Find your way to Horizon Experiences with a H-2020 proposal

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1 Find your way to Horizon 2020 Experiences with a H-2020 proposal Wolfgang Breymann (wolfgang.breymann@zhaw.ch) Professor, Financial Mathematics Zurich University of Applied Sciences H2020: We Can Do It! National Conference 16 June 2015, HSZ vonroll, Bern

2 The Project: Large Scale Data Driven Financial System Modelling The financial Crisis : DatFisMo with ACTUS is an approach to make stress tests and risk expose calculations comparable across banks Coordinator: Wolfgang Breymann, ZHAW Tech. Coord: Kurt Stockinger, ZHAW US Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson in September 2008 (when Lehman Brother filed for bankruptcy): The problems at Lehman have been known for many months. The counterparties have had ample opportunity to adjust their exposure. Therefore, we can safely let Lehman go down. Collaboration with regulators as European Central Bank, Bank of England 2

3 Algorithmic Contract Type Unifying Standard (ACTUS) for consistent, efficient and flexible modeling Brammertz et al., Unified Financial Analysis. Chichester, Contact: Project requires interdisciplinary approach: Finance policies, mathematics, economics Data warehousing, big data, cloud computing Parallel programming Security 3

4 History Autumn 2012: Start of the international project ACTUS for the standardization of the modeling of financial contracts in view of financial analysis., which is funded by the US Alfred P. Sloand Foundation. ZHAW joins the project and play an increasingly larger role. Autumn 2013: Sloan Foundation reduces founding. First presentation of the results at European Central Bank (ECB). In a discussion the idea to apply for European research money emerges. Winter 2013/2014: First inquiry into possible call. Contact with colleagues from the IT department. In January 14: Visit of Euresearch. 4

5 Why a H-2020 project ACTUS project not really suitable for CTI founding (too early, company for the commercialization of Actus was just founded) European funding fits well with the international scope of the project. Asset: Good contact the ECB. However: Due to the nature of the project, joining an already existing project wasn t an option. I had to coordinate the project. No prior experience with EU projects (with the exception of a participation at a COST project). No long history of EU-participation of applied universities 5

6 Preparation for H2020: ICT-15 Discussions with a colleague with ample experience in EU RDI projects. Contact to Euresearch (Marion Tobler) Request of pre-evaluation check. (He did it last year even though this possibility does no longer exist in H2020.) We hesitated and would have preferred to submit a proposal to a SMIcentered call whose deadline was later in the year. Because of the mass immigration initiative this was no longer possible so that we had to go for ICT-15 call. Preparation of Proposal within 4 weeks. Painful success (similar to the 4 th position in sports). But best Danish proposal in that year. 6

7 Lessons learnt Start early enough Attend networking events Familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of EU research Read the text of the calls carefully and try to understand what the commissions want. Important: Not everything would is allowed is also advisable Take the project implementation issues seriously. 7

8 Preparation for H2020: ICT-16 We asked for a meeting with the program officer in autumn Even though this didn t happen we were invited to a hearing in Luxemburg where we met a member of the commision from another DG, which turns out to be pretty helpful. I attended a networking event in Brussels where I succeeded in raising the interest of the program officier. Our Danish partner and I met with the responsible person from the Danish National Contact Point. We adapted the consortium that already existed early enough. 8

9 Additional points Additional effort: Learning the peculiarities of EU proposals. In particular, it s important to look at the proposal from the point of view of the EC. Attending EU networking events to know potential partners but also to become known by the commission. The best way is to give a presentation that rise the interest of the program officer. Advantages of H2020 project: Playing in a higher league Opportunity to position one s own R&D not only in Switzerland but internationally. If done in a successful way this will help opening up new funding possibilities in the medium term. 9

10 Additional points (cont.) Main difficulties for Swiss participants: Because of the mass immigration initiative Switzerland is not fully associated to H2020. This means that one cannot apply for all calls. (E.g., we couldn t apply to a call that is centered on a Swiss SMI). What will a h2020 project not bring to a researcher / participant: From a purely monetary perspective it may not be overly interesting. However, compared to mainly locally-oriented CTI projects one is playing in another league 10