Collective Research
What is Collective research?
(taken from cordis.europa.eu)
FP6' second SME-specific scheme is Collective research with a budget of
about €150 million. Like Co-operative research, Collective research
activities are also assigned to R&D performers. However in this case the
benefit to SMEs is more indirect and the participants involved are different.
The R&D performers carry out work for industrial associations and groupings
representing SMEs in order to improve the overall competitiveness of large
communities of SMEs and SME intensive sectors.
The scheme evolved from five pilot projects funded by the European Commission
under the Fifth Framework Programme.
Collective research projects are usually larger and run longer than Co-operative
research projects. They typically run from two to three years and cost between €2
and €5 million each. As Europe-wide initiatives, these projects aim to:
- Reinforce the technological basis of sectors;
- Develop 'technological tools', such as diagnosis methods, safety equipment, etc.;
- Find solutions to common challenges such as fulfilling environmental performance
criteria, meeting regulatory requirements, achieving workplace safety standards; and
- Carry out pre-normative research to help set European norms and standards.
Each Collective Research project includes a 'core group' of SMEs who are involved
in all aspects of the project, from the initial research concept through to the
dissemination of the final results. Activities cover research and innovation-related
work, consortium management tasks and training activities - particularly the training
of SME managers and technical staff regarding the new knowledge generated by the project.
The project's intellectual property rights belong exclusively to the contracting
industrial associations and groupings. The SME core group and the R&D performers are
able to exploit the results.
Collective research is a bottom-up scheme and hence covers any scientific or technological
topic or field in supporting the R&D needs of industrial associations or groupings
representing SMEs.
More information
More information on Collective Research can be found on cordis website and in
the documents enclosed below:
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