Dr. José Pablo ZAMORANO RODRIGUEZ from the Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDRA) provided advice for preparing successful Horizon 2020 proposals. He advised to (1) clearly address the evaluation criteria, (2) include the human element by explaining who is involved and their relevance, and (3) think about how evaluators will view the proposal rather than only considering one's own perspective. The document also summarized some of IMIDRA's research focus areas including grapevine, horticultural crops, livestock, cloning woody species, precision farming, microencapsulation, and evaluating local varieties for new cooking

1. EU-Partnership offerings
FOOD
Dr. José Pablo ZAMORANO RODRIGUEZ
Knowledge Transfer and Outreach Dept.
Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y
Alimentario / Rural, Agricultural and Food R+D Institute of the
Community of Madrid (IMIDRA)
Orientation, Networking & Brokerage Workshop for Researchers in Jordan (Amman, 23-24 March 2015)

2. Network of regional
agricultural research centres

3. Food-related R+D priorities for 2015 (1)

4. Food-related R+D priorities for 2015 (2)

5. GRAPEVINE COLLECTION
3500+ accessions, including
1200 wine, 700 table grape, 850
rootstocks and 650 wild
Out of the above, 1000 are
considered autochthonous
Ampelographic, phenological
and molecular characterization
IMIDRA is well positioned as part of the European and
Spanish networks of public grapevine collections
 good entry point
Agrotechnical aspects: yield, fertility, tolerance to diseases and
abiotic stress
Quality, including content in health-related compounds

6. HORTICULTURAL / FRUIT CROPS
Collection, characterization,
evaluation, conservation and
transfer to farmers of specific
varieties of chickpea, melon,
cucumber, tomato, garlic, beans,
lentil, watermelon, pepper, onion,
asparagus, lettuce, parsley, spinach,
strawberry…
IMIDRA has agreements with
supermarket chains interested in
offering these crops
 supporting adoption by farmers
Strong focus on recovering local varieties

7. LIVESTOCK
Conservation of local, endangered,
cattle and sheep varieties
Promoting the use of local
varieties of sheep and goats
for cheese making
Selection of more productive
cattle genotypes

8. Cloning of woody species by somatic embriogenesis: cork oak,
holm oak, pine, elm…
IMIDRA has been a pioneer in
developing these techniques
This approach is particularly
suitable for conservation of odd
historical trees

9. Precision farming in
hyper-intensive olive
culture and in viticulture
Use of natural plant covers to
reduce the use of fertilizers in
olive and grapevine

10. Supercritical Fluid Extraction of
Emulsions (SFEE) for micro- and nano-
encapsulates formation: supercritical CO2
is used to extract the organic solvent in an
oil in water emulsion in which a bioactive
compound and a coating polymer are
dissolved. The resulting particles have
controlled size and morphology, due to the
use of the emulsion which acts as a template
and to the fast kinetics of the supercritical
CO2 extraction, which avoids particle
agglomeration
To produce particles encapsulating
synbiotics (pro- and pre-biotics) or
enzymes and apply them to fermented
dairy products and cheese

11. Evaluation of minority, local crop and
livestock varieties for its suitability to be
used on new cooking processes and
technologies
IMIDRA has good links with top chefs - holding Michelin stars
- in the Madrid Region

12. Some advice when
preparing H2020
proposals
Dr. José Pablo ZAMORANO RODRIGUEZ
Independent Expert for the EC – FP6, FP7 and H2020
Orientation, Networking & Brokerage Workshop for Researchers in Jordan (Amman, 23-24 March 2015)

13. Some advice for the proposals (1)
Make evaluators’ life easier  Have a look at the
evaluation forms and make clear when you are explaining
the criteria aspects, e.g.
 Extent that proposed work is ambitious, has innovation
potential, and is beyond the state of the art (e.g. ground-
breaking objectives, novel concepts and approaches)
 The proposal is ambitious because the technology will be validated
under 5 different conditions by 10 teams
 The innovation potential lies in facilitating the technology uptake
by increasing efficiency and reducing waste (i.e. capital costs can
be recovered earlier by investors)
 The proposal is beyond the state of the art because the technology
has never been applied under so many different conditions and
this will likely result in identifying new synergistic factors

14. Some advice for the proposals (2)
Include the human touch  Explain who you are and why
you are a partner in the consortium
 We have set-up a team of 5 tenure-track researchers with
different backgrounds who have already made some
relevant contributions at regional level using this
technology
 We are prepared to collaborate at international scale and
will contribute with a strong expertise in the technology
and the regional factors to be considered for exploitation
in the Arabic ENP countries and with a fresh approach to
an issue in which we have not applied the technology
previously

15. Some advice for the proposals (3)
Do not prepare the proposal thinking of your colleague at
your side of the lab bench or of the office desk  (S)he may
think (s)he knows much more than you, that your approach
is not original at all, that your project is impracticable, that
your consortium misses the most relevant partner…
 Think of evaluators who can understand what you mean if
you do not go too much into jargon
 Think of evaluators who want to make your proposal
“their proposal”

16. Thank you!
¡ Gracias !
Dr. Pablo ZAMORANO
Knowledge Transfer and Outreach Dept.
Rural, Agricultural and Food R+D Institute of the Community of
Madrid (IMIDRA)
pablo.zamorano.rodriguez@madrid.org
Orientation, Networking & Brokerage Workshop for Researchers in Jordan (Amman, 23-24 March 2015)