Dear all,
As you know, we had set the deadline for confirmation of participation
to yesterday and the status of our consortium
( https://hb.app.box.com/file/362284108084) today remains at 53
members from 17 organisations as follows.
Academic/Research institutes:
HB, CERTH, Leiden, RISE, HiS, KI, KTH, Ulster University, Lund
University
Non-Academic:
ShareMusic; Berge Consulting; Neue Labs; Swedish Fashion Council;
ReGenics; Invectra; I Choose Life-Africa; Harpo
Of our long-standing contacts two, Clarivate and SAAB, informed us that
they were not able to secure the required resources for joining. We
still have 7 more organisations in the loop that could not reach a
decision/confirmation by yesterday.
[We have also received request for participation from two more
international universities, today; and a couple of new 'potential'
non-academic partners have surfaced.]
Considering the three-part funding scheme of Vinnova and the scale of
the required contributions, it does not seem that we have reached a
level of participation (on the non-academic part) for our proposal to
become viable. One could of course extend the deadline awaiting other
potential confirmation, however, due to the shortage of time and the
clarity that we need in formation of the proposal text an extension will
not be feasible and we need to draw the line here.
Although for me it feels a little like losing an election after an
intensive period of campaigning, I still think that not all is lost. I
believe that we have formed a very strong and interesting group with
this mutual interest and I hope that we can build on this and search for
other opportunities together. My colleagues and I intend to further
develop the text describing the idea in more concrete terms and we will
also explore the potential for initiating a collaborative centre at the
University of Borås in which we can continue with this idea and explore
finding resources for continued work on this through other potential
funding opportunities.
Thank you all for all your contributions and engagement and sorry that
we couldn’t make this work.
Best regards,
Nasrine
P.S. I cc a few colleagues not included in the mailing list for their
information.
[Sorry for double posting; this time with correct subject.]
Dear all,
Thanks all of you who have been sending me signed declarations of intent and information about your organisations and members. And sorry for not responding on individual basis, I have been very busy working on recruiting new partners for us. I am happy to report that since the joining of Regenics, we now have two more confirmed non-academic partners (I choose Life Africa and Harpo), very welcome both organisations.
If you wish to see the status of the consortium as of this moment you will find a list here
( https://hb.app.box.com/file/362284108084) . There are a few more old and new potential partners that will confirm one way or the other tomorrow. I know that a few of you have been exploring the options for extending our consortium (please continue), the rest of you, please also explore all the opportunities to see if we can reach the required status by Friday.
I also enclose a draft generic declaration of intent for those of you who still have not submitted yours to exemplify. As mentioned this text is very general, please adapt with specific details that represent your organisations and interests.
More updates (make or break) on Friday.
Best regards,
Nasrine
Friendly reminder if you still have not acted on the followings:
1- Each organisation, and members thereof, please fill in both sheets in this document
( https://hb.app.box.com/file/356592096216) and return to us by next Monday December 3rd.
2- Each organisation please view the declaration of intent document
( https://hb.app.box.com/file/356480150549) , provide the required information returned a signed copy to us by December 5th.
3- Another document that you can start playing around with is this budget sheet.
( https://hb.app.box.com/file/356636460179) Each organisation please fill in and return a first draft to us by December 10th. (There are some fictive figures there just to exemplify, please delete those and include names salary levels, OH, and other items that are relevant for you.)
Dear all,
Thank you those who have responded to my request to rank the different
options. We are collating these and will get back to you with an
update.
My colleagues and I have been continuing our work with the text of the
application (which is coming along nicely) and will share an initial
draft with you by the 10th.
We now seem to be around 40 members from the following organisations:
HB (multiple faculties and departments); CERTH, Greece; CWTS, Leiden,
NL; RISE (multiple units); Neue Labs; Swedish Fashion Council; HiS
(multiple groups); ShareMusic; Ulster University (to confirm formally
please); Berge Consulting; KI; KTH; Invectra; and Lund University.
SAAB, ABB, Clarivate and EON reality are still in the loop but still
continue with their internal processes of securing approval at the right
instances. (Recent messages by SAAB and ABB sounded very much like a
confirmation, but the top approval is yet to be made. I had yet another
meeting with Clarivate yesterday and will have another one (with a few
more senior people) on Monday.)
Due to related uncertainties, I have continued with the efforts to
recruit new partners and have recently contacted Mölnlycke, Volvo cars,
Gavagai, Abigo, reGenics and OneMed (I have given them examples,
directly relevant for each, expressing the urgency for a decision).
Other colleagues have also contacted AZ (Ruben – HB/AZ) and Ericsson
and Sigma Connectivity (Kirsten – LU).
If our long standing colleagues do not confirm their participation, at
this moment our proposal will not be viable. We need to strengthen the
involvement from non-academic partners, or abandon the proposal [which
would be a pity considering (a) how far we have come, (b) how much work
has gone into this already, and (c) the opportunity that this centre
would bring for us all].
I, therefore, suggest that we all use this coming week for a very
intensive, directed, proactive recruitment exercise pulling on all
resources and having direct conversations with decision-making contacts
to see what we can achieve. We will then re-evaluate on Friday next week
to see whether we can continue or should abandon the idea. The deadline
for confirmation of new participations has to be, at the latest, next
Thursday for our decision to be made on Friday. [Please communicate your
intentions for, and actions in, recruiting new partners with me.]
Meanwhile, until next Friday we will all continue the process as
planed. My colleagues and I will continue with the development of the
application and please submit the requested information at the given
dates as specified before (and also listed below for convenience).
Many thanks and best regards,
Nasrine
Upcoming steps:
Each organisation, and members thereof, please fill in both sheets in
this document
( https://hb.app.box.com/file/356592096216) and return to us by next
Monday December 3rd.
Each organisation please view the declaration of intent document
( https://hb.app.box.com/file/356480150549) , provide the required
information returned a signed copy to us by December 5th.
Each organisation please fill in and return a first draft your budget
sheet
( https://hb.app.box.com/file/356636460179) to us by December 10th.
(There are some fictive figures there just to exemplify, please delete
those and include names salary levels, OH, and other items that are
relevant for you.)
