3 days in Paris and a rendezvous for Smart Systems connoisseurs

It aims at identifying new business and technological opportunities, finding suitable funding and best partners for transnational projects and for getting individual support from COWIN partners.

Participations in the currently open calls for project proposals of the European Commission and especially in the 10th call in the “Information and Communication Technologies” (ICT) area, including topics on Smart Systems, will be one main focus of both events, the Annual Forum of the European Platform for Smart Systems Integration (EPoSS) and COWIN Marketplace, which are organised jointly.

This call constitutes a great opportunity for the Smart Systems community to define new directions for research, to assess new areas of application for innovative products or to set up new market-driven projects. It is a occasion to meet experts and potential partners and discuss about joint project proposals, new technological and business collaborations and to identify funding opportunities.

COWIN aims at fostering commercial exploitation and increasing the creation of value for advanced Smart Systems technologies requiring further development before those being marketable. It is therefore committed to support, on one side, the Smart Systems community with the identification of market opportunities and with best practices on concrete business cases. On the other side, it aims at integrators or end-users looking for advanced technologies to help their application area being more innovative and competitive.

At the Forum in Paris, COWIN and EPoSS are working closely together to set up a suitable ecosystem for stimulating the emergence of outstanding project proposals for the open European calls and for supporting the creation of value out of Smart Systems. Therefore the event in Paris is the place to be to:

• get the latest information on EU calls and individualised support to apply for them
• turn innovation into concrete European projects
• exploit industrial perspectives and develop business case out of research results
• initiate and follow up strategic partnerships
• get the current state-of-the-art of advanced Smart Systems technologies for industrial applications

Concretely, COWIN will offer a Matchmaking service for participants in the EPoSS Forum to meet potential partners face-to-face. COWIN supports participants with the identification and the selection, prior to the event, of attractive match between potential partners.

Furthermore, COWIN will present a selection of advanced Smart Systems technologies resulting from European projects with high potential for commercial exploitation. These technologies, in-depth assessed by COWIN experts and now labeled as “Gold Nuggets”, are available for industrial take-up in various application fields such as Life sciences, IT & Telecom, Agrofood, Environment or Energy.

Last but not least, COWIN will organise a session on 28th September addressing the compliance of regulation as a success factor for innovative projects with the objective to give key information and best practice on how the knowledge and the command of regulation aspects can open up business opportunities for Smart Systems technologies. Reimbursement of Smart Systems in the medical sector will also be addressed as well as its role in facilitating the adoption of innovative technologies by the markets.

To facilitate the preparation of the venue in Paris and to give a foretaste of the challenges expecting the participants, COWIN is organising an online tutorial on the topic “Get prepared for the upcoming FP7 Call in Smart Systems” on 13th September 2012 at 13:00 aiming at detailing the selection process and criteria for EU projects, including tips to write a successful project proposal as well as explaining COWIN’s methodology and how interested parties can benefit from COWIN’s support.

Please consult http://www.cowin4u.eu and http://www.smart-systems-integration.org for detailed information.

Contacts
Mrs. Géraldine Andrieux-Gustin
COWIN Coordinator, c/o Yole Développement
andrieux@yole.fr
Mr. Nicolas Gouze
COWIN Communication / Matchmaking Manager, c/o VDI/VDE-IT
nicolas.gouze@vdivde-it.de