Extend

EXTEND Training Workshops in Belarus

24 March 2011

The training workshops in the framework of the FP7 EXTEND project was held on March 24, 2011 in Minsk, Belarus. The purpose was to prepare and assist the researchers for their participation in the FP7 ICT Calls 8 and 9, which will be launched in the summer 2011 and later on this year, but also to prepare the most active researchers to the very important EC event – “ICT Proposers Day”, what will be held in Budapest, 19-20 May, 2011.

The training was focused on the opportunities, procedures, thematic priorities of the new FP7 ICT Work Programme 2011-2012, especially on those what will be opened in Calls 8 and 9.
But the most important activity of the seminar was the evaluation of the presented project proposal ideas, prepared by the participants.

During the training the brief overview of the EXTEND project activities, achievements and developed tools like Help-Desk had been presented by the ICT NCP Dr Tatyana Lyadnova, as well as introduction of the ICT WP2011-2012 and the Objectives of the future ICT Calls 8/9 for Proposals. The practical aspects of participation in the FP7 were presented by the EXTEND project coordinator Mr. Raphael Koumeri. He gave also explanation of the project life cycle and on the evaluation procedure and evaluation criteria.

All this information had been used by the participants as a basis for the evaluation of the prepared project ideas. There were presented 9 project ideas, 7 of them had been evaluated by the participants during the workshop. The participants got the assistance of Mr. Koumeri, Dr Tatyana Lyadnova, Olga Meerovskaya in evaluation discussion and process.

The event was of great importance and interest for the participants, they learned quite a lot of practical issues of the FP7 participation and successful proposal preparation. A new role of evaluator had been tried by them, what gave a lot of new experience and better understanding of the FP7 procedures. All attendees expressed a strong wish to have more often such events as well as an interest to take part in such events in the future.

The event has been attended by 26 representatives of the research community, business and academia, as well as NGOs, IT Associations, SMEs and other interested organizations.

Some of participants who had the most interesting proposals ideas will be supported by the project in their participation in the “ICT Proposers' Day 2011” which will take place on the 19 - 20 May 2011 in Budapest (Hungary) and some - in the Conference "THE WAY FORWARD FOR The Information Society in the Eastern Europe and South Caucasus countries: Priorities and Challenges ", what will take place on the 16 - 17 June, 2011 in Tbilisi (Georgia).

Training Workshop presentations

1. EXTEND project - Brief overview
2. Workprogramme 2011-2012 - Brief overview
3. Introduction to Training Methodology
4. Project Life Cycle Feasibility
5. Evaluator Practical Guide