On 18 September, the European Commission will open ICT Call 11, inviting amongst others proposals in the field digital preservation. The Call closing date is 16 April 2013.
 
This time, the EC is calling for public procurement actions as defined in Objective 11.2 of the Work Programme 2013: “More efficient and affordable solutions for digital preservation developed and validated against public sector needs through joint Pre-Commercial procurement (PCP)”.

Please note that this is a special funding scheme, which we believe could be of high interest to public bodies in charge of preservation. Project consortia have to include a minimum of three partners from the public sector (libraries, administrations, archives of any type). In the course of the project, they would procure R&D services from the industry through a jointly published call for tenders.
 
Further information:
 
– The text of the Work Programme (please see “Horizontal Actions” and Appendix 6)
ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/wp/cooperation/ict/c-wp-201301_en.pdf
 
– The PCP website with general information and a contact point for questions specific to the funding scheme
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/pcp/home_en.html
 
– The “Guide for Applicants” for details about eligible consortia, project activities and funding rates:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portalplus/static/docs/calls/fp7/fp7-ict-2013-10/32886-gfa_cp-csa_for_pcp_v2_en.pdf
 
– A set of slides with background information
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/creativity/background-doc-pcp-dl.pdf
 
– Information and networking event on 26-27 September in Warsaw
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/ictproposersday/2012/index_en.htm