Partners Across Europe: The IDEALFIT Project
by Roberto Gagliardi
A major aim of European Commission programmes such as ESPRIT is to
promote collaboration across international boundaries. Finding the right
partners to work with in other countries can be a major challenge, and
one which often deters newcomers to ESPRIT.
The European Commission is supporting a new initiative to help companies
who have difficulty in this area. Representatives from all the EU Member
States (plus Norway, Switzerland and Iceland) are cooperating to improve
partner search in a new project called IDEALFIT. All members of the consortium
are already active in promoting ESPRIT in their own countries. By pooling
their local knowledge and contacts, they aim to ease the process of identifying
organisations willing to discuss R&D collaboration.
Subject to EC approval, international partner brokerage events will
also be organised. Here, newcomers to ESPRIT will be introduced to existing
participants from across Europe, and briefed on current R&D projects.
The IDEALFIT consortium will also be looking to improve the partner search
facilities offered by CORDIS, the Commission's computer-based R&D information
service.
The communications network personal and electronic built
to support partner search activities will also be exploited by the consortium
to provide European-wide feedback to the Commission on the operation of
the ESPRIT programme. While individual organisations and countries provide
advice to the Commission, this is the first time that a group directly
supporting the programme across Europe has worked together to report on
these matters.
The IDEALFIT consortium also expects to collaborate further in promoting
ESPRIT. This could be through special workshops for groups such as SMEs
and newcomers to international R&D collaboration, through participation
in international conferences and exhibitions, and through electronic media,
especially the World-Wide Web.
Further information on the IDEALFIT project can be obtained from your
local member or at: http://idealfit.cnuce.cnr.it/
The IDEALFIT members.
Please contact:
Roberto Gagliardi CNUCE-CNR
Tel: +39 50 593259
E-mail: r.gagliardi@cnuce.cnr.it
