How to build a winning team for Horizon 2020 collaborative proposals Louise Mothersole UK National Contact Point for Transport +44 (0)

Contents General Principles What makes a good partner Official partner search tools Finding partners with good track records Team composition Teaming agreements, etc Q&A

General principles Writing a really good proposal is part of the road to success. Having the right team is the other part – The right expertise – The right balance of organisational types – The right approach to collaboration – The right background – The right coordinator – The right lead (not necessarily the coordinator)

The basics Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Innovation Actions (IA) require a collaborative proposal. At least: – Three different legal entities from – Three different eligible nations Member States Associated Countries Additional countries where not explicitly excluded Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) sole legal entity can apply but unlikely to succeed unless detailed collaboration plan included in proposal SME Instrument does not require collaboration

What makes a good partner For new participants, seek a partner with a track record of success in H2020 or its predecessor (FP7) UK Universities were strongest performing sector across all of FP7 – But not all universities were successful – Departments vary hugely within a university – H2020 emphasis on Impact may not sit well with universities as consortium leaders Willingness to be flexible, not dogmatic. Rarely does success hinge on one partners’ widgit

Official partner search tools Brokerage events – After call for proposals is open – Many mature teams already formed Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) – Partners Service –

Official partner search tools Cordis Load your own profile – but do it off line until you’re happy then upload – Keep it to the point and emphasise track record – it’s what you look for after all – Watch the guidance videos first: – ml ml

Official partner search tools Enterprise Europe Network, especially for SMEs, opa.eu/ opa.eu/

Finding Partners with good track records (1) Have been involved in shaping the call for proposals – Member of Transport Advisory Group or upDetail.groupDetail&groupID= upDetail.groupDetail&groupID=2969 – Active Member of European Technology Platform ERTRAC ACARE ERRAC ALICE Waterborne tp.org/index.php/partners/1/aWI%3D%3Dhttp:// tp.org/index.php/partners/1/aWI%3D%3D

Finding Partners with good track records (1) Have been involved in shaping the call for proposals – Member of Transport Advisory Group or upDetail.groupDetail&groupID= upDetail.groupDetail&groupID=2969 – Active Member of European Technology Platform ERTRAC ACARE ERRAC ALICE Waterborne tp.org/index.php/partners/1/aWI%3D%3Dhttp:// tp.org/index.php/partners/1/aWI%3D%3D

Finding Partners with good track records (1) Have been involved in shaping the call for proposals – Member of Transport Advisory Group or upDetail.groupDetail&groupID= upDetail.groupDetail&groupID=2969 – Active Member of European Technology Platform ERTRAC ACARE ERRAC ALICE Waterborne tp.org/index.php/partners/1/aWI%3D%3Dhttp:// tp.org/index.php/partners/1/aWI%3D%3D

Finding Partners with good track records (2) H2020 Projects already approved – Transport Research and Innovation Portal for European Transport Projects – Innovate UK database of all UK funded projects – uk-funded-projects uk-funded-projects

Other sources of help European Transport Network Alliance (ETNA) – Upload your profile or search others at – search/partner-profiles.html search/partner-profiles.html Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) – Primarily but not exclusively UK – National Contact Point (NCP) –

Team composition How big is big enough and how big is too big? Must we have SMEs? What role should academics have? What about exploitation partners? How about the international element? – What’s the difference between international cooperation, twinning and international collaboration? What’s all this about Social Sciences and Humanities?

Useful resources IPR Helpdesk is free and has useful templates to download – E.g. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Horizon 2020 is an agreement that defines the framework of the negotiations among the partners of a consortium and that is generally concluded in the very beginning of the negotiations on the involvement in a project, even before submitting a proposal. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action, helping to explain any protocols for communication, information exchange, reporting, confidentiality issues, and modifications and conditions for terminating the agreement

Bottom line The best way to ensure that you are on the team with the highest probability of success is to be actively engaged with one or more European networking groups that have H2020 as a focus of their activities. If you wait for publication of the Call for Proposals before putting a team together you can be successful, but it’s much harder. There are lots of databases to search for partners, being invited to join an established team with strong track record is the ultimate goal.

Any Questions?