Services Provided by the SMART Office

The SMART Office is responsible for the implementation and day-

to-day management of the Eureka Cluster SMART. To ensure the smooth running of calls and the success of SMART projects, it provides a wide range of services, including:

• Organisation and launch of calls for proposals, including the annual SMART Proposers’ Day with pitching sessions, B2B meetings, and networking to build consortia.
• Continuous ad
  vice and guidance to applicants: understanding the rules, using the submission platform, and preparing stronger proposals.
• Evaluation and feedback on project
•  proposals, with recommendations to improve their quality and chances of success.
• Monitoring and follow-up of running projects from an international perspective, complementing national-level monitoring.
• Guidance on Project Change Requests (PCRs), supporting projects to adapt when needed.
• Liaison with National Funding Agencies, ensuring smooth communication and coordination.
• Promotional and communication activities to give visibility to calls and running projects.
• Operation and maintenance of the platform, which supports all these activities.
• Building the ecosystem and relationship among organisations in the SMART Cluster.

Project Fee

To be able to provide these services and cover their costs, the SMART Office applies a project fee of 1.5% of the eligible project budget.

This fee:

• Applies only to partners that receive public funding. Self-funded partners are exempt.
• Is calculated based on the eligible budget approved by the national funding agencies (which may differ from the actual funding received).
• Is invoiced according to the distribution of the eligible budget over time, as defined in the funding resolutions.
• If no such distribution exists, the fee is allocated evenly throughout the duration of the project.
• Is invoiced once per calendar year. The first invoice is issued when all funding resolutions are known and the project has started.
• Must be paid independently of when partners receive their national funding.