ACTIVITIES :: eContentplus :: calls :: FAQ 2010
ICT PSP 2010
FAQ on Theme 2 Digital Libraries
The following questions are intended to provide additional clarifications on the objectives funded in the framework of Theme 2 Digital Libraries of the ICT PSP 2010 work programme. If your question is not answered here, please contact the helpdesk.
1.1 Is there a follow-on to eContentplus?
1.2 What are the eContentplus follow-on activities continued under ICT PSP?
2.1 What does ICT PSP fund in the area of Digital Libraries in 2010?
2.2 What aspects of Europeana does ICT PSP Theme 2 fund in 2010?
2.4 Does ICT PSP fund mass digitisation?
2.5 What is considered a masterpiece of Europe's cultural heritage?
2.6 What is meant by "complementary" content to be made available through Europeana?
2.8 What does the term "scientific information" cover?
2.9 What is the purpose of the Open Access movement?
2.10 How does ICT PSP promote open access to European scientific information?
2.11 How much content is considered to constitute a "critical mass"?
2.12 What statistics about cultural heritage digitisation activities do currently exist?
3.3 How can I provide content to Europeana?
3.4 How does content have to be accessible through Europeana?
3.5 Is it necessary to own the content to be made accessible through Europeana?
4. Proposal preparation and submission
4.1 Which calls are there in 2010?
4.3 Who can apply? From which countries?
4.4 Can organisations established in other countries participate?
4.5 Can International Organisations participate?
1. General questions
1.1 Is there a follow-on to eContentplus?
Since 2009, measures to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable, formerly funded under the eContentplus programme, are continued under the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Policy Support Programme ("ICT PSP"), one of three specific programmes implemented through the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007-2013) ("CIP").
1.2 What are the eContentplus follow-on activities continued under ICT PSP?
Three themes have been taken up under ICT PSP, Digital Libraries, Public Sector Information/Geographic Information and Multilingual Web.
In 2010, ICT PSP funds activities in the area of Digital Libraries (Theme 2).
The 2010 work programme does not open any objectives for the theme Public Sector Information/Geographic Information. This may change in 2011.
For further information on the theme Multilingual Web, please consult the web site http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/language-technologies/cip-psp_en.html.
1.3 What does the term "digital libraries" refer to?
For the purpose of this work programme, digital libraries are organised collections of digital content made available to the public by cultural and scientific institutions (libraries, archives and museums) and private content holders (e.g. publishers) in the EU Member States or other countries participating in the programme. They can consist of all kinds of “physical” material that has been digitised (books, audiovisual material, photographs, documents in archives etc) and material originally produced in digital format.
1.4 How do the activities under FP7 call 6 differ from the activities under ICT PSP call 4 in the area of Digital Libraries?
FP7 focuses on research, while ICT PSP intends to improve accessibility, use and preservation of Europe's rich and diverse cultural and scientific heritage through the use of existing state-of–the-art technologies (see also question No. 2.1 What does ICT PSP fund in the area of Digital Libraries in 2010?).
In the framework of challenge 4, FP7 call 6 funds the following research topics:
Digital preservation research topics:
a) Scalable systems and services for preserving digital content
b) Advanced scenarios / challenging problems
1) preserving complex objects
2) intelligent digital curation and preservation
Digital libraries research topics:
c) Innovative solutions for assembling multimedia digital libraries … enhancing scholarly understanding and experiences of cultural heritage
d) Adaptive cultural experiences
e) Research capacity building: interdisciplinary research networks
f) Uptake of research results: promoting uptake to encourage deployment; roadmapping; showcase, validation and demonstration centres
Further information is available at http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/challenge4_en.html.
2. ICT PSP 2010 objectives
2.1 What does ICT PSP fund in the area of Digital Libraries in 2010?
Theme 2 supports the digital libraries initiative. It aims at improving the accessibility, use and preservation of Europe's rich and diverse cultural and scientific heritage in the online environment. In 2010, 30 million EUR will be available to fund projects responding to six different objectives.
Three objectives relate to Europeana:
2.1: Coordinating Europeana
2.2: Enhancing/Aggregating content in Europeana
2.3: Digitising content for Europeana
Three more objectives relate to further actions in the wider area of digital libraries:
2.4: Access to European Rights Information / Registry of Orphan Works
2.5: Open access to scientific information
2.6: Statistics on cultural heritage digitisation activities
For the full details on the focus & outcomes, the conditions & characteristics and the expected impact of these objectives, please consult the ICT PSP 2010 work programme.
2.2 What aspects of Europeana does ICT PSP Theme 2 fund in 2010?
In 2010, ICT PSP will fund a Thematic Network to coordinate, maintain and develop Europeana as well as projects that will prepare more content for inclusion.
The coordination of Europeana (Objective 2.1) will encompass the management of the activities contributing to the enhancement of Europeana, the maintenance of its service, the development of its functionalities, the improvement of the user experience as well as the coordination of the network of contributing organisations.
The preparation of more content for inclusion refers to aggregating/enhancing content already existing in digital form (Objective 2.2) and to digitising content (Objective 2.3), in particular masterpieces of Europe's cultural heritage (see also question No. 2.5 What is considered a masterpiece of Europe's cultural heritage? and question No. 2.4 Does ICT PSP fund mass digitisation?).
2.3 Can aggregation of existing digital content and digitisation of content be combined in a single project?
Not under objective 2.2. Under this objective, Best Practice Networks for the aggregation/enhancement of content already existing in digital form will be funded.
Under objective 2.3, Pilot B-type project for digitising content, in particular masterpieces of Europe's cultural heritage will be funded (see also question No. 2.5 What is considered a masterpiece of Europe's cultural heritage? and question No. 2.4 Does ICT PSP fund mass digitisation?). Proposals that target this objective could also include the aggregation of existing content provided that it results in added value to the items to be digitised. However, the main thrust of the proposed work should be digitisation.
2.4 Does ICT PSP fund mass digitisation?
No. Through objective 2.3 Digitising content for Europeana, ICT PSP aims to support targeted digitisation actions in synergy with and complementing collections already accessible through Europeana. Preference will be given to the digitisation of masterpieces of Europe's cultural heritage.
The material to be digitised should be selected through a thematic approach, must be of interest to a broad public, may include different types of material (e.g. books, audiovisual, sound, archival records, newspapers) and should be held by cultural institutions from different European countries. The digitisation action should result in high quality digital content to be made accessible through Europeana. It should demonstrate the added value of bringing the selected content to Europeana.
2.5 What is considered a masterpiece of Europe's cultural heritage?
For the purposes of the ICT PSP 2010 work programme, masterpieces of Europe's cultural heritage should meet the following requirements:
Ø works of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship or pieces of work that have been given much critical praise,
Ø represent the legacy of physical and intangible attributes of the past of a group or society
Ø inherited, maintained in the present and worthy of preservation for the future
Typical examples could be works of literature, paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints or monuments.
2.6 What is meant by "complementary" content to be made available through Europeana?
For the purposes of the ICT PSP 2010 work programme, complementary content is content to be digitised during the project. Such content can complete or add to collections already available through Europeana; alternatively, it can consist of new collections of cultural heritage content not yet available through Europeana.
Digitisation of content that is already available through Europeana will not be funded.
2.7 What work is currently ongoing to build an infrastructure for the exchange of European rights information and a registry of orphan works?
Currently ongoing work is done in the framework of the ARROW project (http://www.arrow-net.eu/), funded under the eContentplus programme and coordinated by the Italian Publishers' Association.
ARROW stands for Accessible Registries of Rights Information and Orphan Works towards Europeana. The project aims at providing interested stakeholders with the information required to clarify the rights status of orphan and out-of-print works, so they can be cleared for digitisation and made available to the public. ARROW is a public-private partnership involving in a single initiative representatives of all stakeholders in the book value chain (see list below), who are contributing to the project in order to establish systems for the exchange of rights data, the creation of a registry of orphan works and out-of-print works as well as a network of rights clearance mechanisms.
2.8 What does the term "scientific information" cover?
For the purpose of this work programme scientific information refers to the results of scientists’ or scholars’ research work in the EU Member States or other countries participating in the programme and includes in particular scientific articles and associated datasets as well as monographs. It thus comprises scientific publications that report the results of original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social sciences.
2.9 What is the purpose of the Open Access movement?
The Open Access movement aims at making scientific papers and the related datasets accessible on the internet free of charge for the user.
2.10 How does ICT PSP promote open access to European scientific information?
ICT PSP intends to support experiments with open access to scientific/scholarly information and explore new paradigms for accessing and using this information to improve the spread of European research results.
The results of projects in this area should contribute to opening wider access to more scientific information, new ways of reviewing, rendering, querying and linking scientific information or setting up data journals and initiatives that improve the quality and trustworthiness of repositories of scientific information.
2.11 How much content is considered to constitute a "critical mass"?
The critical mass is defined on the basis of the analysis of demand and of the objectives and expected results of the project. Proposers should demonstrate that the underlying content constitutes the critical mass necessary to make a significant impact in terms of increasing access and use in the area concerned.
2.12 What statistics about cultural heritage digitisation activities do currently exist?
The Numeric Study (http://www.numeric.ws/) aims to measure the progress of the digitisation of Europe’s cultural heritage. It has tested a framework for collecting and analysing data relating to digitisation activities of materials held by libraries, archives and museums in the EU and has implemented it with the help of nominated experts in each European Country. The deriving measures relate to the costs to the institutions concerned, and the progress made towards both preserving and making their materials accessible on-line.
3. Europeana
3.1 What is Europeana?
In August 2006, the European Commission issued a Recommendation on digital libraries to Member States, which led to Conclusions of the Culture Council in November 2006. The Council endorsed the vision of a European Digital Library as a common multilingual access point to Europe's distributed digital cultural heritage. Europeana (http://www.europeana.eu) was launched in November 2008 and is expected to provide on-line access to at least ten million books, documents and other cultural works by 2010.
For further information on the latest developments, please refer to the web site http://version1.europeana.eu/web/europeana-project/.
3.2 Who runs Europeana?
Europeana is run by the EDL Foundation, a partnership between cultural heritage institutions contributing to the creation of Europeana founded at the end of 2007. For further details, see http://version1.europeana.eu/web/guest/edl-foundation/.
3.3 How can I provide content to Europeana?
To learn about the requirements to provide content to Europeana, please refer to http://version1.europeana.eu/web/guest/provide_content.
Metadata complying with the Europeana requirements should be added to the objects. The metadata should encompass appropriate intellectual property rights information relating to the digital objects.
3.4 How does content have to be accessible through Europeana?
The content should be accessible and retrievable by the target users through Europeana at item level.
Accessible does not necessarily mean that output content must be made available for free. It means that the consortium must agree on appropriate licensing or clearing arrangements for any Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) arising from the project to ensure wider use and dissemination of the project results.
3.5 Is it necessary to own the content to be made accessible through Europeana?
The consortium and its members do not necessarily have to own the content they intend to make accessible through Europeana. They need to have the necessary rights in order to ensure the availability of the content to be contributed to Europeana. They must also agree on appropriate licensing or clearing arrangements for any Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) arising from the project to ensure wide use and dissemination of the project results.
4. Proposal preparation and submission
4.1 Which calls are there in 2010?
There will be one ICT PSP call for proposals in 2010. The full call documentation, including the call fiche and the work programme, are published on the programme website in English at http://ec.europa.eu/ict_psp.
4.2 How do I prepare a proposal? Where can I find more information on how to apply to a call for proposals?
The following documents are essential:
Ø The Work Programme describing the themes and objectives, the available funding, the means to implement the programme and the evaluation criteria;
Ø The Guide for Applicants containing all the necessary information on how to prepare and submit a proposal. There is a specific guide for each project type. It is accompanied by appendices with the mandatory proposal submission forms;
Ø Mapping documents indicating the appropriate part B sections in which to address the requirements of the work programme. There is a specific one for each theme 2 objective;
Ø The Model Grant Agreement defining eligible costs and setting forth the terms and conditions governing funded projects.
Together with further guidance on the evaluation procedure and the electronic proposal submission system, they can be downloaded from the programme web site http://ec.europa.eu/ict_psp.
4.3 Who can apply? From which countries?
The programme is open to all legal entities established in the EU Member States and countries associated to the ICT Policy Support programme.
Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Croatia, Turkey, and starting from 2010 Serbia, are countries associated to the ICT PSP. Organisations from those countries can be financed by the programme.
Israel has also expressed an interest in joining the ICT PSP.
Up to date information on the countries which are associated to the programme is available at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/ict_psp/about/who_can_participate/index_en.htm
4.4 Can organisations established in other countries participate?
Legal entities established in third countries may take part in projects at their own expense.
4.5 Can International Organisations participate?
International Organisations may participate in projects. However, the minimum participation requirements for the consortium of the respective project type have to be met without taking into consideration the International Organisations. International Organisations will not receive Community funding.
The minimum participation requirements for each project type are described in Chapter 4 of the work programme.
4.6 How can I contact the Commission?
You can contact the Commission by sending an e-mail to the Helpdesk at
Please also check periodically the ICT PSP web site http://ec.europa.eu/ict_psp for general information on the ICT PSP programme and as well as the eContentplus web site http://ec.europa.eu/eContentplus for background information on the themes of Digital Libraries and Public Sector Information/Geographic Information.
4.7 Can I get feedback on my proposal idea?
Yes. Before developing a full proposal, prospective proposers may make use of the (optional) pre-proposal service by submitting an outline description of their project idea of no more than two pages. Such so-called pre-proposals are sent by e-mail to the helpdesk using predefined templates. Guidance on how to submit a pre-proposal and the pre-proposal form are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eContentplus
Pre-proposals should be sent early enough to allow sufficient time for taking account of the Commission's comments when preparing the full proposal. Pre-proposal replies do not preempt evaluation.
This page was last updated: 29 January 2010