Western Balkan Countries’ ICT Idea Competition

Since 2008, Western Balkan countries (WBC) have been full members to the EU’s Framework Programmes. To overcome inherent barriers and shortcomings that inhibit more active participation of WBC researchers in EU-funded programmes, ICT-WEB-PROMS organizes an ICT idea competition.

Deadline: 15/5/2010
Open to: ICT researchers and developers
Costs: covered

Projects such as ICT-WEB-PROMS  and WINS-ICT, financed by the European Commission, are investing in a campaign to overcome inherent barriers and shortcomings that inhibit more active participation of WBC researchers in EU-funded programmes. Therefore, you’re invited to participate in their “WBC ICT Research Competition”, providing an opportunity for WBC researchers in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to present their expertise and their ideas to the EU’s research community.

Eligibility

This competition is open to anybody carrying out research or development in the ICT area who has forward looking research ideas. These could be researchers or developers from research institutions, NGOs, administrations or companies based in the WBC. Research ideas could eventually be turned into project proposals to be financed by FP7/ICT. Ideas are expected from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.

The six best ideas will be awarded participation to the ICT 2010 event in Brussels. In addition the winners will receive support to write a proposal or be included in a proposal to FP7/ICT.

NOTE: all project ideas received will be treated confidentially and not disclosed to the public without the consent of the applicant. Only the competition winners will be expected to personally present their organisation and their idea at the ICT 2010 Event in Brussels.

Content of the idea:

* General contact information
* Short CV of the proposer including publications
* Short organization profile
* Idea description

Evaluation criteria:

1. Eligibility (must be submitted by a Western Balkan organization from the countries listed under point 1. above)
2. Competence of applicant for the realization of the idea
3. Clarity of description
4. Innovation and relation to the state of the art
5. Feasibility and realizability (is it realistic?)
6. Applicability of the idea
7. Relevance to the ICT work programme

The eligibility criterion is an on/off one. All the criteria 1) to 7) are being evaluated on a scale of 0 (no response to this criterion) to 5 (excellent). Maximum points are thus 30. There is a cut off threshold set at 18. All ideas that get a score above 18 will be considered for the prize.

Winners of the competition:

The six best ideas will be awarded participation to the ICT 2010 event in Brussels. These six will consist of the highest scoring ideas from each WBC. If in one country there is no idea with the score of 18 or more, the best of the second choices in the other WBC will be selected.

Costs:

Conference fees, travel from the WBC capital to Brussels and hotel costs will be covered by the ICT-WEB-PROMS project. In addition, the ICT-WEB-PROMS partners will support the winners in writing a proposal or be included in a proposal to FP7/ICT.

Important dates:

Deadline for submission of ideas: May 15, 2010
Announcement of the results: May 31, 2010
ICT 2010 conference: September 27-29, 2010

Submission:

Download the competition template here.
The completed forms must be submitted by 15 May 2010 by email to your national contact point indicated below or to the ICT-WEB-PROMS coordinator Ira Vater at ira.vater@ebanet.eu

For further information you can contact your ICT-WEB-PROMS contact point in your country. Contact details are as follows:

  • Albania: Neki Frasheri
    neki.frasheri@gmail.com
  • Bosnia & Herzegovina: Nina Bijedic
    nina@fit.ba
  • Bosnia & Herzegovina: Lazo Roljic
    lazar@teol.net
  • F.Y.R. of Macedonia: Aneta Buckovska
    anbuc@feit.ukim.edu.mk
  • Kosovo/UNMIK 1244/99: Vildane Kelmendi
    VildaneK@cacttus.com
  • Montenegro: Igor Radusinovic
    igor.r@t-com.me
  • Serbia: Dejan Paunovic
    dejan.paunovic@institutepupin.com

For more information you can check the official website.

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