Q: What is required from the SMEs – specifically the feasibility check?
When preparing and submitting a proposal for an experiment, we have to make sure that we can run the experiment.. and that is what this feasibility check is about.. so what you need to do is to get in contact with us befor submitting your proposal.
You can get either in contact with us here at the central contact e-mail address and if you provide us with a draft proposal, we can forward this to the people who are operating the testbed(s) on which your experiment will run, or, if you already know the operator, you can contact them directly, again with a draft of the proposal.
They will take a look at the proposal and eventually get in contact with you for more information and they will issue a statement declaring that the experiment has gone through the feasibility check. This statement is copied by you as such in your proposal as Section D.
Q: Should the obtained funds be exclusively or partly used to pay the Fed4FIRE+ partners in charge of the testbed, or do these funds should be used by the SME only to organise the experiments on its own side? (charges for preparation of the experiments, final report and other tasks).
The funding you will get as an SME is exclusively to cover your costs (personnel, travel, other direct costs, indirect costs, ….). The Fed4FIRE+ -partner working as a Patron to assist you receives funding as well from internal funds within Fed4FIRE+ so these do NOT come from your funding!
As an SME joining through this call, you will be joining as a subcontractor, this implies that you will just invoice IMEC at the end of the experiment and part of the invoice will be paid based on the report and the evaluation by the Patron. The remaining part will be paid after you have gone through a formal review (presentation at a review meeting) with the European Commission.
Q: Are up to 75% of the requested funding carried based on the evaluation?
The 75% is paid on the basis of the report submitted and the evaluation by your Patron. (The remaining 25% is paid following the formal review by Brussels.)
Q: Which criteria should be applied to consider if the payment is full or not?
That the work has been done as promised in the proposal (= amount and quality of work). The report should be of sufficient quality to provide valuable feedback on the use of Fed4FIRE+, and if the report could pass a formal review in Brussels.
Q: How many travels should I plan in the budget of my proposal?
Two travels to FECs will be required; for attending a related tutorial for experimenters and project review meeting. It is also possible that travel is needed to the testbed operator to implement the experiment.
Q: Are Swiss SME companies eligible for Fed4FIRE+ Open call?
Swiss SME’s are definitely eligible for taking part in the Fed4FIRE+ Open call.
