Submitting a STREP

1. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG Submitting a STREP Experiences from the first call Hedda Weber, Lenzing AG

2. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG Project Data Title: Aerocellulose and its carbon counterparts � porous, multifunctional nanomaterials from renewable resources Type: STRP Priority 3-NMP Topic: New knowledge-based higher performance materials for macro-scale applications Duration: 3 years Consortium: 10 Partners Budget: 4 Mio �, EU-contribution 2.3 Mio � Applied for 5.5 Mio � EU-contribution 3 Mio �

3. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG Composition of the Consortium

4. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG The Co-ordinator The Company: Lenzing AG situated in the Salzkammergut, Upper Austria producer of man-made cellulosic fibres (viscose, modal, lyocell) about 2500 co-workers (about 120 in R&D) The Person Hedda Weber trained bio-organic chemist current position: area manager in the Competence Centre WOOD and project leader (characterisation and exploitation of Lenzing's hemicelluloses)

5. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG Preparation of the proposal Start February 3, 2003 (deadline: April 10, 2003) what we had: the idea 3 partners from 2 countries a successful experiment a couple of proposals for other projects as examples we started writing the proposal 4 weeks before the deadline ( by that time we had 5 partners from three countries) shared responsibilities: work programme P. Navard's group, the other parts Lenzing, from the partners we got one page proposals) two weeks before the deadline the consortium was complete all partners (except one) were very reliable and quick (for the one we simply guessed what was needed) one week before the deadline we checked what we had of the proposal with the BIT and got some important hints

6. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG Things I think Important well-structured and detailed proposal persuades reviewers and saves a lot of work during negotiations if you cannot meet one of the goals of the commission, explain why (ex. no partners from the candidate countries) your goals must be measurable (kg, $, ....) (even if you are not sure to meet these goals) use no smaller font than 11pt and use graphics, pictures and so on (even if this costs you space) use all help you can get e.g. from your national contact point (competition is tough, e.g. there is very professional support available in Germany) use and follow the guides for proposers

7. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG Management Structure

8. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG Some remarks EU requires punctuality and precision from the proposers but does not necessarily live up to these expectations itself Submission financial guidelines were not available (they still are a draft by now) the electronic proposal tool became available 5 days before the deadline but you needed a password, which was send by snail mail it took ages until the confirmation of successful submission arrived in Lenzing Reviewing reviewing was very fast notification of the result took quite long Negotiations CPF-editor not exactly user-friendly for the contract far more details required than expected (budget) Audit certificates chew-up a lot of management money number partly negotiable

9. November 19, 2003 Hedda Weber - Lenzing AG Final Remarks We are lucky with our project officer she thinks our project is interesting she is not over-bureaucratic communication is good Altogether there are far more positive experiences than negative