Proposal Development What makes your proposal the best

Proposal Development – What makes your proposal the best ? Mr. Bosko Nektarijevic

Proposal Design What is a good and successful proposal ? 2

The Philosophy for writing successful proposals: • The philosophy is generic (applicable to all projects). • It is independent of the subject or topic. • It is independent of the funding source. • It is independent of the programme. The philosophy is simple …. .

Philosophy for writing EU project proposals: • Your philosophy is to know what to do to convince the funding source to give you the money! • Your philosophy is to learn how to be competitive (your proposal will not be the only one) and this means: • Your philosophy is to make your proposal the best.

Understand the reasons for funding programmes ! European Commission Funding programmes Policy Your project Your impact Politicians Their Impact impact Beneficiaries

Understand the reasons for funding programmes ü The most important question you have to ask yourself now: ü Do the impacts expected from EU funding programmes match your own line of research, innovation or development ? ü If not, do not try to squeeze your ideas into some EU objectives. ü The proposal will never be fully convincing and achieve a top ranking position.

You need to know how to convert this: The format for a proposal that is going to fail • Poor definition of starting point (no needs analysis). • Poor definition of finishing point (poor impact analysis). • Poor definition of how to get to the finishing point (description of activities). impact start finish Time during the project

Into this: The format for a proposal that is going to succeed Your proposal has got to be the one that gives the best definition of • where you start from • where you will get to • how you will get there i. e. description of the activities (the steps up the ladder) and evidence of progress. impact start finish Time during the project

And one more criterion you need to satisfy: The funding you are asking for needs to be well justified! impact cost start finish Time during the project An important concept for every researcher to understand!

The format for a proposal that is going to succeed Inputs Project activities Needs analysis State-of-the-art Partner justification Outputs Funder’s impact New resources Activities Stakeholder impact Existing excellence Beneficiaries’ impact Existing capacity Sustainability Existing resources Good track record Your objectives define outputs Value for money Publicity

ü In an R&D project you can achieve impact only through S&T Excellency ! It is similar with Innovation projects. . ü Where you start from: a well-founded understanding and description of the State-ofthe-Art ü Where you will go to: a clear description of how your results will go beyond the State-of-the-Art ü How you will get there: Ensure the quality and effectiveness of the S/T methodology and associated work plan.

Major problems evident in proposals: ü Irrespective of how intelligent they are, people are unable to read and implement instructions! ü Lack of understanding of Evaluation criteria (objective vs subjective) ü Statements are made without any supporting evidence ü Poor needs analysis and description of the starting point (stakeholders, problems, target groups, state-of-the-art, markets, etc) ü Insufficient details are given of activities that will be carried out ü Small relevance for the call objectives and poor impact analysis

Not reading and implementing instructions ü Ensure you do what they want you to do, which means read the instructions carefully (every page)! ü Start with the funding objectives, eligibility criteria and impact expected for projects ü Than Guide for Applicants, and do exactly what they want. ü The instructions should be easy to implement. ü The large majority of people don’t do this!

Useful tools for project development ØCreation of the Project Environment Folder ü download and copy relevant policies, work programs, reference documents, market/industry analysis, research results, national strategies and other relevant non-state initiatives important for your project idea ØCreation of a customized application form ü Create a background document for your project using Application form, GFA, Evaluation criteria and paragraphs, sentences and words from the reference documents.

Useful tools for project development 1. Create a customized application form (Background document) for your project 2. use project application form as template 3. GFA – Guidelines for applicants 4. add evaluation criteria where it’s approapriate 5. And copy expected impact / outcomes

Answer evaluators questions ICT policy objective stated in the WP “Bla bla. . we must all be able to obtain the skills needed to live and work in the information age” Example of the adjustments you can make: During the second year of the project 120 experts will be trained in bla and obtain the skills needed to live and work in the information age. This will clearly contribute to achieve the first EU ICT policy objective* Make sure that it’s easy to understand!

No evidence for statements: ü Be intelligent in implementing the instructions. Every word of the call objectives has a meaning. ü Here’s an example from an EU Work Programme: “… close cooperation with at least 3 outstanding European partnering organisations”. [Their italics, not mine!] ü “outstanding” - so do not write “Our three European partners are outstanding” and expect evaluators to believe you! You must

Not sufficient detail for justification: Compare these examples: “One of our young R&D scientists will spend one month in project year 2 at Institute X in Paris to be trained in how to use an ABC machine. ” “Our institute currently has no ABC machine, though we plan to buy one in project Year 1, as it is essential to develop the analytic tests of Objective 4. Thus, 1 of our talented scientists will work in the institute of Dr X in Paris for 1 month immediately before commissioning the ABC machine. Dr X has Activity used ABC since 1998 and she has two machines, one of which is regularly description used to train visiting workers. Upon return to our institute, the young R&D scientist will help commission Impact the new ABC machine and give training in its use to others to ensure analysis dissemination and sustainability of the newly-acquired expertise. ” Needs analysis So, make sure you define the activities sufficiently to give the evidence that objectives will be achieved.

Not sufficient detail for justification: For example: Here is the Expected impact in a policy document. . v Better integration of the selected research entities in the European Research Area as a whole (long lasting partnership, with research groups elsewhere in Europe); . . . ot bhe selected; v Improved research capacity for contribution to Improvement of participation of increased the applicant entity in EU regional economic and social development; H 2020 projects; v Improvement of thecapacity potentialfor of increased the selected re. P 7 projects Improved research contribution to v. regional economic and social development. If you ignore (implicit instructions for) any of these impacts, then you don’t get maximum score (5/5)!

Not consistent: Ensure consistency in what you say throughout your proposal. For example: ü If you refer to improving staff management skills as a project objective, make sure you describe activities somewhere in the rest of the proposal to achieve this! ü If you refer to a website dissemination activity at the end under project impact, make sure your project website is already described in a previous section of the proposal! ü It is very easy to make mistakes in consistency because you write the text bit by bit, but evaluators read your whole proposal in just a few hours.

How much detail is needed to convince evaluators? • (I do not know ! It depends. . ) • Adjust the amount of detail you give to describe the work/tasks to be done according to the project scale and type. • A small-scale project for your first proposal (e. g. a staff training visit) would need more description of day-to-day activities than a large international collaborative project by experienced staff.

How much detail is needed to convince evaluators? Here is an example of increasing detail: A small-scale project for your first proposal (e. g. a staff training visit) would need more description of day-to-day activities than a large international collaborative project by experienced staff. For conference dissemination activities you could say: “We plan two stakeholder conferences to discuss the issues. ” “We shall field international trials on wheat with 24 varieties and two plan ado 3 -day stakeholder conference in drought using plot shelters and drip irrigation. ” Sarajevotreatments in year 1 and another 3 -day event in Milan in year 2 …” “We plan shall to sow wheat 5 cm spacing in rows 15 invite key at Ministry representatives andcm EUapart. ” experts. ” “We shall prepare seed with 50 uniform sow plan to discuss keypackets problems of methods onseeds day 1 to and to in a Cernozem soil, solutions at 5 cm spacings in rows, …”states on day 2. . . ” present potential implemented in EU You have to decide which level of detail is appropriate, but you must convince evaluators that objectives will be achieved.

Format text to make it easy for the evaluators to read : Note: I find information easier to assimilate (take in or understand fully) when written in Arial fonts and not in Times New Roman fonts. EPP 15 Mar 2014

Once your proposal gets to the evaluators … ü ‘This looks a good quality proposal, with very competitive ideas from proposers who followed all the instructions. ’ ü ‘This is an excellent project concept, clearly justified and implemented with a convincing amount of detail. ’ ü ‘It looks as if the proposed project will be managed competently, and will have a significant impact. ’ ü ‘It looks the best proposal that I have reviewed.

Some essential rules: ü Choose the right instrument for your idea ü You are going to need consistently high marks on all criteria ü Use the Guidance Notes for Evaluators ! ü Make sure your Project Workplan reflects the promises you make in the rest of Part B ü Use all the help you can get (and don’t wait till it’s too late)

Some final remarks … ü No amount of creative writing will disguise an inadequate proposal. ü Educate evaluators in simple and easy to understand language using references from background documentation; Answer evaluators’ questions: ü Are you really fully in scope of the strategic objective ? will your project have a significant impact ? is it scientifically and technically excellent ? Etc. ü Provide ‘just enough’ details needs analysis, activity description and impact analysis; ü Provide measurable evidence of your claims from credible info sources; ü Present information in the best format for the readers to