In response to the Joint Call ICT-Security the European Commission received a total of 155 proposals – 56 of these addressing the ICT focus and 99 addressing the Security focus. 12 of these proposals originated from Ideal-ist partner searches, meaning that almost one in ten proposers used the Ideal-ist partner search system to find key partners or coordinators for their project ideas. At the same time the NCP-driven Ideal-ist quality label ensured a high quality standard: 41 percent of the Ideal-ist proposals were evaluated above threshold.

(Brussels, 20 March 2008) – The evaluation report of the European Commission shows that 69 out of a total of 155 proposals passed all thresholds set out in the call. In the ICT focus 22 proposals out of 56 were evaluated over thresholds, with only 9 proposals retained for funding. Among these 9, one proposal originated from an Ideal-ist partner search, scoring 13 points and becoming second in the priority list. In the Security focus a total of 99 proposals were submitted, out of which 8 proposals originated from the Ideal-ist partner search system. 47 of these proposals finally passed all thresholds, with 4 of these having used Ideal-ist to find partners.

Aside from the evaluation results, it has to be noted that the interest of the Security Theme participants in the Ideal-ist partner search was high: 67 percent of all partner searches on Ideal-ist corresponded to the Security focus and all but one of these became submitted proposals. “This clearly indicates the interest and need of the Security Theme constituency in having an international partner search system. This is also why we think that the Ideal-ist partner search system could become a very successful tool and service for the Security Theme constituency and NCP Network”, says Fernando Martín Galende, leader of the Ideal-ist partner search team. A closer look at the call statistics of Ideal-ist also makes it obvious that organisations replying to partner searches on Ideal-ist tend to be more experienced in FP7 projects than proposers. According to Galende this shows that “the Ideal-ist partner search system proves to be a good mechanism to put less experienced organisations with new ideas in contact with more experienced partners”.