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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 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%