Integration4Water Goal & Objectives

The overall goal of the project Integration4Water is to stimulate participation of research teams from the New Member States and Accession Candidate Countries in the projects of the present and future EU RTD Framework Programmes through active contribution to the implementation of the ongoing FP6 workprogramme as well as to the development and implementation of the upcoming FP7 workpropgramme in the research area of Water cycle including soil-related aspects

To accomplish this goal the following objectives have been planned:

• development of a multifunctional, internet-based information service aimed as a “one- stop- shop” for dissemination and exchange of information on water related research conducted by NMS/ACC and OMS organizations and for project dissemination,
  
  
• development of a database of NMS/ACC organisations and research teams including SMEs active in water research, structured for the FP projects development needs and combined with a dedicated partner search engine accessible through the service web page,
  
  
• workshops event for NMS/ACC researchers comprising 3 concurrent workshops with panel sessions focused on developing the contributions in the forms of potential research topics and instruments for their realisation to the workprogramme of the FP7 in the area of Water Cycle including soil related aspects. The topics will be tailored to the available documents on the FP7 specific workprogramme as well as the Strategic Research Agenda of the European Water Supply and Sanitation Platform.
  
  
  
  

Multifunctional, internet-based information service

The internet service is aimed to serve as a "one-stop-shop" with the following multiple interactive functions and services intensifying dissemination of information on the potential of the research teams from NMS/ACC especially among the EU 15 organisations as well as supporting overall project execution:

• Instant Messenger for exchange and dissemination of water research information conducted in particular by NMS/ACC organisations including SMEs but also by MS organisations e.g. research supporting implementation and development of EU water –related policies, FP projects, )
• a gate into the proposed NMS/ACC organisations/research teams database
• partner search engine based on the developed NMS/ACC database facilitating establishing NMS/ACC/OMS research relationships
• platform for the promotion and project follow-up work of the Topical Expert Groups established during the proposed workshops event as integrated teams of NMS/ACC/OMS researchers focused on the development of research topics in the area water cycle including soil related aspects – contributions to FP7
• tool supporting execution of project tasks (limited access areas for project partners and workshop moderators)
• project dissemination platform

For an effective dissemination, beside the direct recipients- organisations and research teams gathered in the proposed database, the most effective dissemination engines focused on research and water issues will be for further information spread.
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Database of NMS/ACC organizations and research teams

The database will be structured to contain the information on the NMS/ACC organizations and more specifically on their research teams but also interested SMEs. The database will has a dedicated structure designed for the needs of partner search for FP projects and in particular for the 4 th call in the FP6 Sub-priority 1.6.3 and after its closing for the water topics in FP7. Since these are usually the research teams and their leaders rather then entire organizations who are directly involved in the development of project proposals and partner search, the database will be developed so as to promote and present the potential of the research teams and as such will permit more than one users from the same NMS/ACC organizations, however they have to represent a different scientific expertise. In general however the structure of the database should allow obtaining the following information on NMSACC organizations and their research teams:

• RTD excellence of a given research team especially with respect to the 4th call and after the closing date and relevant database upgrade , with respect to the FP7 topics and topics of the Strategic Research Agenda of the European Water Supply and Sanitation Platform incl. description of the contribution to the research topic
• relevant on-going and completed projects addressing relevant water- soil issues ( incl. local, regional, national, international projects in that FP5 and FP6 projects, demonstrations, etc.)
• information on available infrastructure, databases, patents, technologies, unique methodologies etc.,
• relevant , most recent publications
• leading researchers

Workshops event for NMS/ACC researchers

The workshops are planned as a 3-day event composed of 3 concurrent Workshops proceeded by one joint plenary session. The general topics of the workshops will be related to 3 general topics defined in the available FP7 workprogramme documents and concern the area of water related research.

The workshops will be free of charge. Participants will be covered their accommodation and board costs. Also reimbursement of the travel costs is assumed. The reimbursed amount will depend on the country . Details on the reimbursement as well as board and accommodation costs will be provided together with a request to supplement the database for the FP7 needs.

The workshop topics will be selected and defined taking into account the need of addressing the problem on a European level and the scale of impacts that the transformations related to the European Enlargement may have on water management and soil quality on the continent. The topical scope of workshops will also refer to the specific relevant topics included in the Strategic Research Agenda of the European Water Supply and Sanitation Platform.
The proposed event is aimed at:

• training the NMS/ACC researchers in the strategy of identification of broad water-soil research topics that should be addressed on the European level and developing integrated multidisciplinary approaches to address them as a mechanism for successful project proposals,
  
  
• identification of the gaps in knowledge that have not been sufficiently covered in FP6 or have emerged in the course of FP6 projects realisation. These areas of research would be of special interest in which the NMS/ACC research teams represent the strongest potential and in which they could become project leaders due to their outstanding excellence,
  
  
• addressing the identified gaps in knowledge in an integrated way to work out contributions to the development of the water-soil related FP7 workprogramme. Special attention would be paid to the contributions in the form of research topics proposed by individual teams of scientists from NMS/ACC (database users) to the proposed general topics of FP7. These topics could be integrated into the formulation of the future specific FP7 as identified gaps in knowledge,
  
  
• establishing Topical Expert Groups among workshop participants and moderators as teams responsible for developing contributions to FP7 workprogramme. These contributions should be worked out in a form of potential specific topics with a clearly defined research focus and objectives alongside with identification of instruments which may serve addressing these research topics in the most effective way. These contributions will be developed in a form of strategic reports presented to the Commission as well as on a dedicated web page of the Integration4Water service. The Topical Expert Groups way also serve as foundations of project consortia capable to contribute to and/or develop FP 7 proposals.

Workshop Participants – research leaders selected from the NMS/ACC organisations (including SMEs) gathered in the database (total of 117 participants: 3 representatives per 1 NMS/ACC country x 3 workshops x 13 NMS/ACC). For selection a set of criteria will be developed enabling assessment of both organisation's and its representative's experience and excellence in one of the 3 topics of the workshops. Additional selection criteria may be adopted during Workshop Moderators meeting.

Selection will be made based on the structured information provided by the research teams in the database forms. One research team from one organisation will be entitled to participate in one selected workshop corresponding to the potential FP7 topic. When choosing the general topic the research team will also have to provide a description of a specific contribution to this topic including also a justification why this issue should be addressed in FP7.

Moderators – selected recognised MS and NMS/ACC researchers (6 per workshop: 3 MS and 3 NMS/ACC moderators – a total of 18 moderators for all workshops) representatives of OMS and NMS/ACC organisations leading in a specific area related to the topic of the workshop in Europe. To ensure complexity and integrity of approaches to specific workshops topics the moderators should represent various scientific disciplines. Beside the workshops, the selected 18 moderators will participate in a 2 day Moderators Working Meeting organised in Poland to discuss the organisation and conducting of the workshops.

Workshop venue and dates
The workshops are assumed to be organized June 2006 in Poland. However the exact dates of the workshops will be defined later

Workshops event general scheme and agenda
The event and the workshops will be conducted using the following scheme:

• a half day general plenary session with EC and WSSTP representatives make an overview of the area of water research in FP7 and the Strategic Research Agenda of the Platform .
• 2-day 3 concurrent workshops with potential FP7 specific topics-oriented panel sessions proceeded by presentations of participants' contributions ( see below). The panel sessions will be centred on formulating the FP7 contributions in the form of research topics and thus training in building the integrated approaches to research themes and grouping the participants into Topical Expert Groups.

The final agendas including the panel sessions ( incl. their number) will be developed in maximum correspondence to specific topics available in the FP7 workprogramme documents in the area Water cycle including soil related aspects corresponding topics of the Strategic Research Agenda of the European Water Supply and Sanitation Platform (WSSTP). It is assumed that for final arrangements, the moderators will meet for a one-day moderators session before the workshops event.

Participants contributions
Research leaders gathered in the database will be notified using the instant messenger service about the upgrade of the database towards FP7 topics and planned workshop events. At the same time they will be invited to submit their contributions in the form proposed specific FP7 topics accompanied by a justification why this topic should be addressed in FP7 calls. These contributions will be made on-line as a part of the database upgrade. Potential workshop participants will be identified on the first-came – first served basis, however taking into account also the criteria of contributions quality and justification supported by the expertise of the research teams comprised in the database. The contributions will be reviewed by the moderators and project team. Based on this evaluation a final list of the participants will be developed. They will be notified to prepare short 5-minute presentations developed based on a fixed scheme set-up by the moderators during the Working Meeting and using the most updated information on FP7 workprogramme and the Strategic Research Agenda of WSSTP. In general the presentations should contain:

• a short vision on how a given research team understands the research topic selected from the FP7 workprogramme and what scientific approach it would use to address it
  
  
• the scope and kind of contribution a given organisation could bring into this approach
  
  
• in the case of SMEs – specific needs and expectations of potential end-users