The Malta Federation of Industry has been appointed national contact point (NCP) for small and medium-sized enterprises with respect to the European Commission’s seventh framework programme (FP7).

This has been announced by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST), the coordinating national contact point organisation for the FP7 and responsible for appointing the national contact point for every area of the FP7.

The appointment supplements the array of current services the federation is providing in this area of activity, for to date, the FOI has kept its members updated on EU funding available through calls for proposals or tenders as well as disseminating the various partner searches it received and informing the respective FOI members accordingly.

In its role as FP7 NCP for SMEs, the FOI will seek to identify FP7 opportunities for Maltese SMEs as well as the right areas and funding schemes for such businesses. The federation will advise SMEs on joining consortia, proposal-writing and finding partners for proposals. It will be involved in the provision of assistance to organisations in view of increasing their participation in the FP7, also offering support during project negotiation and project duration.

The FOI said the framework programme was often overlooked by small companies because of its complexity or poor perceptions. A common misperception is that the FP is just for research and researchers. But the FP also enables individual businesses to become more innovative in their marketplace. European SMEs are faced with increased competition in the market (both internally and globally) and they therefore need to increase their knowledge and research intensity and internationalise.

The FP provides SMEs with the ideal opportunities to gain access to the much-needed financial support while also offering the chance to collaborate with larger organisations on large multi-scale projects. One of the aims of FP7 is to make participation for SMEs less costly and cumbersome.