"Partnering with European Space Organizations: The EU Space Proposal Evaluation & Selection Process”, presented by Burton Lee, Stanford University, July 21 2010

1. Partnering with European Space
Organizations
The EU Space Proposal
Evaluation & Selection Process
Dr. Burton H. Lee PhD MBA
Lecturer, European Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Stanford Mechanical Engineering
Burton.Lee@stanford.edu
Wed July 21 2010

2. Topics
• Budget Allocations across Call topics for 2011
• Partnering with European space organizations
• The European Commission space proposal
evaluation and selection process
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3. Burton H. Lee Experience
• Independent Expert Evaluator of EC Space
Research Program proposals
– February 2010, in Brussels
– Invited by European Commission
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4. Budget Allocations Across Call Topics
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5. Partnering with European Space
Organizations
• How to find a European partner
• Working with your partner
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6. How to Find a European Partner
• Use current relationships in Europe as a
starting point
• Assess interest in participating in/forming a
consortium to apply for EU FP7 space funding
• Assess prospective partner’s reputation and
network in Europe
• Building the relationship
• Face-to-face meeting is essential
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7. Working with Your Partner
• Negotiating the Consortium Agreement
• Consortium decision-making
• Coordination of tasks with other consortium
members
• Funds transfers and invoices
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8. The Consortium Agreement
Key Issues to Address
• Intellectual Property
– How handled between consortium members?
– How clear are the arrangements?
– Do the IP arrangements help or hinder commercialization
and/or follow on efforts?
– How to handle publication of research results and data?
– Frequent practices addressed include:
• Who owns new IP and/or data generated by consortium members
• Cross-licensing of IP between consortium members
• Handling of confidential data
• Use of IP outside the consortium activity
• Pre-publication rights
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9. The Consortium Agreement
Key Issues to Address
• Project management and coordination
– Meetings and coordination: how frequent, where, who
– Reporting procedures
– Document creation and handling procedures and
infrastructure (Microsoft Office, Googledocs,etc)
• Confidential documentation
• Risk management & mitigation approaches
– Technical, other
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10. The Consortium Agreement
Key Issues to Address
• Consortium governance and decision-making
– Steering committee membership
– Scope of authority of consortium coordinator and
steering committee
– Decision-making procedures
• Voting rules
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11. The European Commission Space
Proposal Evaluation & Selection Process
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12. Proposal Evaluation Criteria
Summary Overview
• Scientific and/or technological excellence;
• Potential impact through the development,
dissemination and use of project results;
• Quality and efficiency of the implementation
and management.
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13. Proposal Evaluation Criteria
• Scientific and/or technological excellence
– “Soundness of concept, and quality of objectives”
– “Progress beyond the state-of-the-art”
– “Innovative character in relation to the state-of-the art”
– “Contribution to advancement of knowledge /
technological progress”
– “Quality and effectiveness of the S/T methodology and
associated work plan”
– “Contribution to long-term integration of high quality
S/T research”
– “Quality and effectiveness of the joint programme of
activities and associated work plan”
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14. Proposal Evaluation Criteria
• Quality and efficiency of the implementation
and management
– “Appropriateness of the management structure and
procedures”
– “Quality and relevant experience of the individual
participants”
– “Quality of the consortium as a whole (including
complementarity, geographic balance)”
– “Appropriateness of the allocation and justification of
the resources to be committed (staff, equipment,…)”
– “Adequacy of resources for successfully carrying out
the joint programme of activities”
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15. Proposal Evaluation Criteria
Key Areas to Pay Attention To …
• Quality and efficiency of the implementation and
management
– Clear task descriptions and assignments
• Who does what, budget allocations to each task
– Clean and crisp handling of IP
• Management of confidentiality issues
– Key milestones
• Program objectives, major tasks, deliverables
• Gantt chart is important
– Meetings
• Onsite, video- and teleconferences
• Frequency, location of meetings
– Consortium management and decision-making procedures
– Communications infrastructure between consortium members
– Document creation and handling infrastructure
• Microsoft Office; Google docs, etc
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16. Proposal Evaluation Criteria
• Potential impact through the development,
dissemination and use of project results;
– “Contribution, at the European [and/or international]
level, to the expected impacts listed in the work
programme under relevant topic/activity”
– “Appropriateness of measures for the dissemination
and/or exploitation of project results, and
management of intellectual property.”
– “Appropriateness of measures for spreading
excellence, exploiting results, and disseminating
knowledge, through engagement with stakeholders
and the public at large.”
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17. Proposal Evaluation Criteria
Key Areas to Pay Attention To …
• Potential impact through the development,
dissemination and use of project results;
– Why is this project important?
– What is the broader context for this research?
– Is this an enabling technology or discovery activity?
– Will this positively impact other space or terrestrial projects
or programs?
– How wide will the impact be?
• Global ? Europe only? Near-term or Long-term?
– Commercialization possibilities?
– Technology/research roadmaps are sometimes useful
– Make it easy for the reviewers to assess impact
• Show clear linkages to outcomes and degree of impact
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18. Scoring of Proposals
Used by Expert Evaluators to Rank Proposals
• Evaluation scores will be awarded for each of the three
criteria
• Each criterion will be scored on a 1 – 5 scale
– “1” is low; “5” is high
• No weightings will apply
– (i.e. criteria are equally weighted)
• The minimum acceptable score for individual criteria
will be “3”
• The overall acceptable minimum, applying to the sum
of the three individual scores, will be “10”
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19. Where to Find Relevant Documents
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc
Search FP7 Calls
database under
“space” to find
complete
documentation for
the current Call
(“FP7-SPACE-2011-1”)
Then go to the
“Information Package”
section for specific
documentation…
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20. Key Documents to Review
Information Package - “Call Fiche”
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21. Key Documents to Review
Information Package - “Work Programme 2011 - Space”
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22. Key Documents to Review
Information Package - “Cooperation Work Programme 2011 - General Annexes”
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23. Key Documents to Review
Information Package - “Guide for Applicants (Common Part) - Collaborative projects (CP)”
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