Final Report - EUROSIS
The EUROSIS Project aimed at the improvement of the operation of SiS NCP's to provide more effective and quality services to organisations in the EU and in associated countries. The partners amid a spirit of close cooperation and mutual support within the project framework and managed to carry out a number of actions with core theme the exchange of good and best practices and relevant experiences in the FP7.
For identifying and sharing best practices the consortium at first carried out a survey aiming on revealing real potential and needs of improving their NCP capacities through trainings, networking, and capacity-building tools. The survey contributed in mapping the SiS NCP's skill gap. Based on the feedback received, five NCP training sessions were organised and individual members of the Focus Groups shared their experience with the rest of the network and more fervently with the newcomers. Very successful was also the Brokerage Event at Brussels on October 2009, in which 170 participants from 32 countries took part. During this event, 35 key players presented their project ideas on different topics and over 300 pre-arranged bilateral meetings took place between the interested parties.
Within knowledge transfer and exchange a set of "Guidelines for SiS NCP's in FP7" and the "Best Practice Book" were produced. Both guidance documents are not only a source of practical information but also experiences and best practices oriented to all levels of NCP's, including the less experienced ones. EUROSIS Knowledge Management Tool is one more core achievement aiming to constitute the knowledge hub for SiS NCP's and other SiS stakeholders. It is a flexible management software that helps to manage more efficiently the knowledge material of the project and the network. It gives an easy way to gather and organise information and allows easy retrieval and global access.
Mapping SiS Actors in Europe was another critical task achieved by the project. The consortium produced two reports, for the "Science in Society actors in Europe" and the "List of SiS stakeholders (NGOs, advisory bodies, research centers)". Most important was the production of national and global web maps aiming to provide NCPs with an accurate vision of the SiS patterns in Europe. Web mapping concerned contact areas between actors of the science and society debate and special attention was paid to SiS EU funded projects. It contributed greatly in determining which communities are the most represented and active in the science and society dialogue and eventually foster partnerships within the SiS community.
Improvement of existing Partner Search tools, was another key issue, where surveys among NCP's were elaborated, exploring the needs of 38 SiS NCP concerning the online partner search tool. A set of "Specifications for a SiS specific Partner Search System" was produced including customised Partner Search forms and guidelines for disseminating profiles over the network. Two workshops took place on Partner search functioning for NCPs with representatives from targeted organisations and services.
Our experiences and insight from this project contributed in the development of a strategy to increase the strategic importance of SiS NCPs in policy making. A "Roadmap for a pan-European SiS Schema" was developed, stemming from a number of consultation activities that the EUROSIS project has conducted in the period 2008-2010 by involving a relevant number of actors active in SiS.
On June 2010 in Portugal, our project reached its end, with the closing EUROSIS Conference at Portugal as the capstone of our two year efforts. The Conference promoted the project's ideas and services to the stakeholders in order to establish the SiS NCP network for the years to come after the project completion. A new era in SiS begun with the network being strong and robust enough to support effectively the future SiS Activities in a world that is increasingly influenced by science and technology.
For identifying and sharing best practices the consortium at first carried out a survey aiming on revealing real potential and needs of improving their NCP capacities through trainings, networking, and capacity-building tools. The survey contributed in mapping the SiS NCP's skill gap. Based on the feedback received, five NCP training sessions were organised and individual members of the Focus Groups shared their experience with the rest of the network and more fervently with the newcomers. Very successful was also the Brokerage Event at Brussels on October 2009, in which 170 participants from 32 countries took part. During this event, 35 key players presented their project ideas on different topics and over 300 pre-arranged bilateral meetings took place between the interested parties.
Within knowledge transfer and exchange a set of "Guidelines for SiS NCP's in FP7" and the "Best Practice Book" were produced. Both guidance documents are not only a source of practical information but also experiences and best practices oriented to all levels of NCP's, including the less experienced ones. EUROSIS Knowledge Management Tool is one more core achievement aiming to constitute the knowledge hub for SiS NCP's and other SiS stakeholders. It is a flexible management software that helps to manage more efficiently the knowledge material of the project and the network. It gives an easy way to gather and organise information and allows easy retrieval and global access.
Mapping SiS Actors in Europe was another critical task achieved by the project. The consortium produced two reports, for the "Science in Society actors in Europe" and the "List of SiS stakeholders (NGOs, advisory bodies, research centers)". Most important was the production of national and global web maps aiming to provide NCPs with an accurate vision of the SiS patterns in Europe. Web mapping concerned contact areas between actors of the science and society debate and special attention was paid to SiS EU funded projects. It contributed greatly in determining which communities are the most represented and active in the science and society dialogue and eventually foster partnerships within the SiS community.
Improvement of existing Partner Search tools, was another key issue, where surveys among NCP's were elaborated, exploring the needs of 38 SiS NCP concerning the online partner search tool. A set of "Specifications for a SiS specific Partner Search System" was produced including customised Partner Search forms and guidelines for disseminating profiles over the network. Two workshops took place on Partner search functioning for NCPs with representatives from targeted organisations and services.
Our experiences and insight from this project contributed in the development of a strategy to increase the strategic importance of SiS NCPs in policy making. A "Roadmap for a pan-European SiS Schema" was developed, stemming from a number of consultation activities that the EUROSIS project has conducted in the period 2008-2010 by involving a relevant number of actors active in SiS.
On June 2010 in Portugal, our project reached its end, with the closing EUROSIS Conference at Portugal as the capstone of our two year efforts. The Conference promoted the project's ideas and services to the stakeholders in order to establish the SiS NCP network for the years to come after the project completion. A new era in SiS begun with the network being strong and robust enough to support effectively the future SiS Activities in a world that is increasingly influenced by science and technology.