What are the relevancy criteria for the list of projects?

Projects are ordered by default by relevance. 

The relevancy of a project is mainly based on the following indicators :

• Number of occurrences of the searched concept
• Position of the concept within the document (Title, Description)
• Publication date of the document : most recent documents are privileged

Projects include European projects ( Framework Programmes called FP,6,7 & H2020) and American projects (SBIR & STTR).

European Projects

The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP7 with “FP8” being named “Horizon 2020”, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the European Research Area (ERA). 

The specific objectives and actions vary between funding periods. In FP6 and FP7 focus was still in technological research, in Horizon 2020 the focus is in innovation, delivering economic growth faster and delivering solutions to end users that are often governmental agencies. 

American Projects

The purpose of the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research, created in 1982) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer  programs, created in 2000 is to encourage SMEs to engage in research activities and to innovate.

The SBIR program targets the development by SMEs of innovation projects with commercial potential.

The STTR program pursues the same goal and requires, in addition, collaboration between companies and public research organizations.

Therefore, only the STTR  projects are collaborative projects.

In both cases, it is a technology competition opened by federal departments and agencies. These agencies must devote part of their outsourced R & D budget to projects presented by SMEs. Departments and agencies, however, select subjects and winners.

These two programs are structured in 3 phases, each represented by an “award”:

• Phase 1: Feasibility study and prototyping, the cost must not exceed $ 150,000 and not last more than 6 months.
• Phase 2: Research and Development, the cost must not exceed $ 1,000,000 and last no longer than 24 months.
• Phase 3: Marketing, not funded by the program (So not available in Orbit Insight)