January 2014

Official Funding of ECHORD Plus-Plus by the EC - Info Day on 11 February 2014

First call will be launched on March 3rd 2014. The call will be open for six weeks (3rd March 2014 – 14th April 2014)

The European Commission will fund ECHORD++, a 5 year project (2013-2018), which aims at strengthening the cooperation between scientific research and industry in robotics and continuing on the successful path forged by ECHORD (2009-2013). Please take a look at the website.

An Info Day for ECHORD++ will be held in Pontedera/Peccioli (near Pisa) on the 11th of February.  An overview of the project will be provided at this event together with the possibility of meeting the E++’s staff members and/or find potential partners. More information will be provided soon.

The project consortium consists of five well-known research institutions in different countries of the European Union: Technische Universität München (Germany, coordinator), Bristol Robotics Laboratory (UK), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain), Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Italy) and Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (France).

The project offers funding opportunities for small, focused research projects (so-called “experiments”, runtime: maximum 18 months, funding: 300.000 €). An experiment proposal which focuses on research and development with relevance to industrial applications and high market potential, can be submitted by a consortium of partners from within the same country. The industrial end-user will become part of the consortium. All European universities, research institutions, and companies will have the opportunity to apply for funding in a competitive process based on two calls, the first of which will be on March 3rd 2014.

The call will be open for six weeks, 3rd March 2014 – 14th April 2014, and within the first 3 weeks it will be possible to submit a pre-proposal (a sketch of the proposal idea) and receive feedback within three to five business days after submission. This can be done via the E++ website.

Apart from the experiments, ECHORD++ will implement two new, unique instruments: -     RIFs (Robotics Innovation Facilities): a physical infrastructure available for use by different users groups, which will provide state-of-the-art hardware and software in a “living lab” as a test bed for new robotics technology -     PCP (Pre-Commercial Procurement): tailor-made robotics products developed to optimize the integration of public bodies in the product development process.

If you need any additional information please contact:  info@echord.eu