Promotion of the call
Joint calls must be promoted to the target groups efficiently. Call promotion is typically carried out at two levels:
- by the call secretariat via a common call announcement
- by each funding organisation separately (supplemented by national/regional call specifications)
Typical documents and promotion tools are listed below.
The call announcement published on the network website should include a short descriptive text with details of the countries participating and the deadlines for proposal submission. It will provide links to the call documents and further information. A preliminary version could be published as a pre-announcement in order to notify applicants of a forthcoming call.
The call announcement published on national/regional programme websites will include comments specific to the national/regional funding, local contact information and details of any local events. It may refer to the submission procedure at national/regional and international levels and will highlight local deadlines.
The call should be published on the ERA-LEARN call calendar as well. The ERA-LEARN call calendar provides an interactive display of joint calls launched by networks. It is available to the RTD community and contains basic information on each call as well as a link to the respective network. The calendar can only display data actively provided by the networks. Network coordinators are responsible for the data entry and the accuracy of the information.
Call flyers can be useful to present a description of the network, the benefits of participation in the call, the call focus, eligibility to participate and details of the procedure and evaluation with call deadlines.
Newsletters are frequently published by networks. Mailing lists could be assembled e.g. through a self-registration tool on each network website.
Social media are frequently used to disseminate the call information.
Events (such as info days or webinars) targeted to relevant audiences can be used as a forum for policy discussions, for dissemination of information from the European Commission, and for dissemination of project outcomes. Conferences also offer opportunities for network exposure at e.g. high-profile annual events. Benefits include the inclusion of references to the call in keynote speeches and the opportunity to network with multiple national/regional and international peers.
Finding a partner for European cooperation might often pose problems to applicants, particularly for inexperienced ones and those involved in cooperation for the first time. Some networks have developed electronic partnering tools, which are particularly dedicated to the topics of the network and where potential applicants can promote either their project ideas and/or provide their company profile.
Advice for Co-funded European Partnerships: There is a need to publish the open calls widely and adhere to EU standards of transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality; all calls for third parties and all calls that are implemented by third parties must be published on the Funding & Tenders Portal, and on the website of the Cofunded European Partnership.