etranet is an initiative born from the will of 15 countries to work together in order to improve international competitiveness, sustainability and socio-environmental impact of manufacturing industries in Europe through the strategic application of ICT. It is supported by the European Commission (6th Framework Programme).

In order to achieve this goal, etranet facilitates cross-border collaborative projects between national programmes that sponsor R&D projects that will improve the competitiveness of the European manufacturing industry by the application of ICT. Under this framework, it launched this 3rd Joint Call for Proposal with a technology focus related to Networked Digital Manufacturing. Six different countries are participating, and more are considering ways in which to participate. Please revisit this website to be kept up to date with developments. The countries committed to participation to date are;

• Austria (FFG)
• Cyprus(RFP)
• Finland (TEKES)
• France (OSEO)
• Sweden (VINNOVA)
• Switzerland (CTI/KTI)
• Turkey (TUBITAK)

National participants will be sponsored in accordance with the rules of their relevant national programme. The indicative total budget for this call is over 10€ million and around 20 projects are expected to be funded.

The purpose of this document is to provide interested parties with basic information to guide them in preparing their participation in this Call for Proposals from the etranet consortium.

The objective of the 3rd etranet Joint Call is to support collaborative R&D projects that will improve the competitiveness of the European manufacturing industry. The technology focus must be related to Networked Digital Manufacturing. The following eligibility criteria must be adhered to:

• Thematic Topic
• Consortia Composition
• Type of Projects
• Budget & Duration
• Application Process

The 3rd Joint Call framework has been designed around the national programmes of the six participating countries. Individual partners within each proposed project should respect the criteria of their respective national programmes. Click on your country in the Participating Countries section for more information relating to your relevant national programme and point of contact. It is important that, not only the lead partner, but every member of the project consortium contacts their own national funding programme to ensure compliance with national rules and to obtain advice on improving the proposal if necessary.

The 3rd etranet Joint Call has a thematic focus on Networked Digital Manufacturing.    All proposals should therefore, aim to improve products or processes on the European manufacturing industry in any sector (automotive, aeronautical, chemicals, construction products/equipment, engineering/electrical equipment, food & drink, leather, metals, minerals, paper, polymers, textiles, transport equipment, wood) by the use of digital networks.

Digital manufacturing the ability to describe every aspect of the design-to-manufacture process digitally—using tools that include digital design, CAD, Office documents, PLM systems, analysis software, simulation, CAM software and so on. The ideal is that the passage of product data from one department or discipline (or company) to another should be seamless so that the data created is immediately reusable in a different discipline (or company).

Digital manufacturing is a concept to define manufacturing processes, manage manufacturing process information and support effective collaboration among engineering disciplines by using full digital product definition. It supports visualisation, manufacturing simulation, ergonomic and human factor analysis, and other engineering analysis tools necessary to optimise the manufacturing process design. It also facilitates the holistic view of product and process design as integral components of the overall product life cycle and enables product design to be sensitive to process constraints and capabilities.

The core of the advanced manufacturing technology, digital manufacturing, is gradually becoming the main manufacturing technology of the 21st century.  It enables people to invent and create innovative products and simulate the whole product lifecycle. Digital manufacturing is often collaborative - bringing everyone involved in the process together, from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to suppliers. For instance, automakers are increasingly outsourcing product development directly to auto parts suppliers. They are becoming more responsible for engineering data and this shift is necessitating real-time sharing of product data & information between OEMs and supplier companies.

Manufacturers who have made the digital transition are able to beat the time-to-market of competitors still using conventional engineering data management because digital converts are able to work out the kinks in product development in a virtual environment. Using a digital manufacturing system manufacturers can manage engineering, machining and NC toolpath data over the entire enterprise or supply chain and in this manner, leverage the expertise of everyone in the value network. By simulating the entire product development process digital manufacturing also helps manufacturers determine early on whether they can make the product cost-effectively. Digital manufacturing is not only helping the execution systems but providing much better understanding during the development stage as to whether or not the product can be manufactured at an affordable cost.

The virtual factory remains an elusive goal but with recent advances in collaborative product development using the latest 3-D visualisation software, virtual reality and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, the forefront companies are inching closer to fully digital manufacturing operations. Digital manufacturing is changing the way manufacturers develop and create new products with advanced 3-D simulation in collaborative PLM environments, promising to dramatically speed manufacturers' new product time-to-market while cutting manufacturing costs considerably. The need for global collaborative engineering has become a critical component to staying competitive.

The fundamental principle of etranet projects is that they must demonstrate transnational cooperation.   Therefore, project consortia must include at least two companies from two different countries participating in the call, namely:

• Austria
• Cyprus
• Finland
• France
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Turkey

Clicking on the relevant country above will provide you with details of the relevant programme and national contacts. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DO THIS TO ENHANCE THE POTENTIAL STRENGTH OF YOUR PROPOSAL.

More partners could be added to this minimum configuration and companies from other countries may be included although it should be noted that such companies have to source their own funding or meet their own costs. Additional countries are expected to sign up to the 3rd Joint Call in the near future.

The companies participating do not necessarily need to be manufacturing SMEs but preference will be given to these applications. Applied research centres, sectoral associations, universities and others can also participate in projects. Reminder - the eligibility for support will be dependent on the particular funding rules of their respective national/regional funding programme.

Consortia must be balanced in terms of R&D and innovation work. Each partner, and particularly the manufacturing companies, is expected to have a significant role in the project.

Projects must be:

1. Trans-national (involve at least two companies from two countries involved in the call)
2. Close-to-market
3. Innovative

The consortium must demonstrate how the outputs will be commercialised.
Preference will be given to applied research or knowledge transfer projects.

With regards to the project budget, duration and size of the consortium no fixed rules will apply.

As a general orientation, etranet projects approved in previous Joint Calls had budgets between 500.000€ and 1.700.000€ with durations between 2 and 3 years.

The application process will consist of two steps: etranet Project Plan submission, followed by invited submission of national documentation.

1. Before submitting a proposal all project partners must contact their respective regional/national programme agency in order to discuss the project and the funding conditions. This step is highly recommended.
2. The etranet Project Plan has to be submitted by the project coordinator through an online application form at this website. You can also download a word version of the form. See section 'Apply Here'.
3. The coordinator will be provided with feedback after the review of the Proposal by the etranet coordination team.

In the case of positive feedbac; all partners of the consortia will have to submit the national documentation requested by its etranet national call advisor (funding application). Amendments to the etranet Project Plan could also be requested. A deadline to provide all the information will be established for each particular project.

The first stage is that the project must meet the general eligibility criteria at an international etranet level. Your national programme manager will be aware of your project at this stage. If successful the second stage is to submit the proposal to your national programme.

Prioritisation of applications will be based on the following selection criteria:

1. Accordance to the call
   
   Proposals dealing with the topic Networked Digital Manufacturing. Special emphasis will be given to those projects that can achieve quantifiable benefits to manufacturing industries through demonstration activities. To be clearly explained on the Project Plan, chapter Project Merits.
   
   
2. Innovation
   
   The programme is especially interested in supporting consortia that are aiming to facilitate radical ICT-based innovation in the products, processes or services of the target manufacturing sector(s) or value chain. The proposal must clearly show the innovations of the project (current state of the art and how the project will improve it). It is highly important to show the research and the development objectives, the research method, the technological risks. Please, keep in mind that etranet is a joint call to develop R&D projects in trans-national cooperation! To be clearly explained on the Project Plan, chapter Technological Development.
   
   
3. Impact
   
   Market-orientation of the projects, and the subsequent impact on the participants, is a must of the Joint Call. In addition, preference will be given to projects that have the potential to deliver significant economic benefits to European manufacturing industry or society, rather than technical excellence alone. To be clearly explained on the Project Plan, chapter Impact.
   
   
4. Mobilisation of resources
   
   It will be important to demonstrate the quality of the consortium (complementarily among partners) will be revised. All projects should have a clear international logic and this should be reflected in the resources that are being deployed and plans for commercial exploitation and dissemination of results. Innovative solutions for effective dissemination to broaden the benefits to European manufacturing companies or society will be considered favourably. To be clearly explained on the Project Plan, chapter Project Execution.

It Is advisable to clearly highlight how you are addressing these criteria in your proposal.

On the second stage, once the national applications are presented to the respective funding agency, the national agencies will carry out evaluations of the national applications for funding.

The etranet evaluation panel takes all national results into consideration and agrees on a common list containing all proposals which are recommended for funding. Through this coordinated approach coherent funding decisions will be achieved.

A consortium agreement between all the project partners is advisable to be established for all projects to regulate, at least, the following matters:

1. Identity of the partners
2. Ownership and use of intellectual property rights
3. Contributions of each partner to the project
4. Confidentiality
5. Publications

For some agencies the establishment of such a Consortium Agreement may be mandatory. Please contact your National Joint Call Advisor for more information (Section 5).

Contracts related to funding aspects will have to be signed following the national/regional agencies’ rules.

Project Reporting and Monitoring

The individual national work packages for the project will be monitored according to national/regional rules. Hence, technical as well as financial reporting will have to be made according to the national/regional rules and will be agreed during the contract negotiation process.

In addition to these national/regional procedures a monitoring of the overall international project will be carried out by the member of the etranet consortium that corresponds with the nationality of the project coordinator.

In this sense the Project Coordinator must complete Project Progress Reports at the  mid-point  and end of the project. These reports must be validated by all project consortium members and submitted each of the national programme contacts.