ACTIVITIES :: eContentplus :: calls :: FAQ 2008
FAQ 2008
The following questions are intended to provide additional clarifications on the work programme and call text. They are for guidance only. The rules governing the call for proposals are laid out in the official call documentation. Should your question not be answered here, please contact the eContentplus Helpdesk.
1. Proposal preparation and submission
- 1.1 Which calls are there in 2008?
- 1.2 How do I prepare a proposal? Where can I find more information on how to apply to a call for proposals?
- 1.3 Who can apply? From which countries?
- 1.4 Can organisations established in other countries participate?
- 1.5 What is an acceptable consortium for an eContentplus project?
- 1.6 Can SMEs or start-ups participate in an eContentplus project?
- 1.7 Is there any partner search facility?
- 1.8 Can I get feedback on my proposal idea?
- 1.9 How can I submit my proposal?
- 1.10 What happens if my proposal does not reach the Commission before the deadline?
- 1.11 How should I input details of my organisation if the characters used to register it are not in the Latin character set (e.g. Greek, Cyrillic)?
- 2.1 What is funded?
- 2.2 Does eContentplus fund the development of new tools?
- 2.3 Does eContentplus fund the creation of digital content?
- 2.4 Does eContentplus fund digitisation?
- 2.5 Does eContentplus fund translation of content?
3. Target areas and project types
- 3.1 What is covered by the term ‘geographic information’ in the eContentplus work programme?
- 3.2 Does the term "educational content" cover only formal education?
- 3.3 For education content the terms "user generated" and "professionally produced" are used. What is their meaning?
- 3.4 What are "Open Educational Resources" ?
- 3.5 What are "learning technology standards and specifications?
- 3.6 Does the term "digital libraries" only refer to content held by libraries?
- 3.7 What is the European Digital Library?
- 3.8 Who runs the European Digital Library?
- 3.9 How can I get in touch with the European Digital Library?
- 3.10 What aspect of the European Digital Library does eContentplus fund in 2008?
- 3.11 What does the term "scientific/scholarly content" cover?
- 3.12 How does eContentplus promote access to European scientific/scholarly content?
- 3.13 What are the key differences between Best Practice Networks and Targeted Projects?
- 3.14 What are the key differences between Best Practice Networks and Targeted Projects?
- 3.15 What are "clustering meetings"?
- 3.16 Is it necessary to contribute content? Is it necessary to own the content to be contributed? How much content is considered to constitute a "critical mass"?
- 3.17 Does "accessible results" mean that content must be made available for free?
- 4.1 What is the maximum rate of Community Contribution?
- 4.2 What is a grant agreement?
- 4.3 Is subcontracting allowed?
- 4.4 Under which circumstances is it possible to award subcontracts to entities established in third countries?
- 4.5 Can contributions in kind be brought to a project count towards a beneficiary's own cost share?
- 5.1 Who evaluates the proposals?
- 5.2 What are the evaluation criteria? How are they applied?
- 5.3 How will I be informed of the evaluation result?
- 6.1 Where can I get more information about the eContentplus programme in my country?
- 6.2 How can I contact the Commission?
1. Proposal preparation and submission
1.1 Which calls are there in 2008?
There is one call for proposals in 2008. The call announcement has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm (C74 of 20.3.2008, p. 62), the full call text on the programme website in English at http://ec.europa.eu/econtentplus.
1.2 How do I prepare a proposal? Where can I find more information on how to apply to a call for proposals?
The Guide for Proposers provides guidance on how to make a project proposal. In addition, the following documents should be studied carefully before preparing a proposal:
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The Work Programme describing the objectives the actions, the means to implement the programme and the evaluation criteria;
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The Call for Proposals detailing which actions are open under a given call and the deadline for receipt of proposals;
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The Guide for Proposers containing all the necessary information on how to prepare and submit a proposal. It is accompanied by appendices with the mandatory proposal submission forms;
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The Guidance Notes for Evaluators providing guidance for experts evaluating proposals received in response to the eContentplus 2008 call for proposals. Potential proposers may wish to read it for an overview of the evaluation process;
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The Model Grant Agreement setting forth the terms and conditions governing funded projects;
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The European Parliament and Council Decision adopting the programme.
All the above documents can be downloaded from the programme web site http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/calls/proposals
Please check periodically for latest information.
1.3 Who can apply? From which countries?
Participation in the programme is open to legal entities established in the EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, United Kingdom).
It is further open to participation of legal entities established in EFTA States which are contracting parties to the EEA Agreement (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), in accordance with the provisions of that Agreement.
Legal entities established in the candidate countries (Croatia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) can take part in a proposal, but will only receive funding if a bilateral agreement with the relevant country has been concluded to this effect.
Up to date information on which countries are part of the programme is available on the programme web site at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/programme/country_coverage.
1.4 Can organisations established in other countries participate?
Legal entities established in third countries and international organisations may take part in projects at their own expense.
1.5 What is an acceptable consortium for an eContentplus project?
To be eligible, a proposal must be submitted by at least one legal entity or by consortium established in a country participating in eContentplus. A consortium should aim at a balanced resource and task distribution among partners with well defined roles and responsibilities.
The European added value of the proposal will however have to be clearly demonstrated. A proposal for an activity carried out in a single country and involving only applicants from that country is unlikely to have European added value.
It should also be noted that only one organisation can be appointed as co-ordinator under the grant agreement. The beneficiaries can however agree on a distribution of the work whereby another beneficiary co-ordinates the technical work.
1.6 Can SMEs or start-ups participate in an eContentplus project?
Participation is open to all legal entities. All applicants must demonstrate their financial and operational capacity to carry out the proposed project. Therefore the CVs of key personnel should be submitted at proposal stage as well as the organisation’s accounts and profit and loss statement. Start-ups may be requested to demonstrate their financial capacity by means of a business plan at negotiation stage.
1.7 Is there any partner search facility?
You can use the specific entry for the eContentplus programme on the CORDIS partner search facility at: http://cordis.europa.eu/partners-service/search_en.html
Or you may contact the network of National Contact Points (NCPs) who may advise you on possible partners in their respective countries. The list of NCPs is available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/contact
1.8 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 eContentplus Helpdesk using predefined templates. Guidance on how to submit a pre-proposal and the pre-proposal form are available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/calls/proposals.
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.
1.9 How can I submit my proposal?
Proposals must be prepared using the proposal submission forms provided with the Guide for Proposers and sent to the Commission before the deadline by registered mail, or delivered by hand or by courier, on paper in one (1) original and five (5) copies, accompanied by an electronic copy on CD-Rom, to the following address:
European Commission
Information Society and Media Directorate General
eContentplus
Office EUFO 1181
Rue Alcide de Gasperi
L-2920 Luxembourg
Proposals sent by fax or e-mail will be excluded.
Reminder: Proposals are called by a fixed deadline, applying to receipt by the Commission. Proposals not received by this deadline will not be considered.
1.9.1 Do co-ordinators have to sign the A1 and A2 forms ?
No
1.9.2 Do applicants have to sign the A2/A4/C1/C2 forms ?
No
1.10 What happens if my proposal does not reach the Commission before the deadline?
It will be excluded from evaluation.
1.11 How should I input details of my organisation if the characters used to register it are not in the Latin character set (e.g. Greek, Cyrillic)?
You should use one of the widely available transliteration resources to convert the details into their equivalents in the Latin alphabet.
2. What is funded?
2.1 What is funded?
eContentplus has an enabling role: It will help content stakeholders (providers and users) realise the full potential of digital content by creating better conditions for accessing, using, reusing and exploiting digital material in areas with a public interest, which would not develop or would develop at a slower pace if left to the market.
In the light of the above, eContentplus funds projects in specific target areas (geographic information, educational content, digital libraries) that:
- aim at improving the searchability and usability of existing digital content in order to create the conditions for the emergence of European content-based services,
- use existing state-of-the-art technical solutions,
- are geared towards innovation in the organisation and deployment of digital content (as opposed to purely technological innovation).
Please refer to the work programme for the full details on the target areas, the open actions and their specific objectives, conditions and expected results.
2.2 Does eContentplus fund the development of new tools?
No. Actions in this non-research programme will use proven state-of-the-art technical solutions, and will be geared towards innovation in the organisation and deployment of digital content, as opposed to purely technological innovation.
However, where the adaptation of existing tools will facilitate better access to, use and exploitation of the underlying digital material, the related work could be considered provided the effort required is small compared to the total effort of the project. This need will be assessed on a case-by-case basis as it is not possible to establish hard borderlines between research and development, state-of-the art and innovation.
2.3 Does eContentplus fund the creation of digital content?
No. The main objective of eContentplus is to make existing digital content more accessible, usable and exploitable.
2.4 Does eContentplus fund digitisation?
Not in general. Funding digitisation and the preservation of digital material is primarily a responsibility of the Member States. The single exception to this is action 5.3. Targeted projects for cultural content.
This action is not intended to provide co-funding for digitisation of entire collections held by cultural institutions, nor of a number of disparate and heterogeneous collections, nor of content of interest only to a small number of specialists. It is aimed at the targeted digitisation of content - which may include different types of material (e.g. books; newspapers; audiovisual, sound and/or archival material) - selected through a thematic approach. The themes must be of interest to a broad public, and the proposal should demonstrate the added value of bringing the selected content from different countries together.
The selected material to be digitised may either complement content already available through the European Digital Library or be aggregated with already existing digital content held by the proposing consortium. The project results should constitute a critical mass of complementary content, to be made accessible through the European Digital Library.
Work related to setting up an integration platform in order to aggregate the digitised content, including - where applicable - also such parts of the collections that were already available in digital form, can be part of the proposed work in so far as it is required to make the content available via the European Digital Library.
2.5 Does eContentplus fund translation of content?
No. The objective of the eContentplus programme is to enable multilingual access to content and not access to multilingual content. Therefore, proposals should focus on improving the searchability and accessibility of the underlying digital content in several languages.
3. Target areas and project types
3.1 What is covered by the term ‘geographic information’ in the eContentplus work programme?
For the purpose of this work programme geographic information (or spatial data) means any data that directly refer to a specific location or geographic area. The objective of eContentplus is to contribute to the wider use of spatial data by public sector bodies, private companies, including small and medium enterprises, and citizens in line with the Community policy to facilitate the re-use of public sector information. Collaborative projects that improve the conditions for the re-use of spatial data complement and support the measures of Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the re-use of public sector information.
In this context the programme will also contribute to the INSPIRE initiative (INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe, http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire/) which aims at making available relevant, harmonised and quality geographic information for the purpose of formulating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating Community policy-making. The projects should address barriers to interoperability of spatial data sets and services related to one or more of the specific themes enumerated in annexes I-III of the INSPIRE directive. Only one Best Practice Network for each theme will be selected.
3.2 Does the term "educational content" cover only formal education?
No. For the purpose of this work programme, educational digital content is content that can be used for learning in different contexts: in formal education and training programmes, in non-formal general education and in continuing vocational training courses, as well as for self-learning. The approach proposed should pay particular attention to pedagogical, multicultural and multilingual aspects of using the underlying content and to the feedback from the target users.
3.3 For education content the terms "user generated" and "professionally produced" are used. What is their meaning?
In most cases it is either an advantage or a requirement for the proposals on
educational content to cover both user-generated content and
professionally produced content.
The term "user-generated" refers to various kinds of digital educational content
that is produced or primarily influenced by end-users as opposed to educational
publishers or other education and training providers.
3.4 What are "Open Educational Resources"?
The term Open Educational Resources (OER) has been introduced and promoted in the context of UNESCO’s aim to provide free access to educational resources on a global scale (Final report of the Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries, UNESCO 2002). However "an authoritatively accredited definition of Open Educational Resources does not exist at present" (see discussion at http://www.olcos.org/cms/upload/docs/olcos_roadmap.pdf)
For the purpose of this work programme, Open Educational Resources (OER) refer to educational material and resources freely and openly available online for everyone to use for teaching and learning and, under certain licensing conditions, to re-mix, improve and redistribute.
3.5 What are "learning technology standards and specifications"?
Learning technology standards and specifications are designed to facilitate the description, packaging, sequencing and delivery of educational content, learning activities and learner information. Some of their objectives of these standards and specifications that focus on Learning, Education and Training supported by information and communication technologies are the following:
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enhancing learning progress
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facilitating learning services
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improving the development, realization and evaluation of learning, education and training supported by information and communication technologies
They are needed to prevent content becoming "locked" in to proprietary systems, to ensure educational content is durable and reusable, to enable educational content & learner information to be shared and to facilitate interoperability.
3.6 Does the term "digital libraries" only refer to content held by libraries ?
No. 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.
3.7 What is the European Digital Library ?
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. The European Digital Library is expected to provide on-line access to at least six million books, documents and other cultural works by 2010. For more information about the latest developments please refer to the web site http://www.europeana.eu.
3.8 Who runs the European Digital Library ?
The partnership between cultural heritage institutions contributing to the creation of the European Digital Library was formalised at the end of 2007 through the creation of a legal entity which is responsible for the operation of the European Digital Library. For further details http://www.digitallibrary.eu/edlnet/edl_foundation.
3.9 How can I get in touch with the European Digital Library ?
Follow the link on the web site http://www.europeana.eu or contact the coordinator of the Thematic Network EDLnet http://www.digitallibrary.eu/edlnet
3.10 What aspects of the European Digital Library does eContentplus fund in 2008 ?
In 2008, the eContentplus programme will continue to support the establishment of the European Digital Library by funding projects that will prepare more content for inclusion in it as well as projects that will improve the use of its collections by users.
In particular, the content already available through the European Digital Library is expected to be enhanced by highly interoperable databases of content held by museums, archives and libraries across a large number of EU Member States and a significant quantity of quality cultural material held by cultural institutions from different countries, related to specific themes of interest to a broad public, part of which may still have to be digitised (see also question No. 2.4 Does eContentplus fund digitisation?).
It further intends to fund projects providing user-friendly solutions allowing easy and efficient multilingual access to and use of the contents of the European Digital Library, solving key operational issues related to the implementation and functioning of the European Digital Library and informing stakeholders, including the general public, about the European Digital Library, how they can contribute and access its content.
3.11 What does the term "scientific/scholarly content" cover?
The term "scientific/scholarly content" refers to organised collections of published results of scientists’ or scholars’ research work in the EU Member States or other countries participating in the programme and includes both articles, papers, conference proceedings, monographs, textbooks and other similar publications and the related underlying datasets.
3.12 How does eContentplus promote access to European scientific/scholarly content?
eContentplus intends to improve the spread of European research results through conclusive experiments with open access to digital libraries of scientific/scholarly content. The expected results of projects in this area should be that content held by different types of stakeholders is aggregated, made interoperable and available for open access across borders and can be used as a basis for experiments exploring new paradigms of easy access to scientific information.
3.13 What are the key differences between Best Practice Networks and Targeted Projects?
Targeted Projects aim at addressing one or more of the specific issues mentioned under "objectives" for educational content and digital libraries. The purpose of these actions is not to fund “feasibility projects”, but to improve in a sustainable way accessibility, use and exploitation of the underlying content as an immediate outcome of the content contributed by the consortium.
This is reflected in the specific common requirement on impact of the targeted projects (including analysis of demand, a specific definition of critical mass and a need to make convincingly the case for sustainability) as well as on the required way to involve users in them included in the specific common requirement on the consortium.
Best Practice Networks on the other hand should combine a consensus building and awareness raising function with implementation in a real-life context of the solutions discussed. Their main objective is to promote the adoption of standards and specifications for making digital content in Europe more accessible and usable.
This is reflected in the specific common requirements for impact: different analysis of demand than for Targeted Projects including the requirement to demonstrate the added value of the approach proposed compared to existing or earlier attempts on the specifications and standards on which the proposal focuses, a different definition of critical mass and no requirement for sustainability. It is also reflected in the requirement for the consortium where standardisation bodies and relevant European and international bodies should be involved where appropriate. There are also requirements on networking and clustering which are specific to Best Practice Networks: the composition and arrangements of the consortium should allow it to disseminate and promote uptake of results in the majority of the 27 EU Member States and contribute actively to clustering activities organised by the Commission while the approach proposed should be sufficiently flexible and foresee ways of taking into account the results and recommendations of these clustering activities, making necessary adaptations to the project.
The differences as reflected in the common requirements are summarised in the table below:
| Targeted Projects | Best Practice Networks |
|
Content; European dimension |
|
| Impact (access & use) | Impact (adoption of Standards & Specifications) |
| Consortium (providers; users) | Consortium (providers; users; standardisation bodies) |
| Networking capacity | |
| Clustering | |
3.14 What are "clustering meetings"?
More than one Best Practice Network is expected to be funded in each target area, each one dealing with different themes. The Commission has the intention to organise, as appropriate, "clustering meetings" for the Best Practice Networks in each target area. All relevant stakeholders will be invited to these meetings: representatives of other relevant projects funded under eContentplus and other relevant EU programmes, representatives of relevant European and international bodies (e.g. standardisation bodies) and any other participants the Commission considers necessary for achieving broad consensus and creating the conditions for the widest possible uptake of the recommendations of the networks.
Each Best Practice Network participating in the clustering meetings should be ready to take into account any relevant results and recommendations from the clustering activities concerning the implementation of the specifications and standards it intends to cover, together with the results of the large scale implementations within the Best Practice Network, making any necessary adaptations.
3.15 What is the "feedback" expected from users?
As eContentplus intends to create better conditions for accessing, using and exploiting digital material, user feedback is inherent in the common requirements for both Targeted Projects and Best Practice Networks. However, for Targeted Projects user feedback should focus on advice on access and use of the underlying content, while user feedback in the framework of Best Practice Networks should revolve around the results of the implementations of standards and specifications.
A special additional condition on user feedback is foreseen for educational content, both for Best Practice Network and Targeted Projects. Here feedback mechanisms should be foreseen for end users, including teachers/trainers and students/learners as appropriate, on the usability of the content and on its quality, in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of the learning process.
3.16 Is it necessary to contribute content? Is it necessary to own the content to be contributed? How much content is considered to constitute a "critical mass"?
It is a common requirement for all Targeted Projects and Best Practice Networks for the consortium to contribute existing digital content. The consortium must include content providers, i.e. public and private organisations and institutions that create, collect or own digital content. The quality and quantity of the digital content (and related metadata) to be contributed to the project by each content provider, as well as the criteria for its selection, must be clearly identified.
Concerning ownership of the content, it is required that the consortium and its members have the necessary rights in order to ensure the availability of the content to be contributed to the project (input). They must also agree on appropriate licensing or clearing arrangements for any Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) arising from the project (output) to ensure wide use and dissemination of the project results.
The critical mass is defined on the basis of the analysis of demand and of the objectives and expected results of the project. For Targeted Projects, 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. For Best Practice Networks on the other hand, proposers should demonstrate that the underlying content constitutes the critical mass necessary to draw valid conclusions on standards and specifications from the implementations in a real-life context during the lifetime of the project.
3.17 Does "accessible results" mean that content must be made available for free?
"Accessible results" does not 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 (output) to ensure wider use and dissemination of the project results.
4. Funding models
4.1 What is the maximum rate of Community Contribution?
The maximum Community funding for the different types of projects is the following:
- Best practice networks: up to 80% of direct costs. No overheads (indirect costs) may be claimed.
- Targeted projects: up to 50% of eligible direct and indirect costs. Indirect costs are calculated as lump-sum of up to 30 % of personnel costs.
- Thematic network: 100% of direct costs for coordinating and implementing the network. Eligible costs for network members other than the coordinator are limited to travel and subsistence.
The different categories of costs are explained in the model grant agreement. Please note that the funding model of the Best Practice Networks corresponds to what is indicated for project type "Content Enrichment Projects" in the model grant agreement. See also the Guide for Proposers: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/calls/proposals
4.2 What is a grant agreement?
It is the written agreement between Commission and the beneficiaries of a grant, by means of which the conditions for funding a selected project are defined. The model grant agreement is available on the programme web site at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/calls/proposals
4.3 Is subcontracting allowed?
In principle, proposers should be in a position to carry out the proposed work in its entirety. In some cases, it may make sense to subcontract certain tasks. These tasks should be identified in the proposal. However, the proposal should not give the name of the subcontractor. Once a proposal is funded, the beneficiary responsible for the tasks to be subcontracted will need to tender them out and to award the subcontract to the bid offering best value for money.
The subcontracting beneficiary keeps the responsibility for the proper execution of the subcontracted tasks vis-à-vis the Commission.
The terms and conditions for subcontracting are defined in
the model grant agreement and the Guide for Proposers.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/calls/proposals
4.4 Under which circumstances is it possible to award subcontracts to entities established in third countries?
The consortium will have to demonstrate that no other subcontractor from a Member State or associated State can provide a service comparable to the one offered by the subcontractor from a third country. Apart from the fact that subcontracting to entities situated in third countries requires the prior written approval from the Commission, the same subcontracting rules apply as for entities situated in a Member State or an associated State.
4.5 Can contributions in kind be brought to a project count towards a beneficiary's own cost share?
The Commission funds eligible costs incurred by the beneficiaries during the project at the funding rate applicable to the chosen project type. Contributions brought to a project free of charge do not give rise to any costs. They can therefore not count towards the beneficiary's own cost share.
5. Evaluation
5.1 Who evaluates the proposals?
The evaluation of proposals is based on the principles of transparency and equality of treatment. All proposals are treated in strict confidence.
It is carried out by the Commission with the assistance of
outside experts. These experts are working in a personal capacity and in
performing the work do not represent any organisation. They are selected from
lists established in response to a call for expression of interest published in
the Official Journal (C 156 of 28.06.2005, p.23) and on the eContentplus web
site http://ec.europa.eu/econtentplus.
Guidance Notes for Evaluators are published on the eContentplus website:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/calls/proposals.
Potential proposers may wish to read them for an overview of the evaluation
process
Experts wishing to provide assistance under the eContentplus programmes must register in the expert database http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/calls/experts_2005
5.2 What are the evaluation criteria? How are they applied?
Each submission will be assessed on the basis of three categories of evaluation criteria:
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eligibility criteria: timely arrival and proposal completeness;
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award criteria: evaluation of merits of the proposal against the objectives of the action under which it was submitted;
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selection criteria: financial and operational capacity.
Only proposals meeting the eligibility criteria shall be evaluated further.
The award criteria are applied on eligible proposals the basis of the information supplied in the proposal. The evaluation based on the award criteria, which constitutes the core of the evaluation process, will be carried out on Commission premises in Luxembourg with the assistance of outside experts. Award criteria are applied in 2 stages. In stage 1, proposals are evaluated against criterion 1 (Relevance and European Dimension). Proposals that do not receive a mark of at least 6/10 on that criterion are not examined further. In stage 2, all other proposals are evaluated against the remaining award criteria, and lists of proposals recommended for funding are established.
The selection criteria are applied to proposals which have been considered of sufficient quality based on the award criteria.
More details on the evaluation criteria and the way they are applied are included in the Work Programme and the Guidance Notes for Evaluators.
5.3 How will I be informed of the evaluation result?
Proposal coordinators will receive an evaluation summary
report (ESR) with the overall score and comments explaining the result. The
Commission selects projects for funding on the basis of the ESR.
The eContentplus helpdesk will not provide information on evaluation results.
6. Information points
6.1 Where can I get more information about the eContentplus programme in my country?
A list of appointed National Contact Points (NCPs) is available on the eContentplus website at http://ec.europa.eu/eContentplus. NCPs can provide information about the programme, help you with procedural or administrative matters or assist you in finding project partners.
6.2 How can I contact the Commission?
You can send an e-mail to the Helpdesk at
Please also check periodically the eContentplus web site http://ec.europa.eu/eContentplus for the latest information.
This page was last updated: 27 March 2008