FOI appointed FP7 national contact point for SMEs

The Malta Federation of Industry has been appointed National Contact Point (NCP) for small and medium-sized enterprises with respect to the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

This was announced by the Malta Council for Science & Technology (MCST), which is the co-ordinating national contact point organisation for the FP7 and responsible for appointing the national contact point for every area of the FP7.

This appointment supplements the array of current services the FOI is providing in this area of activity. The FOI has kept its members updated on EU funding available through calls for proposals or tenders and disseminating the various partner searches it received and informing the respective FOI members.

In its role as FP7 NCP for SMEs, the FOI will seek to identify FP7 opportunities for Maltese SMEs as well as the right areas and funding schemes for such businesses.

The federation will advise SMEs on joining consortia, proposal writing and finding partners for proposals. It will be involved in the provision of assistance to organisations in view of increasing their participation in the FP7, also offering support during project negotiation and project duration.

The Framework Programme is often overlooked by small companies just because of its complexity or poor perceptions. A common misperception is that the FP is just for research and researchers. While part of the FP remit is to keep Europe at the forefront of scientific excellence, the FP also enables individual businesses to become more innovative in their marketplace. European SMEs are faced with increased competition in the market (both internally and globally) and they therefore need to increase their knowledge and research intensity and internationalise.

The FP provides SMEs with the ideal opportunities to gain access to much-needed financial support while offering the chance to collaborate with larger organisation on large-scale projects. One of the aims of the FP7 is to make participation for SMEs less costly and cumbersome. Thus, several initiatives have been introduced to promote SME participation in FP7.