The FP7 application process comprises a number of steps as defined below.

Find your partners Choose your consortium carefully. You will need to find partners with skills complementary to those that exist in your organisation in order to prevent any conflict of interests and offer the maximum exploitation potential for all partners. In most cases, you will need at least two partners from another Member State or Associated State. However, in order to satisfy the evaluation criteria you will normally need considerably more.

Divide up your work The various partners in the consortium need to meet up and decide who is responsible for which parts of the project. Each partner needs to be clear which role they are to play and to agree their responsibilities.

Estimate the cost Ensure that the estimated costs are carefully calculated, reasonable and allow a fair distribution of work and funding between the partners, according to their respective skills. Do not be tempted to cut corners or make unrealistic financial claims.

Write the proposal Allow plenty of time for this, as the process always takes longer than you had initially envisaged. The coordinating partner will need to oversee the contributions from the rest of the consortium.

Independent review Make sure that the proposal is read and assessed by a third party who can offer an impartial and critical opinion. There are consultants who offer a chargeable review service. Many of these will also be prepared to assist in the compilation of a proposal.

Submission The submission process under Framework 7 involves fixed, non-negotiable, deadlines. Electronic submission is mandatory through the EPSS online submission tool. EPSS allows you to submit updated versions of your proposal many times. Make sure that you are familiar with the system and upload new versions of your proposal frequently and don’t leave it until the last minute.

Evaluation The evaluation process itself can take between five and eight weeks. The proposal will be read by independent evaluators who have about one hour to read and digest your case. Your proposal should be written in clear English, and be convincing with the salient facts easily extracted.

Negotiation Commission funding is based on a negotiated contract. You must be prepared to be flexible regarding terms as it is possible that the funding you originally requested will be scaled back. The Commission is quick to recognise exaggerated bids so do not be tempted to over-estimate your costs.

The contract Following negotiation, a contract start date is set when work can begin. There will be an element of flexibility within the contract. This is negotiable with the Commission.

The initial instalment from the Commission (usually 85% of total funding) is issued within 60 days of the start date.

Horizontal issues Horizontal issues are elements that are relevant to a project regardless of its technology or subject area. Project proposers need to be sensitive to certain horizontal issues and address the implications to their project at the proposal stage, as insufficient consideration of relevant factors could weaken or even disqualify a proposal.