WORTH PARTNERSHIP PROJECT Guide for Applicants
Table of Contents WORTH Overview... 3 Open Call... 4 Who can Apply?... 5 ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS... 5 How to Apply?... 6 1 st STAGE... 6 Project Development Phase... 7 2 nd STAGE... 7 Evaluation Process... 8 1 st STAGE... 8 2 nd STAGE... 9 Administrative Duties... 13 Funding Scheme... 14 Results and Deliverables... 14 Services Delivery Model... 14 Other Considerations... 15 2
WORTH Overview WORTH Partnership Project fosters connection opportunities for SMEs and designers supported by EASME to encourage partnerships from fashion and lifestyle industry to: - Enhance competitiveness. - Integrate creativity, design and innovative technologies in SMEs. - Foster new, innovative or high-added value products, processes, businesses models or services developed in collaboration between designers and manufacturers or technology companies. Sectoral and geographical coverage encompasses Creative-minds, designers, artists, crafters, start-ups, and SMEs from EU and COSME associated countries from sectors such as fashion, textile, jewellery, footwear, leather, fur, furniture, home decoration, accessories. WORTH Partnership Project will support the selected innovative partnerships through: - A tailor-made coaching on either technical or soft skills to elevate the relevance of projects and increase their capabilities. - Facilitating market-positioning and professional links between members of partnerships from the different rounds of projects and other key players by organizing networking activities and attendance at relevant industry events, trade fairs, and relevant exhibitions to showcase the product/prototype developed. This will entail facilitating professional links between project partners and other players, such as buyers, retailers, financial intermediaries, investors, and media, tailored to the specific needs of each partnership to trigger further potential activities, business cooperation and access to finance. - Facilitating access to markets by identifying and organising participation of each of the partnerships in at least two relevant exhibitions or trade fairs to showcase the results of the partnerships. - Intellectual property rights organization and guidance. - Financial support to develop products or prototypes with high-added value and profitability in terms of innovation. 3
Open Call The WORTH Open Call is seeking applications targeting a combination of designers, SMEs manufacturers, start-ups and technology firms for innovative projects in fashion and lifestyle sectors for the reinforcement of the sectors innovation, competitiveness & internationalisation. Picture 1: Call Process By applying for the WORTH Open Call, your project partnership will compete to get the following type of support: 1. Financial support up to 10.000 (per project) to 150 awarded partnerships projects. Some partnerships, that demonstrate the technology and/or materials to be used in the project development require an extra support, could eventually be awarded an extra 20% support. This support will be assessed by the Steering Committee. 2. Tailor-made and customized coaching to participants on either technical or soft skills to elevate the relevance of projects and increase capabilities of the partners. 3. Facilitation of tailored professional links and market positioning between projects partners and other players (buyers, retailers, financial intermediaries, investors and media) by organizing networking activities, trade fairs/relevant exhibitions and providing links with key stakeholders. With the aim to trigger further potential activities, business cooperation and access to finance. 4
4. Facilitating access to markets by identifying and organising participation of each of the partnerships in at least two relevant exhibitions or trade fairs to showcase results of partnerships. The standard projects duration is set at 9 months. An extraordinary 3 months might be requested by partnerships and subject to the Steering Committee assessment by considering the complexity and the TRL of the project. The WORTH Open Call will have several cut-off dates. The WORTH Call opens on 18 th September 2017 with the first cut-off date 31 st of December 2017. Who can Apply? ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS WORTH Project is about collaboration between talented fashion designers, creative people, manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) and technology firms willing to enter into a partnership to develop innovative products. WORTH Project aims to increase added value and impact, through the combination of creativity, teamwork, and commitment. We invite creatives, designers, artists, crafters, start-ups and Small Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) from fashion and lifestyle industries such as fashion, textile, jewellery, footwear, eyewear, furniture, fur, leather and home decoration. In order to apply, potential partners must be eligible individually, the partnership must also fulfill some eligibility criteria in order to get through all stages of the evaluation process. The following eligibility criteria must be individually met: Applicants must be a SME (under de EU definition) 1, a start-up, self-employed or professional freelancers legally established as a business under the national law and based in an EU member state (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom) or a COSME associated country (Iceland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia), Applicants must be active in an eligible WORTH industry sector, 1 What is an SME? (http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/sme-definition_en) Staff headcount <250 and either Turnover<= 50M or Balance sheet total <= 43M 5
SMEs companies must be legally established for at least six months prior the date of the application submission. Self-employed applicants must be legally established according to the laws of each participating country from the signature of the Grant Contract or Agreement and during the whole duration of the partnership project. For self-employed applicants, it is not required the legal establishment six months prior the date of the application submission. Applicants must have completed the application form in full conformity, Applicants must have attached the signed - Declaration of Honour to their application. The following eligibility criteria must be met by the partnership: The WORTH Call is open to partnerships formed of, at least, two legal entities which must come from the involved industry sectors. (Maximum 3 partners per proposal) Partners must come from at least 2 different EU member states or COSME associated countries. Research organisations (research centres, universities, etc.) can participate in a partnership project but cannot be the lead partner. Partnerships proposals must deliver an innovative, cutting-edge product, process or service in the fashion and lifestyle industry value chain. No Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is required. The selection will be based on the excellence of the proposed idea to address the identified challenge, the maturity and the management capacity of the team to drive the project to the market, and the potential of the proposed solution to scale-up to the international market. Project activities that have already been funded or are being funded will be rejected. Double funding is not allowed. Each partner can participate in more than 1 partnership proposal per cutoff date. How to Apply? 1 st STAGE All interested partners will be able to submit their application through the WORTH Platform (http://www.worthproject.eu/participate-copy-copy/#sign) at any time. Interested applicants will fill in the online application form and upload the supporting documents (Declaration of Honour, signed by the legal representative of the applicant). Application forms must be filled out in English. Partners can register even if they do not have a specific project idea or an ally to submit the project partnership proposal. The Consortium will provide them support in the development of the idea and find the suitable partner to work with. The submission of the expression of interest must be a partnership project proposal. 6
After the submission, the performance of the eligibility check takes place and applicants are informed by email about their eligibility/ineligibility, in 5 working days at maximum. Project Development Phase After this 1 st stage, the eligible applicants will gain access to the Gallery, by completing their profile (http://www.worthproject.eu/register-copy/), as well as they will get full access to other participants profiles. Partnerships are formed by at least 2 or 3 members. To co-develop the project application 2nd stage. WORTH project (helpdesk@worthproject.eu), will provide assistance and support to partners when needed/ requested- to facilitate the partner search process even outside the Gallery and the further development of the idea. This is also an ongoing procedure, and as shown in the diagram above, if a partner misses the opportunity to form a partnership and submit a project, the profile remains active on the Gallery and it keeps searching for partners for the next cut-off. Same way, if a partnership is formed on-time to catch a cut-off date but finally loses it, of course, keeps active on drafting its idea for the next cut-off date. * the Second stage follows, for those submitted on time. 2 nd STAGE Partnerships are formed at this stage, as well as the co-development of the partnership project proposal to be submitted for evaluation. Partnerships will fill in the expression of interest form including a video/presentation explaining their project (in English). The expressions of interest will be evaluated by the Steering Committee formed by renowned experts in the fields of fashion, design, technology, business, etc The Evaluation criteria can be found in the following section. 7
Evaluation Process 1 st STAGE In the first stage of assessment, the consortium screens the applications against the minimum eligibility criteria. Eligibility requirements will be specified in the open call documents and are as follows: Must be registered in a member state or associated country Must be a recognised legal established business according to the national rules of their country as above explained SMEs must have been legally established for at least six months prior to the date of submission of a proposal. Self-employed applicants must be legally established according to the laws of each participating country from the signature of the Grant Contract or Agreement and during the whole duration of the partnership project. For self-employed applicants, it is not required the legal establishment six months prior the date of the application submission. Must have completed the application form in full conformity and submit it prior the cut-off date Must have submitted the declaration of honor properly filled out and signed If applicants fail on the above eligibility criteria, applications will be rejected at this stage and applicants informed by email accordingly. The consortium will evaluate and inform the applicants in 5 working days. Once eligibility is validated eligible applicants will get: a) Access to the Gallery to create Partner Profile b) Access to profiles of other eligible partners c) Access to the 2nd stage of the application procedure through the platform d) Access to the Partner Search Service e) Support from the Consortium to further develop the idea and to scout a partner outside the gallery. At this point, partners can search for a partner/partnership through the Gallery to codevelop and complete the 2 nd stage application and submit the expression of interest. The consortium will facilitate the matching process when needed and/ or requested. 8
2 nd STAGE Consortium partners will assess the quality and the operational capacity of the submitted applications and they will provide their suggestions to the Steering Committee which is responsible for the final selection of the awarded projects. All applications that have reached this stage, will receive the evaluation report, right after the selection is made. They will evaluate the applications against two sets of criteria, project quality criteria and operational capacity criteria. A detailed description can be found in the document Selection Criteria. Consortium partners will form a selection panel that will assess the quality and the operational capacity of the submitted applications and they will provide their suggestions to the Steering Committee, which is responsible for the final selection of the awarded projects. The selection panel will report to the Steering Committee on the selection process and outcomes to ensure a fair and transparent process. The selection panel will score each criterion in the range 0-5 (or 0-10, depending on the weight of the criterion). 0 Inadequate 1 Poor 2 Fair 3 Good 4 Very good 5 Excellent Proposal fails to address the criterion. The criterion is inadequately addressed, or there are serious inherent weaknesses. The proposal broadly addresses the criterion but there are serious inherent weaknesses. The proposal addresses the criterion well, but a number of shortcomings are present. The proposal addresses the criterion well with few shortcomings. The proposal successfully addresses all relevant aspects of the criterion. Once evaluated by the selection panel, applications will be ranked and the highest-scoring proposals will be proposed to the Steering Committee for funding. The maximum total quality score is 100 points Proposals that receive less than 60% of the maximum possible mark for the whole quality evaluation will be eliminated and their final score will not be calculated. Proposals that do not reach the minimum quality levels will be rejected and will not be ranked. 9
150 partnerships proposals will be funded over the course of the project with 4 cut-off dates. To ensure transparency, final decisions on funding will be made during the Steering Committee Evaluation Session, where proposals near the threshold having the same score, equality and diversity data will be taken into account in the final selection. At each stage of the selection process, applicants will receive notifications and/or feedback accordingly. The Steering Committee will score each criterion in the range 0-5 (or 0-10, depending on the weight of the criterion). This process will be applied to each application being scored by 2 members of the Committee who will also consider the inputs from the selection panel. At this stage, all applicants will receive one of the following responses; Proposal not selected as it was not of sufficient quality The proposal was of sufficient quality but unfortunately did not rank high enough to receive funding. The best 15 proposals, will be kept on a reserve list. Proposal selected. Selected proposal will submit the requested documents to the Consortium and sign both the grant and partnership agreements. Following that, awarded partnerships will send the necessary documents and sign their contracts. Those not selected will be split into two groups. The first 15 not selected, will be those who will consist the reserved list, in case some of those selected do not implement their projects or have other issues during the signature of the contract. The rest of them will be encouraged to resubmit their proposal, considering the recommendations of the evaluation report. The same applies to the reserved list projects if not selected afterward to substitute a previously selected project. 10
Evaluation Criteria 2 nd Stage Criteria Group Assessment Questions Analysis Organizational and technical capacity of the partnership Min points to be eligible: 5 To what extent applicant has the experience and competence in the thematic field concerned, as well as the necessary capacity to successfully implement the idea (human resources, etc.) Max: 5 points Applicant s potential for growth Max: 5 points Excellent (5 points) High (4 points) Very Good (3 points) Adequate (2 points) Basic (1 points) No experience (0 points) Excellent (5 points) High (4 points) Very Good (3 points) Adequate (2 points) Basic (1 points) No experience (0 points) Skills and experience of the partnership Min points to be eligible: 5 Commitment Min points to be eligible: 5 Innovation and creativity Degree Max: 30 points Min points to be eligible: 15 Portfolio of the applicant Max: 5 points Credentials and track record of the Applicant Max: 5 points Attitude and motivation of the consortium Innovativeness of proposed project Excellent (5 points) High (4 points) Very Good (3 points) Adequate (2 points) Basic (1 points) No experience (0 points Excellent (5 points) High (4 points) Very Good (3 points) Adequate (2 points) Basic (1 points) No experience (0 points) Excellent (10 points) High (8 points) Very Good (6 points) Adequate (4 points) Basic (2 points) Excellent (10 points) High (8 points) Very Good (6 points) Adequate (4 points) Basic (2 points) 11
Technology and/ or technique maturity Benefits to potential clients Excellent (10 points) High (8 points) Very Good (6 points) Adequate (4 points) Basic (2 points) Excellent (10 points) High (8 points) Very Good (6 points) Adequate (4 points) Basic (2 points) Added-value, scalability, and durability of the potential results Min points to be eligible: 5 Social and/ or environmental and/or economic impact Max: 5 points (Extra points) Merit and potential of proposal Does this project address typical problems in an innovative way with regard society? Max: 2.5 points Does this project address typical problems in an innovative way with regard to the environment? Max: 2.5 points Excellent (10 points) High (8 points) Very Good (6 points) Adequate (4 points) Basic (2 points) Excellent (2,5 points) High (2 points) Very Good (1,5 points) Adequate (1 points) Basic (0,5 points) Excellent (2,5 points) High (2 points) Very Good (1,5 points) Adequate (1 points) Basic (0,5 points) Market potential Max: 25 points Min points to be eligible: 12,5 Potential for commercialization Potential for brand creation/plans for internationalisation)/ new market orientation Excellent (10 points) High (8 points) Very Good (6 points) Adequate (4 points) Basic (2 points) Excellent (10 points) High (8 points) Very Good (6 points) Adequate (4 points) Basic (2 points) 12
Market Impact Max: 5 points Excellent (5 points) High (4 points) Very Good (3 points) Adequate (2 points) Basic (1 points) Maximum total: 100 points Threshold: 60 points Administrative Duties Selected Partnerships will become WORTH Grantees. Contracts with the Grantees will be managed by the Consortium The administrative tasks for the Grantee, including activity reporting obligations and related documents will be provided during the negotiation and contracting phase. Preparation of Grant Agreement Selected Partnerships from Open Calls applicants will be requested to sign a Grant Agreement. The main objective of this process is to validate financial and technical operational capacity from the SMEs Partnerships and to establish some minimum ground rules for receiving support from the WORTH project. Partnerships will have to submit proof of: Legal existence: Legal Entity Form accompanied with the supporting documents (registration, tax certificates). Legal entity form can be found here. Financial statements: P&L, Balance sheets (from the previous year). In case of being their first operational year and they lack any previous balance sheet, it will be required a business plan. Bank Account information: Financial Identification Form. Financial Identification form can be found here. Founders IDs Existence of an Internal Consortium Agreement between the Granted Project participants All documentation for grant preparation will be submitted electronically via email. The WORTH consortium may request official translation of documents submitted in a language that cannot be processed by the consortium partners. Languages that can be processed: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Greek, Romanian, and Catalan. 13
Funding Scheme The following payment scheme will apply to the Direct Funding: - The first 30% will be provided at the time the contract is signed. - Based on the positive evaluation of the midterm report, another 40% will be transferred. - The remaining 30% payment will be carried out following the formal approval of the final report and corresponding work validation by the Key Mentor (KM). - Payment of vouchers is detailed in section Services Delivery Model below. - Funds will be disbursed to the team leader (an SME) of a project. Teams will have to provide a breakdown of the distribution of funds among the SMEs in the team; only SMEs can be beneficiaries. Results and Deliverables Applicants must clearly indicate in their proposal, the expected achievements from their participation in the WORTH Open Call. This information will be discussed and validated during the Grant negotiation and used during the mid-term and final reviews, to receive the distributed payments. No cost reporting will be necessary, but it will be compulsory to deliver a mid-term report and a final project report on project achievements, to receive subsequent payments. Services Delivery Model All the selected Partnerships entitled to receive funding and Innovation Support Services will be assigned a KM (Key Mentor) who will mentor and guide them through the whole process. The assigned KM will evaluate each project partnership needs and will recommend the most suitable services, provided either by Consortium or external providers, to overcome each project challenges or difficulties. The Innovation support services offered by the consortium and external providers are listed in section Open Call will be managed in different ways. Additional Services provided by WORTH Consortium: The mentoring and guidance of the KM is considered as part of the Consortium Services. Based on the needs of the granted projects the KM will assist the SME to access the services provided by WORTH consortium partners and external experts. A non-exhaustive summary of these services will include: Business Plan Drafting and Elaboration Market analysis and technology evaluations Product and market development strategy and business scaling for target markets IRP strategy and freedom to operate analysis Coaching by experienced SME Owners and qualified coaches 14
EU funding consultancy, support in screening and national and EU funding landscape Partnering, networking and traveling to selected events Targeted support to access private capital market for product development and scale-up Design Thinking services and/ or coaching Access to exhibitions Other Considerations Data Protection WORTH partners are committed to protect and respect applicants' privacy. The personal data collected in the context of the present Open Call will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC in regards to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. Applicants files will be retained in WORTH archives until the end of the project activities for which the applicants submitted a proposal idea. The information you provide will be retained in compliance with the regulation (EC) 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000. It will be entered and held securely on the WORTH Consortium computer systems and online databases. It is possible that the information we collect from you could be transferred, stored and processed in a destination outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) during our processing. By submitting your information, you agree to this transfer, storing and processing, even where the country or territory in question does not maintain similar data protection standards. WORTH Consortium is working with partners to provide enhancement to the WORTH PARTNERSHIP PROJECT through the European Union, the information you provide will be used for the purposes of assessing or managing your application, and for other purposes connected with the WORTH PARTNERSHIP project and your participation in it. The information may also be shared with project partners sponsors and agents. We will retain your information on our files and contact you about other projects we may run that we believe could be of interest to you. If you do not wish for your information to be retained for these purposes, and would not like to be contacted about other projects, you may let us know using the email privacy@worthproject.eu. It is possible to exercise your access, rectify, cancel or opposition rights through the private profile of the entity (delete profile) or by contacting WORTH data controller by sending an email to privacy@worthproject.eu 15
Useful Documents: Application Forms (Examples only and none-editable versions) Form 1: Eligibility check Form 2: Quality and Operational Capacity Assessment Selection criteria Questions Please check out the FAQs section in the WORTH website. For further enquiries, you can contact us via live chat on the Website platform or helpdesk@worthproject.eu The mere fact of participating in this Open Call means that the participants know and fully accepts the present rules. 16