Preparing a succesful proposal

for FRACTALS Open CallGrigoris Chatzikostas

BioSense Center

1Ljubljana, 05.12.2014.

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Purpose of this presentation

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The actual idea, the work, choice of

people, etc.

The document that describes the idea, work,

people, etc.

General principles for the proposal

The required sections are explained in the Guide for Applicants for the call.

Generating a proposal is an iterative process.

Plan key points before you write the full text - this helps in providing the structure.

1. FIWARE Usage2. Relevance with the Call3. Market potential

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Proposal structure

Part A

• Administrative details• Applicant description and details• Personnel description• Experience in projects and FIWARE

Part B

• Summary

• Technical excellence

• FIWARE usage

• Market readiness

Part C

Pitch - might be a link (in case of video, podcast) or a pdf (in case of power point presentation)

No longer than 10 pages

No longer than 5 minutes

No longer than 4 pages

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Part A – Administrative details and experience

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Applicant description

Short description of the legal entity

Your company

Write about its size and activities

Include all relevant information for the

project

ALL applicants have EQUAL TREATMENT, regardless of size, country of origin, etc.

StartUps are particularly welcome!

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Applicant details

EligibilityMake sure you are eligible in terms of your SME or Web entrepreneur status according to the Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC.

Financial data

You need to provide precise information from your last closed financial year about your headcount, annual turnover and annual balance sheet.

Linked company?

If you are linked or a partner to another enterprise make sure you are taking in account their financial numbers

Note: These information will be checked during evaluation/contracting phase

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Personnel description

Complementarity

Mr. X. is an expert in Business Management, with 8 years of experience in leading roles. Ms. Y. is an expert in software development with 9 years in X Company as a senior software architect. Mr. Z is an agronomist with 5 years of experience in technologies for horticultural crops.

Your team must be 3 to

5 persons

Write relevant information

about all team members

Given the nature of this Call you should focus on their:1) Professional experience in ICT, entrepreneurship or Agrifood2) Academic qualifications in ICT, Agriculture, Business administration or relevant

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Earlier projects

You may consider making a list of your past projects with their links and relevant details, focusing on your role in the project

These information gives indication that you have experience to accomplish this project, BUT first-time applicants are more than welcome!

Write about your experience in EU funded or other projects (if any)

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Experience in FIWARE

When writing about experience, you should stress individual roles for example: coordinator, senior or junior stuff, relevant training in FIWARE

Indicate (if any) experience in FIWARE of all or any of the team members

Previous experience in FIWARE is positive, but it is NOT a must. The call is open to ALL good teams, even if they are going to be working

on FIWARE for the very first time…

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Part B – Technical excellence

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Background and concept

Is your concept relevant to the call?This is a call for SOFTWARE

solutions, we are NOT funding the development of hardware

Objectives

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General objecti

ves

Specific objecti

vesWhat is the project for?

What are we doing in the project?

Make sure your objectives are:

1) Clear2) Coherent with the concept3) Measurable4) Achievable5) Realistic

Measurable: Provide numbers!

We will reduce the use of pesticides by 15%

We will increase farm profitability by 10%

We will develop an app for optimizing the use of pesticides

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Innovation

Do you know the market and

already existing solutions?

Knowing the existing solutions will help you

explain why yours is going to be better.

Is your solution totally new or improvement of an existing

solution?

Your project idea

It is OK to deliver an improvement of an existing solution…

…just make sure you explain the improvements

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Technical description

Consider making the work plan with work packages and tasksTimetable should be achievable and realistic

What work will be done?

How will the work will be organized?

How will it be reported and verified?

What are the risks that something goes wrong?

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Organization of work

Work Package 1

Task 1.1

Task 1.n

...Work

Package 2

Task 2.1

Task 2.n

......

All work, including management, must be part of a work package.

Work packages do not usually exactly match the proposal objectives.

The work packages can be divided into tasks.

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Deliverables list

Normally each WP should finish with a

deliverable. If it does not, the reason should

be explained

For each work package there should be

deliverables

Deliverables should have meaning and

content

Deliverables are often reports, but they can be other items (prototype,

software, pilot, etc.)

No Deliverable Name/Description Type Delivery Date1 R M012 …

If your project exceeds 5 months and you are planning an interim report please ensure that you list an adequate number of deliverables that should be achieved during the first period.

Name 1-3 of these deliverables as “milestones” for the first reporting period

For the Type of deliverable use one of the following codes: R: Document, report (excluding the periodic and final reports) DEM: Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs DEC: Websites, patents filing, press & media actions,

videos, etc.OTHER: Software, technical diagram, etc.

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Milestones

GOAL

Milestones represent key achievements in the project as a whole

Together with deliverables they help to assess whether

a project is on schedule

There should be a milestone when a particular stage is complete, or a

target has been reached

There should be milestones in each periods of the project, so that reviews can be effective

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Budget

RTD Dissemination Management

1. Personnel costs

2. Other direct costs (travel, equipment, software, services, etc.)

3. Total direct costs (Sum of row 1 and 2)

4. Indirect costs 60% of direct costs 60% of direct costs 60% of direct costs

5. Total costs (Sum of row 3 and 4)

6. Requested EC contribution 75% 100% 100%

Are your resources allocation and budget realistic?

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Cost justification

Justify all your costs by filling in the following table

Budget JustificationPersonnel Cost (N° of man months / cost per man month)

Travel Cost Where? Why?Equipment Cost What? Why?

Software & services What? Why?

Budget Justification

Personnel Cost 16 man months for development/ 2000€ eachTravel Cost Murska Sobota – interaction with the end-user

Equipment Cost 2 sensors for app testing, 1500€Software & services S-W lisence, 1500€

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Risk management

All projects carry both technical and non-technical risks• Research projects carry particularly high risk

Risks may be internal (problem with the project) or external (change in outside world, for example a new technology).

Internal risks may relate to one WP or to Interdependencies

Good risk management• Be able to recognize the risks• Assess how likely they are to occur andhow severe their effect would be • Have a plan for dealing with it – mitigation measures and a pivot strategy

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FIWARE usage

How will the FIWARE technologies be used in your project?

NO FIWARE=

NO FUNDING

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Architecture

Use a diagram to explain architecture of your solution

Indicate all the GEs/SEs you are planning to use

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FIWARE technologies to be utilized

Are you using the most appropriate GEs/SEs for your

solution?

Indicate all the GEs/SEs you are going to use explaining how and why you are going to

use these particular technologies

How are you planning to integrate GEs/SEs with the rest of the components of your

solution?Do you have a plan for testing and validation

of your solution using the FIWARE Lab?

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Target groups

Who is your target group?

Why are you addressing your solution to them?

What are their needs?

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Problem and solution

Are the improvements measurable?

Does your solution solve the problem or just provides some improvements?

How are you addressing the problem?

Identify the problem you are aiming to solveIs this problem significant

to the target group?

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Economic and other (i.e. environmental, social) benefits

JustifiedQuantified

Substantial By increasing the quality of the product, we will enable farmers to sell their products with a 10% premium

Our solution will reduce the need for irrigation by 20%, thus saving valuable water resources

The app will directly connect farmers with end customers and will increase employment opportunities in rural areas

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Validation from end-users

Have you planned to engage end-users in validation?

Identify the measures, motives and procedures to engage end-users

Measures: bi-weekly communication with end-user to receive feedback and suggestionsMotives: One free product license to the farmer that engages in validation activitiesProcedures: Communication will be handled through a Redmine application, with provision of mockups and access to demos.

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Market

Have you done your research?

DO NOT write that there is no competition, explain why you are better

than competitors

• Market size• Geographical coverage

• Do you know the market you are addressing?• Who is your competition?• Quantitative data

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Sustainability plan

Positioning and unique selling points

Market penetration strategy

Business and growth model

Estimation of your sales

BOTH achievabl

e and ambitious

• Business Model Canvas• Talk with numbers

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Part C - Pitch

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Prepare the pitch

To craft a great pitch, follow these steps:• Identify your goal.• Explain what you do.• Explain your project idea.• Engage with a question.• Put it all together.• Practice.

Pitch might be sent as a link (in case of video, podcast) or a pdf (in case of power point presentation)

It should not be longer than 5 minutes

A few hints and tips for the pitch

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1. Keep it simple and non-technical, no complicated jargon or scientific terms needed.

3. Focus on your solution and its benefits to the customer. Demonstrate full confidence and show that you really know what you are talking about.

2. This is a pitch towards an imaginary customer, not a pitch towards an investor, so try to think like a salesman, NOT like a CEO.

4. Show them the money. How much money can they make? How much money can they save? Why should they buy?

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Some additional practical information

Formatting your proposal

The page size is A4, and all margins (top, bottom, left and right) should be at least 15 mm (not including any footers or headers)

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The minimum allowed font size is 11 points

The paragraph spacing 6pt and the line spacing single

Respect the length for the sections. Excess contents

will not be evaluated!

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Evaluators

For most evaluators, English is not their first language.

Evaluators are human! They can get bored, tired, ill, confused...

The proposal must be easy to follow, even by a non-expert.

It must be easy for the evaluators to find the key points relevant to the Call and to the evaluation criteria.

Evaluators might not have time to read every word of your proposal.

Respect the page limits – Write only what is essential!

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Thank you for your attention!

http://fractals-fp7.com administrative@fractals-fp7.comAbout eligibility, budget, proposal writing etc:

About FIWARE: tech@fractals-fp7.com