improve learning effectiveness in education, training and the workplace, to perform better, to solve problems, to innovate and be creative. Technology-enhanced learning is cross-disciplinary (ICTs, pedagogy, cognitive sciences, neuroscience).
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/telearn_en.html
Third country:
This phrase simply means a non-EU country. The meaning is clearest when we are speaking about relations between two EU member states and another country - literally a third country - that is outside the European Union.
Thresholds:
For a proposal to be considered for funding, the evaluation scores for individual criteria must exceed certain thresholds. There is also an overall threshold for the sum of the scores.
Two-stage submission:
Some calls require proposals to be submitted in two stages. In this case, applicants initially present their idea in a brief outline proposal. This is evaluated against a limited number of evaluation criteria, or sub-criteria. Applicants successful in the first stage will be invited to submit a full proposal at the second stage, which will be evaluated against a broader range of criteria.
U
Unique Registration Facility (URF):
This is a service hosted by the Participant Portal which provides the users with an intuitive and user-friendly web based interface allowing participants to register and submit their legal and financial data. LEARs/Account Administrators are able to access the URF to perform updates on the legal and financial data of their organization. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/appmanager/participants/portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=home.
W
Weightings:
The scores for certain evaluation criteria may be multiplied by a weighting factor before the total score is calculated. Generally, weightings are set to one; but there may be exceptions and applicants should check the Guide for Applicants published with the call.
Work package:
A work package is a major sub-division of the proposed project with a verifiable end-point – normally a deliverable or a milestone in the overall project.
Work Programme:
A formal document of the Commission that sets out the research objectives and topics to be addressed. It also contains information that is set out further in this guide, including the schedule and details of the calls for proposals, indicative budgets, and the evaluation procedure.