Dear all
In a meeting with a representative from the EU Directorate for the
Information Society D2 Cultural heritage Applications Unit has highlighted
the current call for what are called 'take-up' measures. He commented that
there had been little interest so far from the UK and that they wished to
see more ... The sub-text is please apply! This is also the easiest and most
straight-forward way of getting funding from Europe that we are ever likely
to see!
The idea is that you have a 'good idea' to do something cultural (in some
vague way) with IT and that you have a technology company that you know can
do it. You apply for up to EUR150,000 (150,000 Euro) or about £90,000 with
no obvious strings attached. You don't get to use any money yourself (what
they call overheads) - it is to be used to commission services from a
technology company - but they will pay 100% of those costs. They are aiming
to get cultural organisations working with technology companies to encourage
more involvement in technology by the cultural sector so that people are
better able to start participating in the 'harder' research-type programmes
in the future. By working with technology companies on 'easy' projects you
get to work with them and identify problem areas which can benefit from
research, and then apply for funding to undertake the research from the Eu
later. there is a fair amount of money available for the programme
This is unlike any previous Eu Funding as it is designed to be a simple way
of giving people money to do interesting stuff with technology and NOT
research and NOT with lots of partners from across Europe (though if you can
manage any Eu links I suspect that will help).
The bottom line is that this requires a 10-15 page application by the end of
the month (sorry everyone for not spotting this earlier ...). I suggest it
is worth having a go - but clearly it will be easier if you already know
what you want to do and an idea of what companies could do what you are
thinking of. I can give very limited feedback / advice if that would be
helpful. From our point of view, the more people apply, the more likely it
is that the Eu will consider this to be a success and do more simple to take
part in schemes in the future.
Their information below ...
David
David Dawson
Senior ICT Adviser
Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
Fifth Floor, 19-29 Woburn Place London WC1H 0LU
email: [log in to unmask] tel: 020 7273 8757 (direct line)
www.resource.gov.uk www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk
Join the ResourceNews mailing list at www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/resourcenews
e-Culture Are you a small or medium-size cultural or scientific institution?
If so, read all about take-up actions
On 25 July 2000, the Commission published a new IST call for proposals, that
will close on 31
October. One of the action lines open in this call is for take-up in the
area of digital heritage and
cultural content: A.L.III.1.5. Trials on new access modes to cultural and
scientific content
What are take-up actions?
Take-up Actions are established to encourage take-up of technologies or
approaches in co-operation
with users and suppliers. They are generally smaller, more focused and have
a shorter
duration than normal RTD projects. There are different types of take-up
actions, one of which is
trials.
What are trials?
Trials aim at the adaptation and introduction of leading-edge technology
(promising but not yet fully
established) in industrial/service applications and its joint evaluation (by
supplier and user). They are
intended to encourage synergies, accelerate wider adoption and overcome
barriers to exploitation.
Individual trials are required to disseminate results and exchange
experiences across borders and
industrial/service sectors and in due course to participate in co-ordination
frameworks.
Trials normally do not involve research and technology development work as
such, but support the
objectives of the programme by enhancing the effects of RTD work. The
development work within
a trial is therefore restricted to the adaptation, fine-tuning,
customisation and improvement
of already available methods and technologies towards users' needs, with
subsequent
evaluation of the technological and economic benefits of the innovative use
of the technology within
the products, processes and operations in industry and services. The focus
does not need to be on
results emerging from the programme itself although emerging guidelines can
usefully be taken into
account.
Type of consortium
The trial consortium can have one or several principal contractor and
members. In the case where
there is only one principal contractor with one or more members, the
member(s) can be established
in the same country as the principal contractor. If a take-up action is
carried out by more than one
principal contractor, the consortium must include at least two participants
who are mutually
independent legal entities established in two different Member States or in
a Member State and an
Associated State.
Remember that the requirements for take-up are quite different to those of
the consortium-based
approach applied to most mainstream RTD projects. More often than not,
take-up
proposals will involve only one main participant, possibly drawing on the
assistance of other
members such as technical partners. The emphasis will there be on what that
participant can
achieve by applying a technology trial for the benefit of its users.
Funding models
The Community contribution to trials is:
Up to 100 % of eligible costs for cost categories Personnel and other
Specific Costs.
Up to 50% of eligible costs for cost categories Subcontracting, Travel and
Subsistence,
Consumables, Computing Costs (only invoiced costs paid to third parties) and
Durable
equipment.
No contribution will be made to cost categories IPR costs and Overheads.
Direct Co-ordination costs will be reimbursed with the percentages
applicable to the basic cost
categories set out above.
Call scope
III.1.5. Trials on new access modes to cultural and scientific content
Domains of interest include - but are not limited to - new navigation tools,
wireless access to the
Web, improved visualisation of artefacts and collections, and community
building for thematic
collections. In all cases the trials should be driven by an authentic need
as expressed by a well-defined
user profile.
These activities will be pursued in collaboration with other programmes and
initiatives at national
and regional level.
Some of the ideas that we have already come across are:
Trials to enhance web sites (improving interfaces, community building,
etc.).
Application of 3D or animation in the cultural area.
New ways that technology can enhance citizen's interaction with culture
using, for example,
appropriate navigation tools.
Building thematic distributed digital collections.
Establishing links with national or regional programmes and projects.
Documents to read:
Workprogramme 2000, Call announcement, Guide for proposers and Evaluation
manual. All of
them at <http://www.cordis.lu/ist/calls/200004.htm>
Model contracts for Take-ups at:
<ftp://ftp3.cordis.lu/pub/fp5/docs/moc_tech_en_199901.pdf>
Model contract for single contractor:
<ftp://ftp3.cordis.lu/pub/fp5/docs/moc_techmono_en_199901.pdf>
We are looking for technology experiments with cultural resources
Let us imagine that you are a medium-sized museum (or library, historic
site, archive). You will be
active in developing your relationship with your visitors (real or virtual),
and in the coming 18
months you will have a well-defined event or project planned. In this
ongoing project there is
always a point-beyond which you cannot go. This could be due to lack of
funds and/or expertise, or
simply because it would involve too high a risk. In some cases this is
directly linked to the testing
and adoption of a new technology.
A take-up trial is there to help active heritage institutions to test and
adopt new technologies.
Generally this will involve limited funding (e.g. up to 150 Keuro) over a
limited time period (e.g. 6-12
months), and a "simple" relationship between yourself and your technology
supplier(s). Our
focus is on the way new technologies can enhance the experience of the
visitor (real or virtual).
You will be able to describe in a simple convincing way your needs, your
objectives and your
plans. You will also have a solid plan to disseminate your results and
exchange the experience
you have gained with other heritage institutions. It may well be that your
project is part of a national
or regional programme, or even part of a collection of projects proposed as
a package to this call.
David Dawson
Senior ICT Adviser
Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
Fifth Floor, 19-29 Woburn Place London WC1H 0LU
email: [log in to unmask] tel: 020 7273 8757 (direct line)
www.resource.gov.uk www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk
Join the ResourceNews mailing list at www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/resourcenews
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