Ideal-ist is an international ICT partner search network, with more than 60.000 contacts in line with the international cooperation strategy of the European Commission. Today the Ideal-ist network consists of 67 ICT national partners from EU and Non-EU Countries, such as Associated States, Eastern European Partner Countries (EEPC) and Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC) and emerging countries like China, Brazil, India, and South Africa in line with the international cooperation strategy of the European Commission.

• high expertise in proposal writing and project management : A network of over 60 National Contact Points (NCPs) in the ICT theme and organisations appointed by them are supporting proposers.

• long-standing experience in EU Framework programmes (Ideal-ist was established 1996)

• a unique quality labelled partner search tool to connect newcomers and experienced researchers

• an international Quality team to support proposer e.g. to better focus proposals

• Ideal-ist information services : eNewsletter, Service Map, press releases, Work Programm information
  

• Brokerage events with own brokerage tool (Face2Face) to pe-schedule meetings at big events
  

Ideal-ist supports Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs), Academia, Non-profit Organisations, larger Companies and public Administration, Newcomers, Research Organisations and consultancies in

1. interpreting the ICT work programme of FP7

2. submitting project ideas in line with the Challenges & Objectives of FP7

3. finding the right partners for their project

4. joining as partners to other proposals

5. joining on-going projects via competitive calls launched by project coordinators

Newcomers need partners or have to identify forming consortia in order to take part in international ICT calls. Idealist addresses this problem by a proven partner search mechanism.

The Idealist online partner search, originally developed during Framework Program (FP) 4 and continually enhanced, is based on a number of key elements:

• It operates with specific vetted proposal ideas, rather than generally advertising research capability.

• It is tightly supervised in that each proposed search is reviewed prior to being published by the National expert and the Quality team and checked for applicability and basic correctness. 

• It is proactive in seeking out potential partners, rather than simply storing them in a database, waiting to be discovered by an online user. 

• It targets the Strategic Objectives of the ICT Theme and is call-specific. 

• It is supported locally by Idealist representative who can help formulate the search and ensure that searches reach the correct types of organizations.