Internal Committee

The Internal Committee (IC) has an adviser role on technical, financial and preparatory management activities performed by the project coordinator. Moreover, the IC may provide a support in preparing and elaborating the actions related with the deliverables and the milestones planned in the project. The IC may also cooperate with the project coordinator to find satisfying solutions on strategic actions to be undertaken during the project.

The IC is composed by:

• Carlo Ferdeghini (CNR-SPIN Genova)
• Fulvio Parmigiani (Università di Trieste ed Elettra)
• Silvia Picozzi (CNR-SPIN L'Aquila)

Evaluation

Leader: L. Marrucci

The Evaluation work package is devoted to the evaluation facility activities. The objective of this WP is to provide an evaluation analysis by international independent experts of the level of SPIN overall research quality and capability (including management and research infrastructures) and define a Strategic Plan to improve its research capacities as well as to indicate the path to an improved research capacity for increased contribution to regional economic and social development and for better participation in EU projects.
The start-up activities will concern the identification of the group of experts and the schedule for the evaluation activities. Due to the size of SPIN, the best number of experts to carry out the evaluation activity is estimated to be 3. We have to provide to the Commission the profiles for the scientific components of the evaluation experts group. At about the month 18 the Commission nominates the group of experts for the evaluation facility activities. We then plan and organize the kick-off meeting with the group of experts and WP leaders: month 24th. The first visit of the experts lasts 3 days. During this visit, the experts will have the possibility to follow the preparatory works for the relevant reporting as due at the 24th month. A short presentation of SPIN infrastructure, activities and research potential about multifunctional advanced materials and nanoscale phenomena is also foreseen The second visit of the group of experts is of 4 days and it is scheduled around the month 35 of the project. During such visit the group of experts collect information about the project results (final reporting) and they meet with both the Advisory Committee (Internal and Steering one, or at least one of the two). Such communication and interaction activities will also include a short presentation of the research activities that are mainly overlapping with those of the EU partners within the project for future strategic actions.
The group of experts will work by remote (10 working days for each member and 14 days for the chairman of the experts panel) to analyze and review the collected information of the previous tasks in order to individuate optimal strategies and work out a Strategic Plan for SPIN. Such activity may also include a critical review of the SWOT analysis presented in the project.
Finally to deliver the report of the group of experts, we plan to have a two-days visit at the month 42nd. During such occasion the panel of experts will present the final result of their evaluation activities. The presentation of the Strategic Plan will be included in a meeting with contributions dedicated to policy makers of local and national level, to regional development agencies, to a scientific audience and to all the relevant stakeholders.

Objectives

To provide evaluation analysis by international independent experts of the level of SPIN overall research quality and capability (including management and research infrastructures) and define an Action Plan to improve their research capacities.
To indicate the path to an improved research capacity for increased contribution to regional economic and social development and for better participation in FP7 projects.

Tasks

7.1 Start-up activities.
7.2 Communication and interaction with Committees.
7.3 Preparatory work for the Strategic Plan.
7.4 Strategic plan.

Equipment

Leader: F. Miletto Granozio

The objective of this WP is to acquire or upgrade already existing equipment relevant for the research activities of SPIN related to multi-functional materials. Priority will be given to those that are used for micro- and nano-electrical characterization of multifunctional materials, for computational tools about simulation of complex correlated systems as well as for the modular facility of oxide deposition and analysis. The activities of this WP refer to the acquisition of
computers cluster with high performance used for simulating complex correlated systems, the acquisition of scanning electron microscope with manipulators to perform micro- and nano- electrical characterization and the upgrade and development of the Modular facility for Oxide Deposition and Analysis.

Objectives

To purchase or upgrade already existing equipment relevant for the research activities of SPIN related to multi-functional materials. Priority will be given to those that are used for micro- and nano-electrical characterization of multifunctional materials, for computational tools about simulation of complex correlated systems as well as for the modular facility of oxide deposition and analysis.

Tasks

6.1 Acquisition of computers cluster with high performance used for simulating complex correlated systems.
6.2 Acquisition of scanning electron microscope with manipulators to perform micro- and nano- electrical characterization at low temperature.
6.3 Upgrade and development of the Modular facility for Oxide Deposition and Analysis.

Call for Tenders

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Promotion and Dissemination

Leader: N. Martucciello
Web manager: M. Cembalo

The activities of the 'Promotion and Dissemination' work package aim at disseminating and promoting the results of the project to ensure increased visibility of SPIN excellence and know-how, within the EU and elsewhere.
The target of this work package is also to create communication channels among SPIN, EU partners, private and public organizations, research centres and all relevant stakeholders related to the field of multifunctional materials. The tasks to be carried out in this WP refer to the project communication, the interaction with the National stakeholders, the participation of SPIN staff at Conferences and Workshops and the interaction with SME.

Organization of events for different levels of stakeholders. Brochures, flyers and booklets will be prepared about project and SPIN activities. There are 12 events within the WP to be advertised where to distribute printed materials about the project and the SPIN activities in general (6 one-day Forum with SME and 6 one-day broad audience congress). Still, we plan to promote and disseminate the potential impact of multifunctional material research in relation to daily-life by organizing broad audience events (2 half-day event for year). The events will be held in the Campus of the Universities of Salerno and Naples (or eventually in other sites suitable for broad audience events) during spring in the period commonly devoted to the scientific divulgation and promotion.
There will be a press communication activity related to deliver regular articles in regional and national press for attracting the attention of the general public on the activities/topics related to the project and about the international echo on multifunctional materials. One article any six month will be written and delivered to regional and national press. To monitor the success of such initiative an indicator will be considered to count the number of invitations received by the research staff involved in the project for contribution to public event. Press representatives will be also invited for the occurrence of important events. In these occasions, a questionnaire will be distributed to the participants for getting a feedback of the level of satisfaction and interest towards the event and the topic. This tool will be used to evaluate the strategy to impact on the relevant stakeholders for the project.
We plan to organize seed meetings to promote international networking and knowledge sharing about the project topics by organizing three exploratory round tables with about 10 world-wide experts. These meetings will be held during the workshops planned in the 'Workshops and Conference' WP.
Multimedia about multifunctional advanced materials and phenomena connected to their physics will be prepared to be exhibited during occasional or permanent events open to general public. An indicator to monitor the number of requests vs the profile of the customer will be used to check the impact. The multimedia will be also made accessible on the web-site of the project. The number of web visitors will be monitored.
Concerning the participation of SPIN staff at Conferences and Workshops, we plan to have a support to expose SPIN to a more international environment and to disseminate the most recent and relevant scientific results and project results. Invited seminars of the research staff at highly qualified national, EU and trans-EU research centers will be considered. Participation of the research staff at conferences, workshops and round tables about topics related to multi-functional advanced materials (overall is about 10 events per year). The participation to such events is limited
to research staff that has to present relevant and recent research results and/or project results.
After the event, the participant has to present within a “conference and/or seminar report” the main focus and physics views of the attended meeting and about the given presentation. Such procedure is already included in the quality system management for the process related to the verification means and added value to increase of research potential due to the participation to highly qualifying scientific meetings.
Finally, for the interaction with the SME we plane to set up strategic stakeholders partnerships with the aim of exposing SPIN to the entrepreneurial world benefiting of the project results and then improve its interaction with SME at regional and national level. Such task is to support the process of disseminating results towards the industrial community and to highlight the added value brought by the project. In this task we aim at having a team of SPIN research staff tightly collaborating with consultants who are leaders in finding out optimal solutions for interfacing the SPIN research potential to the industrial environment. The selection of the most suitable consultant to deal with such task will be achieved by means of a specific call for tenders. This is not a core activity of the project but it is only a support for the identification and modelling of the major stakeholders. The selection of the most suitable consultant to deal with such task will be achieved by means of a specific call for tenders. This is not a core activity of the project but it is only a support for the identification and modelling of the major stakeholders. The activity starts at the month 18th, following the preparatory work related to the intellectual property management presented in the WP1, and it ends at the month 36th. The outcome at the 24th month will be included in the compulsory report. Outputs of such task will be: database of potential SMEs target for the industrial sector, development and application of an operating methodology to support the matching between SPIN and the enterprises in order to identify and stimulate collaborations and/or joint R&D programs. Identification of suitable collaboration with potential entrepreneurs and stakeholders who would benefit of the knowledge acquired within the project. The concern about the intellectual property to be considered for such task are treated in the WP1 with the support of an expert who is in charge of preparing the material and the transfer of the basic know-how required for the nteraction with SME.
Furthermore, we plan to organize Forum with SME (2 one-day meeting for year) about different aspects of multi-functional materials with the aim of activating a channel of communication and knowledge sharing as well as to promote the potential spin-off and technological transfer of the PIN project activities towards the SME.

Objectives

To disseminate and promote the results of the project. To ensure increased visibility of SPIN excellence and know-how, its activities within the EU and elsewhere.
To create communication channels among SPIN, EU partners, private and public organizations, research centres and all relevant stakeholders related to the field of multifunctional materials.

Tasks

5.1 Web-communication. To activate, maintain and run a public access web-site.
5.2 National stakeholders interaction. Preparation and dissemination at national level about SPIN activities related to the project
5.3 Participation of SPIN staff at Conferences and Workshops.
5.4 Interaction with SME.

Workshops and Conference

Leader:: C. Cirillo

The 'Workshops and Conference' work package is devoted to the organization of workshops and conferences with the aim of promoting knowledge exchange at trans-national level. Such events will contribute to enlarge the SPIN research excellence reputation on the international stage, in the EU scientific community and the regions of convergence that are active in the field of multifunctional material science.

The plan foresees the organization of three Workshops and one Conference during the project:

• The first Workshop will be about the “Synthesis and design of multi-functional materials and of heterostructures”.
• The second Workshop deals with ”Multifunctional Advanced Materials: Probe and Theory”.
• The third Workshop will be about "Multifunctional Hybrids And Organics".

Finally the Conference will be focused on ”Trends, challenges and emergent new phenomena in multi-functional advanced materials: oxides and hetero-structures”.

Objectives

To organize workshops and conference for promoting knowledge exchange at trans-national level.
To enlarge the SPIN research excellence reputation on the international stage, in the EU scientific community and the regions of convergence and whereas all the relevant stakeholders are active in the field of multifunctional material science.

Tasks

4.1 Workshop 1. Organization of a Workshop on “Synthesis and design of oxides based multi-functional materials and of heterostructures”
4.2 Workshop 2. Organization of a Workshop on ”Frontiers and challenges of complex multifunctional materials: advanced probes, computational approaches and nanoscale phenomena”
4.3 Workshop 3. Organization of a Workshops on ”Heterostructures and functional materials based on oxides and organic/inorganic hybrids: applications and devices”
4.4 Conference. Organization of a Conference on ”Trends, challenges and emergent new phenomena in multi-functional advanced materials: oxides and hetero-structures”

Management

Leader: M. Cuoco
Project Assistant: D. Finizio

The Management work package is devoted to the management of the program, ensuring the timely execution of the planned work, to the management and the coordination of the financial and the technical reporting and the exchange of information. Further, the function of this work package (WP) is to monitor the consistency of the planned activities with a continuous benchmarking activity and to coordinate the activity in the WPs ensuring the timely achievements of the objectives and the management of the deviations from the foreseen plan. The quality management deals with the monitoring of the project advancement. Periodical verification of the project objectives, and review of tasks and milestones are considered as useful means. An indicator for monitoring the number of proposals submitted as coordinators by research staff of SPIN, during the project lifetime, in FP7 about the thematic area of the project (a minimum value has to be 2) will be considered. Similar to the previous one, there will be also an indicator to monitor the FP7 project activities where SPIN acts as a participant. Other indicators are also considered for monitoring the impact to the research potential increase of the activities planned within the project.

Objectives

To manage the program, ensuring the timely execution of the planned work.
To manage and coordinate the financial and the technical reporting and the exchange of information.
To monitor the consistency of the planned activities with a continuous benchmarking activity.
To coordinate the activity in the WPs ensuring the timely achievements of the objectives and the managing deviations from the plan.

Tasks

1.1 Quality management.
1.2 Work package coordination
1.3 Technical and financial management.
1.4 Protection and management of intellectual property (IP) keeping.

Indicators

Indicators for added value to improved research potential and general monitoring of the project activities

1. FP7 project coordination
   This indicator measures the number of FP7 submitted pojects for which SPIN is the coordinator.
2. FP7 project participant
   This indicator measures the number of FP7 pojects for which SPIN is a participant.
3. Mobility time schedule
   This indicator measures the percentage of know-how exchange visits happening according to the programmed time schedule. Measuring the deviation of the last of the visiting period from the planned schedule.
4. Scientific production
   This indicator measures the scientific production of SPIN in collaboration with the project’s partners by counting the joined papers published on International journals with high impact factor threshold.
5. Patents
   This indicator measures the technology innovation capacity of SPIN as due to the exchange with the partners by counting the number of submitted patents related to the project thematic area.
6. Results
   This indicator measures the efficiency and the added value of the know- how exchange by monitoring the number of invited talks received by SPIN staff to present the scientific results at workshops and conferences within the thematic area of the project.
7. Web visiting
   This indicator measures the number of visits of the web pages related to the project.
8. Public events invitations
   This indicator measures the success of the public events and the press communication by counting the number of invitations received by the SPIN staff for giving a speech to broad audience events.