Final Report Summary - COSMOS+ (Continuation Of the cooperation of Space NCPs as a Means to Optimise Services)
Executive Summary:
COSMOS+ was the successor of COSMOS, the first EU funded network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for Space. NCPs provide support on EU research and innovation programmes. Through the network activity it is possible to increase the overall quality of the NCP services and provide additional services independent of countries. This way a website was made available with FP7 / Horizon 2020 Space relevant information and a helpdesk service was established. Another core activity of the network was the organisation of international information days on behalf of and with support of the European Commission. Such events typically comprise matchmaking opportunities like short presentation opportunities or bilateral meeting sessions.
The particular challenge under COSMOS+ was the transfer phase from FP7 to Horizon 2020. With its "Countdown to Horizon 2020 Space" tour the partners aimed at covering all parts of Europe. With over 1.600 participants from 44 countries at the 8 events a huge number of researchers and industry was reached and prepared for the first Horizon 2020 Space calls. This can be seen as the biggest success of COSMOS+.
Project Context and Objectives:
National Contact Points (NCPs) can be seen as the "long arm" of the European Commission regarding support of participants in the EU Framework research programmes. Since they are established on a national basis considering national research and industry structures they are very efficient in reaching the clients in their countries. Nevertheless, the available resources and staff changes can lead to certain imbalance of the quality of their services. Therefore it is one of the core objectives of the NCP network to provide support to each other where needed. Joint trainings aim at providing a better basis for the consulting or partner search support of clients. Some topics addressed were backgrounds of call topics, key actors from visited countries or soft skills related to NCP work. International Partner Countries (IPCs, also called "3rd countries" because they comprise a 3rd group of countries after EU member states and Associated Countries) often lack direct access to EU Framework related information as the NCPs have. But since in particular Space faring nations among them offer interesting potential for mutual benefit cooperation they are seen as relevant target group. COSMOS and COSMOS+ therefore linked with those countries and thus prepared the floor for international cooperation. SMEs are drivers of innivation. However, they face particular challenges and other than many universities or research organisations or big industry they typically don't have own support structures. Therefore the NCP network put particular focus on their support. A document listing dedicated SME support options and programmes was created under COSMOS and updated under COSMOS+. Short presentation sessions at events are an instrument which allows particularly SMEs to present themselves and thus raise awareness of their competencies and reasearch interests. Cooperation with the European Enterprise Network was another way to aim at supporting SMEs.
One more general duty of the NCPs is to raise awareness of the funding opportunities under EU framework research programmes and inform about the dedicated topics within the calls. This is done via a project website but also via events. In preparation of Horizon 2020 COSMOS+ organised a whole tour comprising 8 events in different countries accross Europe to ease participation for researchers and industry from all European regions. A main means at those events were matchmaking opportunities realised via prebooked bilateral meetings and short presentation sessions. The registration database which resulted from the tour was later opened also for persons which did not participate in any event and used as project partner search tool since it contained profiles with competences and interests of the participants.
Project Results:
Due to the nature of the project as networking activity it did not result in S&T or foregrounds.
Potential Impact:
The work on COSMOS+ basically aimed at two groups: 1) the National Contact Points (NCPs) and 2) their clients, i. e. the Space community. The NCPs profited from the cooperation and trainings, the clients should have mainly profited from the information related activities (website, newsletter, events) and matchmakings. Finally the combined efforts should have led to an overall improvement of the NCP services and an increase in the number and in the overall quality of proposals.
NCPs are in regular contact with their national clients via newsletters, events, etc. In many occasions COSMOS+ and its activities were promoted. Within COSMOS+ the website, newsletter and events provided the main instruments for dissemination. In addition one article in a public journal with wide outreach was published.
The experiences made under COSMOS+ already resulted in the proposal for the next funding phase COSMOS2020. The analysis of Space calls and assessment of integration led to some activities aiming at the two countries that were identified as underperforming: Turkey and Slovakia. The Space NCP from Slovakia became new partner of COSMOS2020 and the project kick-off was organised in Bratislava comprising an infoday where the country situation was addressed. Turkey organised a comprising awareness tour on Horizon 2020. It is furthermore foreseen to organize a Turkey special feature at a COSMOS2020 infoday.
List of Websites:
The website of the NCP Space network has a sustainable domain name: www.ncp-space.net
Here contact details can be found and will be updated also under follow-up funding phases of the network.
COSMOS+ was the successor of COSMOS, the first EU funded network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for Space. NCPs provide support on EU research and innovation programmes. Through the network activity it is possible to increase the overall quality of the NCP services and provide additional services independent of countries. This way a website was made available with FP7 / Horizon 2020 Space relevant information and a helpdesk service was established. Another core activity of the network was the organisation of international information days on behalf of and with support of the European Commission. Such events typically comprise matchmaking opportunities like short presentation opportunities or bilateral meeting sessions.
The particular challenge under COSMOS+ was the transfer phase from FP7 to Horizon 2020. With its "Countdown to Horizon 2020 Space" tour the partners aimed at covering all parts of Europe. With over 1.600 participants from 44 countries at the 8 events a huge number of researchers and industry was reached and prepared for the first Horizon 2020 Space calls. This can be seen as the biggest success of COSMOS+.
Project Context and Objectives:
National Contact Points (NCPs) can be seen as the "long arm" of the European Commission regarding support of participants in the EU Framework research programmes. Since they are established on a national basis considering national research and industry structures they are very efficient in reaching the clients in their countries. Nevertheless, the available resources and staff changes can lead to certain imbalance of the quality of their services. Therefore it is one of the core objectives of the NCP network to provide support to each other where needed. Joint trainings aim at providing a better basis for the consulting or partner search support of clients. Some topics addressed were backgrounds of call topics, key actors from visited countries or soft skills related to NCP work. International Partner Countries (IPCs, also called "3rd countries" because they comprise a 3rd group of countries after EU member states and Associated Countries) often lack direct access to EU Framework related information as the NCPs have. But since in particular Space faring nations among them offer interesting potential for mutual benefit cooperation they are seen as relevant target group. COSMOS and COSMOS+ therefore linked with those countries and thus prepared the floor for international cooperation. SMEs are drivers of innivation. However, they face particular challenges and other than many universities or research organisations or big industry they typically don't have own support structures. Therefore the NCP network put particular focus on their support. A document listing dedicated SME support options and programmes was created under COSMOS and updated under COSMOS+. Short presentation sessions at events are an instrument which allows particularly SMEs to present themselves and thus raise awareness of their competencies and reasearch interests. Cooperation with the European Enterprise Network was another way to aim at supporting SMEs.
One more general duty of the NCPs is to raise awareness of the funding opportunities under EU framework research programmes and inform about the dedicated topics within the calls. This is done via a project website but also via events. In preparation of Horizon 2020 COSMOS+ organised a whole tour comprising 8 events in different countries accross Europe to ease participation for researchers and industry from all European regions. A main means at those events were matchmaking opportunities realised via prebooked bilateral meetings and short presentation sessions. The registration database which resulted from the tour was later opened also for persons which did not participate in any event and used as project partner search tool since it contained profiles with competences and interests of the participants.
Project Results:
Due to the nature of the project as networking activity it did not result in S&T or foregrounds.
Potential Impact:
The work on COSMOS+ basically aimed at two groups: 1) the National Contact Points (NCPs) and 2) their clients, i. e. the Space community. The NCPs profited from the cooperation and trainings, the clients should have mainly profited from the information related activities (website, newsletter, events) and matchmakings. Finally the combined efforts should have led to an overall improvement of the NCP services and an increase in the number and in the overall quality of proposals.
NCPs are in regular contact with their national clients via newsletters, events, etc. In many occasions COSMOS+ and its activities were promoted. Within COSMOS+ the website, newsletter and events provided the main instruments for dissemination. In addition one article in a public journal with wide outreach was published.
The experiences made under COSMOS+ already resulted in the proposal for the next funding phase COSMOS2020. The analysis of Space calls and assessment of integration led to some activities aiming at the two countries that were identified as underperforming: Turkey and Slovakia. The Space NCP from Slovakia became new partner of COSMOS2020 and the project kick-off was organised in Bratislava comprising an infoday where the country situation was addressed. Turkey organised a comprising awareness tour on Horizon 2020. It is furthermore foreseen to organize a Turkey special feature at a COSMOS2020 infoday.
List of Websites:
The website of the NCP Space network has a sustainable domain name: www.ncp-space.net
Here contact details can be found and will be updated also under follow-up funding phases of the network.
