R&D Proposal Writing course for SMEs
SMEs from ESA Member States, Associate States and Cooperating States are invited to participate in a training course on “How to write a successful proposal in response to an ESA Invitation to Tender for R&D activities”. The course will be held from the 15 to 17 April in Switzerland.
Venue
The course will take place at:
European Space Deep-Tech Innovation Centre (ESDI)
Parkstrasse 1
5234 Villigen
Switzerland
The training will consist of a series of presentations by senior ESA staff from the Agency's Technical Services and from the Contracts Department, followed by a hands-on exercise: an ESA Invitation to Tender (ITT) will be distributed to four teams, formed by ESA on the basis of the participants' experience and applications. These teams will be asked to write a "real" proposal in response to a training ITT. This ITT does not require specialist scientific or technical knowledge which makes the course suitable for participants with both technical and commercial/managerial backgrounds. The submitted proposals are subsequently evaluated by ESA instructors and discussed publicly in a very realistic simulation of an ESA Tender Evaluation Board (TEB).
Participation
Due to the highly interactive nature of the course and the hands-on training, the number of course participants is limited to 32.
For each participating SME, a maximum of 1 participant is allowed. Applicants should either have a technical/scientific background or a commercial/legal/team-management background and be selected among staff who are normally involved in the preparation of proposals.
Target group
Participants from Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises with no or limited experience in writing ESA proposals.
Additional info
Participants are required to bring their own laptop for the group exercise.
Draft agenda (subject to change)
Day 1
08:15 Arrival
09:00 Welcome
09:15 ESA part I (including “How to do Business with ESA”, “Tender Procedure and Overall Structure of a Proposal”)
10:45 Coffee Break
11:00 ESA part II (including “Technical Proposal”, “Management Proposal”, “Contractual Proposal”)
12:30 Organisation of the Proposal Writing/Group assignments + Distribution of the ITT
13:00 Lunch Break
14:00 Start of the Exercise of Proposal Writing in Groups
18:00 Strict limit for submitting requests for clarification on ITT – Adjourn
Day 2
09:00 Continuation of the Exercise of Proposal Writing in Groups
13:00 Lunch Break
14:00 Continuation of the Exercise of Proposal Writing in Groups
17:30 Strict Deadline for Submission of Proposals
18:00 Adjourn (trainees) and start of evaluation (ESA instructors)
Day 3
09:30 – 10:30 Presentation/Visit organised by ESA
10:30 – 11:00 Networking Break
11:00 – 12:00 Presentation/Visit organised by ESA
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch Break
13:00 – 16:00 Public TEB Session, including Q&A
16:00 – 16:30 Distribution of Certificates, Evaluation and End of Course
16:30 Close
ESA
If you cannot take part in the course, please inform the organisers at your earliest convenience by clicking the Leave the course button.