Transnational Access in ESTEEM3: Submission of 3 deliverables

Transnational Access in ESTEEM3: Submission of 3 deliverables

TEM experiment from above

Two deliverables concern the monitoring of TA carried out during the first year of the project: the annual report, as well as user satisfaction. During the first year of the project, 139 TA projects have been approved to be carried out at one of the 15 laboratories in Europe. The 3rd deliverable focuses on best practices for Transnational Access.

All three deliverables are published on the ESTEEM3 website (section: Other Deliverables).

• D12.1 Annual Report on TA Access

The deliverable D12.1 Annual Report on TA Access analyses the current data on Transnational Access. It shows the distribution of approved projects, such as the countries of origin of the TA users and their type of institution, the frequentation of access of hosting laboratories and the gender equality.

During the first year of the project, the 139 approved projects were handed in by 120 TA user groups coming from 27 different countries of the European Union and associated countries and by 19 TA user groups coming from 10 different international countries. On the European scale, the most TA proposals were handed in by Germany (23), France (11), Italy (11), the United Kingdom (11) and the Netherlands (9). On the international scale, China handed in the most TA proposals, counting 4 in total.

In conclusion, the status of achievement after the first year of the project is 31,4 %, which means that 1.876 units of access have been granted by M12.

• D12.2 Annual Report on user satisfaction

 The deliverable D12.2 Annual Report on user satisfaction evaluates the surveys that the TA user groups fill out after their time at the laboratory. The result is, that the researchers are very satisfied with all factors regarding the Transnational Access, including the application procedure, the quality of the installations and the scientific support. 95 % of all TA user groups even plan to submit another proposalafter already having executed a TA experiment.

• D1.1 Manual describing best practice for Transnational Access

The deliverable D1.1 Manual describing best practice for Transnational Access explains the transnational access procedure in general. As ESTEEM3 can be seen as role model for European projects of Transnational Access, best practices can be derived, which function as success factors for other European TA projects. 

Best practices: 

1. Include European and international researchers in the project in order to establish a world-wide network.
2. Accommodate different types of institutions, such as educational institutions and companies to create opportunities for closer collaboration with industry and academia.
3. Distribute the contact points in different countries to broaden transnational access.
4. Provide a comprehensive range of infrastructure, materials and advice to the users.
5. Give applicants the opportunity to submit Lap proposals and Open proposals.
6. Ask candidates to express the potential of the TA project concerning academic or industrial innovation.
7. Instruct impartial scientists to evaluate the TA project.
8. Determine a local contact in each hosting institution.
9. Analyze the selection procedure of TA projects as well as their implementation.
10. Develop communication activities using different canals and ways of distribution.

• Find out more about the TA procedure

The TA Charter, published on the ESTEEM3 website, gives detailed information about the conditions of access, the application procedure, eligible costs and the process during and after a TA experiment.