European Union supports the development of innovative energy projects carried out by a consortium of European partners and specifically supporting the inclusion of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). With the EU funded FIRE project TAGES is working towards this aim and encourages, guides, and assists the Turkish SMEs working in renewable energy sector in participating in the European energy research projects. TAGES organized a workshop in BUMED, Istanbul on the 30th of May to bring together the FIRE SMEs, introduce the EU 7th Framework Programme, inform on the opportunities of energy funding in FP7 and open calls for energy projects. In the workshop TAGES the success stories of previously funded energy projects were presented and the SMEs had been trained on the project participation processes.
The FIRE workshop ‘Training for Renewable Energy SMEs on Participation to the EU FP7’ was realised in Istanbul with the participation of 24 people as SME representatives and researchers. Patricia Merei from MFFK-Hungary, FIRE project partner, presented the FIRE project and informed the SMEs on the support activities of the FIRE project. Dr. Baha Kuban from Ecofys-Turkey presented the new opportunities and trends in energy sector. Dr. Atilla Ersöz provided information on the EU funded energy projects of TUBİTAK Marmara Research Centerand shared his experiences with the participants whereas Ahmet Sümer shared the Framework Programme project experiences of his enterprise, Troyka and encouraged the participant SMEs in project participation. Prof. Dr. Nilüfer Eğrican from Yeditepe Universitycontributed to the workshop with her outstanding knowledge on renewable energy and experiences in European projects.
Aslı Vural, National Contact Point of FP7 Energy Theme in TÜBİTAK, talked about the project funding opportunities in FP7 for energy SMEs and she took attention to the open calls for energy project proposals namely FP7-ENERGY-2008-TREN-1 call. The workshop was organized as informative and practice sessions where the SMEs are informed by the project responsible Gurbet Deniz Yavuz on the FP7 concepts and procedures, project participation and networking methods, project submission processes and project evaluation. The SMEs are organized in working groups for practical studies on project participation such as writing interest and contribution to the project ideas, defining the project work packages and forming partner’s project budget.
The deadline for energy projects submission is 8 October 2008
The workshop has been a step towards the participation of the SMEs in energy projects and development R&D on renewable energy in collaboration with the European stakeholders. FIRE SMEs will be continued on being assisted by the TAGES team in project participation and even in the development phase of their project ideas and preparation of the project proposals. The call for energy proposals, opened by the European Commission on the 29th April 2008 will be an opportunity for the energy SMEs. The project ideas for this call will be submitted to the European Commission until 8 October 2008 and the Commission will provide funding for innovative demonstration projects in renewable electricity generation, renewable fuel production, clean coal technologies, smart energy networks and energy efficiency and saving with a less R&D component.
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=usersite.FP7DetailsCallPage&CALL_ID=127
Energy Research Information Day will gather the Project Actors in Brussels
European Commission is organising an information day on 2008 Call for Proposals for Energy on the 20 June 2008 in Charlemagne Building, Brussels in order to support the preparation of energy project proposals. The researchers who will prepare projects or who are seeking to be partners in projects will attend this event. TAGES will also attend the information day for collaboration opportunities between Turkish FIRE energy SMEs and European stakeholders.
To get more information on the FIRE project: www.firessa.eu
