Seminar Report

Seminar & Training Course on Horizon 2020 Information on how the European Programme

for Research and Innovation works

and how to get involved

12 March 2014

Brussels

co-organised by

EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation

and

Japan Business Council in Europe (JBCE)

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Summary

EU-Japan cooperation in science, technology and innovation (STI) has an opportunity for growth,

with the entering into force of the EU-Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Science and

Technology in 2011. In Europe, “Horizon 2020”, the world’s biggest public funding programme for

multinational research, development and innovation, has officially started.

In this context, the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and the Japan Business Council in

Europe (JBCE) co-organise a seminar on Horizon 2020 with the objective of further promoting EU-

Japan STI cooperation.

The seminar mainly targeted Japanese-affiliated companies in Europe in order to encourage their

participation to Horizon 2020 by enhancing their understanding of Horizon 2020. It also provided

a platform to exchange European, Japanese and other global companies’ experiences in the

previous Framework Programme (FP7) and considered strategic questions relevant to industry.

60 participants joined the seminar, with the following breakdown:

Japanese-affiliated companies or organisations based in Europe

36

Non-Japanese (Global, European) companies or research organisations in Europe

6

European Commission (e.g. DG RTD, DG Energy)

(

4

Japanese Government or Public organisations (e.g. METI, MEXT)

7

Other research support organisations 7

Programme

10:00 Opening Remarks by Mr. Yukihiro Kawaguchi, Secretary General of Japan Business Council in Europe (JBCE)

10:05-

10:30

Horizon 2020: Latest developments, information and the opportunities for Japan Speakers: - Dr. Toshiyasu Ichioka, Manager, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation - Mr. Patrick Vittet-Philippe, Head of Japan Desk, International Cooperation Directorate, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission (EC)

10:30

Industry’s experience in FP7 and what we can learn from them to understand Horizon 2020 and its opportunities Part I Experience of European research institution and company

Moderater: Mr. Yukihiro Kawaguchi, JBCE

Presentation 1 – “Open Innovation through Global Partnership: EU Funded Projects Opportunities” by Dr. Jo de Boeck, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center)

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10:30-

10:50

Presentation 2 - “R&D at Siemens : Experiences from FP7” by Dr. Eddy Roelants, Vice-President, R&D, Innovation and IPR Policy, Siemens AG Part II How industry outside EU could take part in Horizon 2020 and how international cooperation should be encouraged through Horizon 2020

Moderator: Dr. Toshiyasu Ichioka, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation

Presentation 1 – “GE and EU Funding” by Mr. Chris Haenen, Director, EU funding, General Electric

Presentation 2 – “TE Connectivity: EU Funding Experience” by Dr. Stephane Berghmans, R&D Manager, TE Connectivity

Intervention 1 – “Hitachi Europe R&D: Activity in Europe” by Mr. David Williams, Lab Manager, Hitachi Cambridge Laborator

Intervention 2 – “Innovation through Horizon 2020” by Mr Shinichi Baba, Deputy Managing Director, TRL (Telecommunications Research Laboratory) Toshiba of Europe Ltd

Wrap-up

13:00- Networking Lunch

14:30-

17:30

Horizon 2020 – Practical Training Session for Project Managers

Training course for R&D managers, etc. of Japanese-affiliated companies and institutions in Europe who wish to understand the practical and administrative aspects necessary for participating in Horizon 2020 projects.

The training course was co-organised by the FP7-funded project “Japan-EU Partnership in Innovation, Science & TEchnology (JEUPISTE)”. Training course moderators:

- Dr. Toshiyasu Ichioka, Project Manager, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation

- Mr. Gianluigi Di Bello, Agency for the Promotion of European Research (APRE)

The course was also joined by Ms Susanne Madders, Senior International Relations Officer of EUREKA Secretariat, who provided a short introduction on “EUREKA” (an intergovernmental network to support market-oriented R&D and innovation projects by industry, research centres and universities across all technological sectors).

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Main issued discussed

Following is the summary of each session. The presentations made at this seminar are

available at http://www.eu-japan.eu/seminar-training-course-horizon-2020

Session 1 Horizon 2020: Latest developments, information and the opportunities

for Japan

Mr. Patrick Vittet-Philippe from the European Commission DG Research & Innovation

outlined the following:

(1) The current picture of the EU-Japan partnership in science & technology, including an

overview of Japanese participation in FP7 and EU-Japan coordinated calls;

(2) Horizon 2020: what’s new? (e.g. main changes from FP7);

The current picture

To understand the current picture of the EU-Japan STI partnership, including the data on

the level of Japan’s participation in FP7, please refer to Mr. Vittet-Philippe’s presentation

pages 3 – 13 at http://www.eu-japan.eu/sites/eu-japan.eu/files/EC_VittetPhilippe.pdf

In order to promote EU-Japan STI partnership, Mr. Vittet-Philppe raised key questions:

o Why is overall Japanese participation in EU research programme so “modest” up to

now? (e.g. Japan’s level of participation in FP7 was much lower than that of the U.S.,

China and India, and was at a similar level with that of Mexico and Egypt).

o What can be done to improve participation of Japanese research entities (public and

private) in the future?

o What may be the best approaches (top-down vs. bottom-up)?

It is also meaningful to look at:

o Why is there a contrast between the level of participation by Japanese-affiliated

companies based in Europe and Japanese companies based in Japan?

o How can the participation in the EU research programmes be an incentive for

Japanese-affiliated companies in Europe?

o What messages can Japanese-affiliated companies in Europe send to headquarters to

reinforce future participation from Japan?

Understanding the “incentives” for participation in the EU research programmes was one

of the goals of the seminar and was discussed in Session II.

Horizon 2020 – What’s new?

Horizon 2020 is the world’s biggest research & innovation funding programme (€79 billion

budget over 7 years) and is considered as the most open programme of this kind in the

world. Its general structure and details, including the aspects concerning international

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cooperation, are summarised in Mr. Vittet-Philippe’s presentation from page 14 onward at

http://www.eu-japan.eu/sites/eu-japan.eu/files/EC_VittetPhilippe.pdf

Please also look at additional information presented by the EU-Japan Centre at

http://www.eu-japan.eu/sites/eu-japan.eu/files/seminars/Training_Ichioka.pdf

The official and the most comprehensive source of information on Horizon 2020 (e.g. key

documents, Work Programme, calls information, practical guidelines, and other support

tools) is the “Participant Portal” at http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal

“National Contact Points” for the EU Framework Programme (NCPs) can also assist

prospectus participants on all aspects. Japanese-affiliated companies based in Europe can

use the NCPs established in the countries of their operation. Japanese entities in Japan can

use the NCPs in Japan (as of March 2014, the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation

is the first and the only NCP nominated in Japan).

For the purpose of this report, following is a list of basic points to be noted on Horizon

2020:

It is a framework for multi-pole, interdisciplinary research & innovation, and

is open to the world;

Calls for proposals are competitive selection based on excellence;

It focuses on pre-competitive, applicable research & innovation;

Two principles are co-funding and non-profit making;

Projects own the IPRs.

Minimum conditions for participation:

Collaborative actions: At least three legal entities, each established in a

different Member State or Associated Country;

For European Research Centre, SME instrument, coordination and support,

training and mobility actions: At least one legal entity established in a Member

State or in an Associated Country.

Additional conditions are specified in the Work Programme of each call.

Rules on funding for international participants:

Participation is open and encouraged from organisations in all international

partner countries;

Automatic funding by EU are for EU Member States, Associated Countries (17),

and “developing economies”;

For “industrial countries” (e.g. Japan) and BRICs, general rule is own

funding, but EU funding can be provided in some exceptional cases.

Horizon 2020 – What opportunities for Japan?

In order to encourage Japanese companies to understand the opportunities offered by

Horizon 2020, Mr. Vittet-Philippe emphasized the following points, among others:

International cooperation is at its core in Horizon 2020;

Simplification is key in Horizon 2020 (e.g. faster, less red tape);

Value of EU programmes is not only about money (e.g. it is an opportunity to work

with the best brains in the EU and internationally and to build long-term collaboration);

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EU research programmes provide key roles for industry (e.g. via European Technology

Platforms);

Horizon 2020’s Work Programme also indicate some “areas of special interest for Japan”

(i.e. research areas for which the EU is particularly interested in having Japanese

participants). A list of such “areas of special interest for Japan” mentioned in Horizon 2020

Work Programme for 2014 – 2015 is made available by the EU-Japan Centre at

http://www.jeupiste.eu/ja/horizon-2020-calls-information

In addition, in order to assist Japanese entities’ participation, the Japanese government and

the European Commission organise what are called “EU-Japan co-ordinated calls” for

proposals.

Helpdesk for Japanese companies – JEUPISTE project

In September 2013, an FP7-funded project called “JEUPISTE: Japan-EU Partnership in

Innovation, Science and Technology” was launched.

The JEUPISTE project aims at promoting EU-Japan STI cooperation by contributing to EU-

Japan STI policy dialogues, deployment of bilateral information services, organisation of

networking events, operation of helpdesk services and training of human resources for

collaborative projects. It is being managed by a consortium of the following 10 partners:

Institute for International Studies and Training (EU-Japan Centre for Industrial

Cooperation; Coordinator)

Agency for the Promotion of European Research (IT)

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DE)

Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (GR)

Regional Centre for Information and Scientific Development (HU)

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TR)

Agency for Management of Universities and Research Grants (ES)

Rete Internazionale per le Piccole e Medie Imprese (International Network for SMEs)

(IT)

National University Corporation Kobe University (JP)

Centre for Social Innovation (AT)

For information on JEUPISTE project and its activities, please visit its homepage:

http://www.jeupiste.eu/

Session II Industry’s experience in FP7 and what we can learn from them to

understand Horizon 2020 and its opportunities

Understanding the incentives for participation in the EU research programmes was one of

the goals of the seminar. In this session, we invited six European, global or Japanese

enterprises to hear their experiences of participating in FP7 projects.

IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) on “Open innovation through global

partnership: EU funded projects opportunities”

Siemens on “R&D at Siemens”

General Electric on “GE and EU funding”

TE Connectivity on “EU funding experience”

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Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory on “Hitachi Europe R&D – Activities in Europe”

Toshiba Europe on “Innovation through Horizon 2020”.

All presentations are available at http://www.eu-japan.eu/seminar-training-course-

horizon-2020

Based on these presentations, speakers and participants exchanged views on Horizon 2020,

its opportunities and incentives for industry to participate. Below is a summary of issues,

advices, and opinions expressed and questions asked.

As regards to how a company can first define what and with whom it could participate when it looks at

Horizon 2020 Work Programme:

o European Commission organises “Info Days”. National Contact Points (NCPs) in your

region can also assist.

o If you have certain topics in mind, you can start by looking in your networks who could

be your potential partners. It is also useful to talk to the European Commission officials

who deal with the topics.

o To step in for the first time, you can also look at track records of FP7 projects in the

topics of your interest and see who did what (info available via the EC online database).

It is also useful to get in touch with the coordinators of previous similar projects.

o It is better not to be a project co-ordinator (leader) if you have never participated before.

As regards to understanding motivation and incentives for participation, all speakers emphasized that

participation was not for money and that strategic view was important:

o If we want to promote Japanese companies’ participation, it is important to convince

headquarters of strategic importance of participation.

o A slide from Siemens’ presentation (below) summarises the key motivation and

advantages for participation.

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o Japanese companies should also know that participation from Japan is often seen as

strong added value for European partners. Japanese companies should therefore

valorise their participation.

Mr. Berghmans of TE Connectivity participated in two FP7 projects as project co-ordinator

(leader). He pointed out additional incentives:

o EU framework allows you to work in projects with multiple partners and to go from

basic research and beyond (e.g. up to creating proto-types);

o Because you need to follow the EU’s reporting requirements, it keeps you and the

projects on track.

As regards to understanding the factors necessary to be a successful participant:

Mr. Haenen, Director for EU funding at General Electric, presented an interesting fact-

finding assessment on their company’s performance in EU R&D funding. The assessment

was conducted in 2011 under the instruction of their CEO in order to analyse why General

Electric were not so strong when it came to EU funding and to develop a better strategy by

identifying success factors.

Following are the key success factors identified by GE’s self-assessment:

(1) From organisational point of view, a dedicated team (project management office) who

can advise the board and a commitment from centrally allocated R&D budget;

(2) From strategic perspective, a clean central R&D strategy (long-term) and IP policy;

(3) As external factors, memberships in platforms and networks.

Key take-aways from the GE’s self-assessment were summarised as follow:

As regards to how to decide the method of sharing the outcome, etc. of a project (e.g. IP, budget) with project

partners:

o Budget may be decided by a bottom-up approach (e.g. based on which partner does

which aspect of the project);

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o For IP, be open-minded to recognise which partner brought what contribution and be

fair to/with partners;

o Consider well in advance about whom you cooperate with. For example, do you work

with competitors? Or within your value chain?

Other advices raised during the discussion include the following:

o Japanese industry should also consider taking part in the “conception” of calls for proposal;

o It could also be meaningful to volunteer to be a referee of project’s selection;

o To participate for the first time, it is important to work with experienced partners;

o There is also a possibility to use outside partners (e.g. consultants) for writing files and

project management.

Horizon 2020 - Practical Training Session for Project Managers

The training session in the afternoon was organised by the JEUPISTE project with the idea

to provide information on practical aspects (e.g. forms of funding, funding rules) and to

answer specific questions from practitioners’ point of view. For full presentations, please

refer to http://www.eu-japan.eu/seminar-training-course-horizon-2020

The JEUPISTE project will make available on its homepage (http://www.jeupiste.eu/ja)

various information useful for Japanese entities wishing to understand or participate in

Horizon 2020. The JEUPISTE project also offers a helpdesk service on Horizon 2020

(http://www.jeupiste.eu/japanese-contact-points-and-help-desk).

* * *

Post-event Evaluation

The content of Sessions I and II were highly evaluated by participants. The event served as

a good and unique occasion to bring together Japanese and European industry and

authorities to exchange experiences and opinions. This initiative was also highly

appreciated by the European Commission DG Research & Innovation’s officials in charge

of promoting STI cooperation with Japan, and provided the EU and Japanese Authorities

with useful food-for-thought for future.

The EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation would like to thank the Japan Business

Council in Europe (JBCE), all the speakers and the participants for providing an

opportunity for a good exchange.