eten View of a Participant Ulrich Boes URSIT Ltd., Sofia, Bulgaria eten Information Day Sofia, 17 March 2005
Plan of Presentation Introductions The eten project BIZMAP Proposal preparation Initialization and motivation Proposal writing Submission Contract negotiation Project work Some general advice
Ursit Ltd. - Profile Technical, business and management consulting related to Information Technology Consultant and Service Provider Intermediary to business contacts establishment Intermediary to company financing - European Commission and Venture Capital financing Business development services Market Research, Training http://www.ursit.com
BIZMAP the project Federated back-end services to SMEs, coupled with e-government portals Themes: E-government, Trust&Security; SMEs Based on successful national solutions
BIZMAP - Objectives Deployment and validation of an open flexible hub, based on latest technology and opens standards (web services) Integration of back office systems Consolidated information management and delivery models
Bizmap Value Chain Local authorities Chambers of Commerce Technology providers Internet service providers Application service providers Users In total 18 partners
BIZMAP BIZMAP.net business model BEFORE AFTER Legacy data system Legacy data system Legacy data system Legacy data system Public data owners 3 e.service HUB e.service brokers WEB PORTAL (FRONT-END) WEB PORTAL (FRONT-END) 2 Web service providers WEB BROWSER WAP BROWSER KIOSK WEB BROWSER WAP BROWSER KIOSK 1 Legend: I-Mode Business clients Free or casual payment BROWSER Single or reduced payment Permanent payment
BIZMAP the origins Projects SIGMA TER and PANTA REI (DOCAREA) financed by the Italian Innovation and Technology Ministry SIGMA TER: integrated back office and related services DOCAREA: territorial network between public administrations
BIZMAP the invitation Earlier working relationship with main Italian partner 2004: Bulgarian partners could not get funding Acceptance as self-investment Collaboration with Bulgarian adminstration (CCITT as part of the Ministry of State) Project on reserve list, but funded now Contract negotiation and financial viability check
Views on proposal preparation Initialization and motivation Proposal writing Submission Contract negotiation Project work
Initialization and Motivation Which is your motivation? Financing from the EU Invitation by another partner Support to further development necessary Visionary strategy and long term orientation Resources for the development of a proposal Resources for the deployment of the service or prototype
Initialization and Motivation Commercialization with or without European financing? Are you ready to work in an inter-cultural environment? Are you ready for the administrative burden? Does your project idea match the focus of the call?
Initialization and Motivation Do you have a tested prototype or running service that has a potential for trans- European deployment? Would I do the project also without EU funding? Do I or the partnership have the capability to deploy the service?
Proposal Writing Read carefully all documents Call, Work Programme, Guide for Proposers, Evaluators Guide Everything is available online Imagine yourself as evaluator: the text will be judged upon what is written The text should be concise, concrete, understandable Contact the EC, the NCP, experienced friends,.
Proposal Writing Each question in the parts A and B has to be answered if a question is not applicable, it should be explained The important aspects can be emphasised by redundancies Financial information: detailed, clear, precise, informative
Submission The (formal) eligibility is important: Submission before the deadline, complete proposal, checklist Respect meticulously the conditions of submission After the submission, it will take a long time before the feedback
EVALUATION Quality & Relevance of the proposed proposed SERVICE Alignment with the e-ten objectives, e- Europe 2005 Underlying technology mature Interest of the service Expected IMPACT Contribution to EC policies Quality of the Project plan Soundness of the use of resources
Contract Negotiation Phase between acceptance of the proposal and contract signature Update of proposal according to evaluation recommendations Financial viability high administrative effort, especially for companies
General Advice The preparation of an eten proposal takes a lot of time and money The composition of the consortium is a key factor Each partner should have a clear role, and duplication of competencies should be avoided. All partners must be committed to deploying the service. You must not discover at a later stage that one of the partners was only involved for the money and had no intention of deploying It is necessary that there should be a high level of trust between the partners. You are effectively going into business together All partners should be prepared to explain their company strategy to each other
General Advice When you have a possible consortium, and have researched the area where you intend to present the proposal, only then start to think about actually writing it For the actual proposal preparation: define the Workplan, then the work packages, the leaders of the work packages and who would be involved in that work package The next step: scope out the work to be done within the tasks of each workpackage
Final Remarks Writing a proposal is an investment A proposal is like a business plan You must convince the client (EC!) that you deserve the grant Plan it as a real project In your own interest: think carefully about all questions before putting a proposal together The proposal is judged on the written word: be complete and comprehensible but brief Ask for advice (EC, NCP, Info Day, )
Thank you for your attention! Ulrich BOES URSIT Ltd, Sofia, Mladost 1 Tel./Fax: 02 8702878 ulrich.boes@ursit.com http://www.ursit.com