LOSTESC Awareness Meeting in Portugal

LOSTESC is a programme co-funded by the European Commission under the 5th Framework Programme, the European Space Agency, under the "SME initiative" and the technology transfer programme and six consulting firms under the leadership of Technofi (France).
Innovative SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises) in the space industry have developed talents and ideas to create competitive solutions of interest to larger industrial groups. Their built-in capacity to carry out RTD (Research and Technology Development) work often leads to outstanding innovations.

Programme goal and schedule

The programme has three main targets:

• to identify 23 promising technologies developed in the aerospace sector, which have potential applications in other industrial fields;
• to build RTD proposals for EC funding, where each of the 23 technologies could be validated in new fields of application;
• to help finalise an exploitation plan for the selected technologies to attract new businesses in Europe and even worldwide.

The identification phase will be finalised by the end of March, when the 23 most promising projects will be selected. These will then be submitted for funding in April and September 2001 and in January and March 2002.

Technology identification

To identify 23 promising technologies, 92 technologies will be examined over the next weeks and the capability of the SMEs to lead/participate in R&TD projects will be examined. Each candidate SME will be evaluated in terms of technological capabilities and the economic challenge of the proposed RTD projects. The main factors analysed during a technology evaluation (half-day meeting) include:

• company's resources in terms of technology, monitoring of the environment (markets, competitors, etc.), existing management tools and future funding capabilities
• company strategy, i.e. is RTD a key factor in the company's development
• short-term achievements of the RTD project in terms of its contribution to the strategy.

On the basis of the evaluation a project selection meeting will take place in Nice from 29 to 30 March to decide upon the 23 most promising projects.

Awareness seminars

Awareness seminars took place in Portugal (December), France(January) and Spain (February) with the support of the SMEs' national focal points. Further seminars are planned for Italy and Austria in order to identify companies and technologies ready to be adapted to non-aerospace applications.

These meetings have proved fruitful for aerospace SMEs, most of whom are not acquainted with the procedures of the LOSTESC Programme. Seminars also offer an opportunity for open discussions on the difficulties, challenges and issues related to the RTD funding through the European Commission.

The LOSTESC Programme is open to SME companies in six countries: Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Belgium. Innovative companies are also given a timeframe within which they can build new business relationships with European partners.

If you were or are not able to attend the national seminars, please feel free to discuss your project with the LOSTESC front desk or any of the LOSTESC Consortium members. You may also benefit from an in-depth analysis of your technology capabilities outside the aerospace sector.

Awareness Meeting in Portugal on December 12th, 2000

A first awareness session on the LOSTESC project was held on December 12th 2000 in Portugal. It was organised under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Science and Technology and with the participation at national level of the National Contact Point for the GROWTH Programme "Agência de Inovação", the National Institute for International Scientific and Technologic Cooperation (ICCTI) and Printinova, the local node of the LOSTESC project.

The session focused on the dissemination of the Growth Programme Key Action "New perspectives for Aeronautics" and on the presentation of accompanying measures in the field of aeronautics and space technology.

Among the keynote speakers were: Mr Jean-Pierre Lentz from the European Commission DG Research, Mr Detlef Reimers from IMG3, the Aerobus Industrial Consortium and Ms Paola Chiarini, the coordinator of the AeroSME Accompanying Measure. Mr Eurico Neves of Printinova presented the LOSTESC project.

The session took place at OGMA Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal S.A.,the main Portuguese industrial group in the aeronautics/aerospace sector, and had over 64 participants representing 27 different organisations, including the most representative SMEs Skysoft-Software e Tecnologias de Informação S.A., Alfamicro Lda, ChipIdea S.A., Telca Lda and Tegopi SA.

The LOSTESC project raised significant interest among the participants which led to several inquiries during the question and answer phase following the presentations. Following the event, several companies, including Skysoft SA and Critical Software (a Portuguese SME based in Coimbra and supplier of systems for NASA), expressed their interest in participating in the LOSTESC initiative.

Awareness meeting in France on 30 January 2001

The meeting in Paris, co-hosted by Technofi and the ANRT(Association Nationale de la Recherche Technique) aimed at:

• informing the French SMEs already involved in the aeronautical and space sectors, as well as SMEs from other sectors interested space technologies, about the LOSTESC project.
• answering participants' questions on the eligibility conditions for funding under the Fifth RTD Framework Programme in the context of the technology adaptation programme initiated by the LOSTESC project.
• providing the elements that would allow the participant SMEs to contact Technofi in order to be retained for one of the 24 technology assessments.
• providing the participants with ANRT information and assistance on other EC funding opportunities for SME technology research.

The meeting raised the interest of 23 companies, primarily from the space sector. Others companies not able to participate had already contacted directly Technofi. Technofi's goal is to find 24 qualifying promising technologies.

The meeting proved to be very fruitful for aerospace SMEs, most of whom are not acquainted with the procedures of the Framework Programme. According to the majority of the participants, the meeting improved their understanding of how SMEs can benefit from EC funds within the context of the LOSTESC project. Furthermore, the seminar offered the opportunity for open discussions on difficulties, challenges and issues related to RTD funding through the EC.

Technofi encouraged the participants to submit "Draft Projects" before February 13th 2001 in order to allow the selection of 24 technologies for assessment on February 16th 2001.

Awareness meeting in Spain, 5 February 2001

The awareness meeting was held in Madrid and raised much interest from the Spanish SMEs. A total of 24 companies were represented at the meeting in which the LOSTESC consortium's Spanish partner Zabala presented the opportunities and the criteria for participation in the initiative.

Awareness meetings in Italy, 5 March 2001

The LOSTESC Project was presented during the workshop "A competitive Supply Chain in Italy for a successful Aeronautical Industry in Europe" organised by AIAD, the Italian Association of Aerospace industries, on 5 March at the Centro Sviluppo Materiali in Castel Romano.

Contributions to the workshop were given by representatives of ASI, the Ministry of Research and Development, Alenea Aerospazio, Fiatavio, Alenia Difesa, Secondo Mona, Microtecnica, AECMA (the European Association of Aerospace industries), D'Appolonia and Innova.

Circa 40 organisations participated to the workshop. Speakers included Carlo Festucci (AIAD Secretary General), Fabio Pistella (Ministry if Research) and Mario Caporale (Italian Space Agency).

Ron Weerdmeester from Innova presented the LOSTESC Project. He outlined the unique and concrete opportunity for Italian SMEs to transfer aerospace technologies to other sectors with financial support from the CRAFT programme of the European Commission.