Preparing an IST proposal as a Chinese partner

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Preparing an IST proposal as a Chinese partner
Some experiences from ICT

• Haiyan Yu
• Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese
  Academy of Sciences
• yhy_at_software.ict.ac.cn

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Outline

• Background
• About XtreemOS
• About ICT
• Grid Research _at_ ICT
• Preparing an IST proposal
• Exploring Cooperation Opportunities
• The Lifecycle of a Successful Proposal
• The Structure of a Proposal
• Writing Key Sections of a Proposal
• Important Tips
• Where to Get Information
• Conclusion

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Background

• About XtreemOS
• About ICT
• Grid Research _at_ ICT

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About XtreemOS (1)

• An IST call 5 proposal that has successfully
  passed the final evaluation
• Design, implementation, evaluation and
  distribution of an open source Grid operating
  system with native support for virtual
  organizations
• Enhancing Linux to manage very large and dynamic
  ensembles of cross-domain resources, targeting
  multiple platforms( PC, SMP, clusters, PDA and
  mobile phones)
• Building the reference open source Grid OS,
  providing a production-quality alternative for
  current grid research prototypes

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About XtreemOS (2)

• The success of XtreemOS proposal was largely
  attributed to
• the Well Balanced International Consortium
• A prestigious leader and a good coordinator
  (INRIA)
• A reasonable composition of academic researchers,
  software vendors, and end users
• Academic partners CNR, CCLRC, BSC, U. Ulm, U.
  Vrjie, ZIB, ICT (from China)
• Industrial partners Mandriva, Red Flag (from
  China), NEC, SAP, XLAB, TelefonicaD, EADS, EDF,
  T6
• the Hard Work of the consortium

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About XtreemOS (3)

• Specific Contributions of Chinese Partners in
  XtreemOS
• ICT
• Design and implementation of OS-level user and
  resource management mechanisms to support VO (The
  responsible partner for some tasks)
• Deploying, testing and evaluating XtreemOS on
  China grid testbeds
• RedFlag
• Packaging and distribution of XtreemOS
• Integration with Red Flag Linux / AsiaUx
• Provide user support of XtreemOS

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About ICT

• Full Name Institute of Computing Technology,
  Chinese Academy of Sciences ( ICT of CAS )
• Founded in 1956, the First National Research
  Institute on Computer Science and Technology in
  China
• Pilot RD Initiatives
• High-Performance Computing Dawning Cluster 4000A
  ( Rank 10th of Top500 ), BlueWhale 1000 Network
  Storage System
• General Purpose CPU Chips GodSon I, II
• Grid Computing VEGA Grid
• Digital Technologies Audio and Video Coding
  Standard (AVS)
• Networking IPv6 Testing, Wireless Sensor
  networks
• The Cradle of Chinese IT Industries
• Research Institutes originate from ICT Software
  Institute of CAS, Network Center of CAS, etc.
• Enterprises incubated by ICT Lenovo, Dawning,
  etc.
• http//www.ict.ac.cn/

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Grid Research _at_ ICT- Research Center for Grid
and Service Computing ( VEGA Center )

• Grid Middleware VEGA Software Suite
• WS-I and OGSA conformance
• Provide a tailorable Implementation of
  WS-Security
• The core part of CNGrid Software, deployed in 8
  nodes spanning 6 cities in China,
• End-User Programming Tools
• GSML Visual Studio for Grid Applications,
  based on Eclipse RCP (for desktop app.) and AJAX
  framework (for web app.)
• VINCA service composition / workflow tool, BPEL
  compatible
• Applications
• Context-Aware Service Management FLAME2008,
  serving Beijing Olympic Games
• Advanced Manufacturing AmGrid, operating in BOE
  corp.
• E-government COGES, operating in GuaDong
  Province
• Basic Research
• Abacus Virtual Machine

Leaflets available!
http//vega.ict.ac.cn/
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Preparing an IST proposal

• Exploring Cooperation Opportunities
• The Lifecycle of a Successful Proposal
• The Structure of a Proposal
• Writing Key Sections of a Proposal
• Important Tips
• Where to Get Information

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Exploring Cooperation Opportunities

• The first but not the least, let your research be
  known to the world
• Publications on high-quality international
  conferences and journals ( Let reviewers know
  your work even if not get published )
• Meet with people within the same research
  community
• Attending conferences such as Grid_at_Asia, SC,
  HPCC, etc.
• Be volunteers of international activities such as
  serving as a PC member or panel chair of
  conferences
• Join in collaboration forums or consortiums such
  as GGF
• Find matching partners
• Generally speaking, for a promising proposal, the
  project leader (a research institute, a
  university, more often, a group) is highly active
  and well known in a specific research area.
• Your expertise or research experiences could
  complement to other partners

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The lifecycle of a successful proposal

• Consortium formalization
• May immediately start after the call has been
  announced
• May terminate after there are enough members
  responsible for each Work Package (WP)
• Preparation of the proposal
• Each partner contribute to their interested WPs
• Integrated Draft version 1,2,3 till the
  deadline
• Submission of the proposal ( generally no
  extension ! )
• The First Stage of Evaluation (in 1-2 months
  after the submission)
• Must pass the required thresholds in 6 aspects
  (1)Relevance (2) Potential Impact (3) ST
  Excellence (4) Quality of the consortium (5)
  Quality of the management (6) Mobilization of the
  resources
• The Second Stage of Evaluation ( Hearings)
• Respond to a number of specific questions
  concerning the proposal
• Contract negotiations
• Determined by results of the second stage of
  evaluation, in order of precedence - highest
  ranking proposals first
• Two or more rounds, much paperwork
• Signature of Contract, Start of the Project

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The Structure of a Proposal

• Full title / Acronym / Strategic objectives /
  Proposal Abstract
• B.1 Scientific and technological objectives of
  the project and state of the art
• B.2 Relevance to the objectives of the IST
  Priority
• B.3 Potential impact
• B.4 Outline implementation plan
• B.5 Description of the consortium
• B.6 Description of project management
• B.7 Project resources
• B.8 Detailed implementation plan first 18
  months
• B.9 Other issues
• B.10 Gender issues
• Generally, Chinese partners need to focus on
  items in blue color

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Writing Key Sections of a Proposal (1)

• Specify which work packages (WPs) you would like
  to participated in
• Is this WP matching your research interests ?
• What contribution could you make to this WP ?
• How many person-months (PMs) could you afford ?
• Provide Inputs Comments to each WP in which you
  will be involved
• Objectives
• Challenges
• Approach
• Industry involvement
• Relevance to the project
• Relation to other WPs
• Give a coarse estimation of your budget
• Two stages First 18 months / Later 30 months
• Normally the cost can be calculated by PMs

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Writing Key Sections of a Proposal (2)

• For Chinese Partners, the following sections are
  mandatory
• B.5 Detailed Description of Partners
• Introduction of your organization
• Your skills (research achievements)
• Key Personnel ( Resume, publications could be
  attached)
• B.5.3 Other Countries
• Why you are included in the consortium ?
• Some possible answers
• Explore new opportunities for international
  collaboration, jointly addressing important
  technological issues and enhancing
  competitiveness
• Could contribute to the improvement of Chinas IT
  infrastructure, could have some profound impact
  on technology transfer in China
• How important is your contribution to the project
  ?
• What exactly role do you play in the project ?
• Design / Implementation / Evaluation /
  Dissemination /
• Your expertise complement to the consortium

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Important Tips (1)

• Be active, better than be passive
• Make your contributions as much as possible, add
  inputs to important sections of the proposal (
  such as Relevance to the objectives of the IST
  Priority, Potential impact , and etc. ) if you
  can
• Be careful in writing
• Not to boast
• Ensure technical correctness
• Make typo error and grammar error checking
• Generally, A Mailing List A Website is an
  efficient approach for collaboration .
• Timely response is welcome
• Active discussion is welcome
• Double-win strategics
• Invite other possible Chinese partners that could
  improve the quality of consortium, rather than
  becoming competitors

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Important Tips (2)

• Financial Issues
• Cost Model
• AC (Additional Cost) for academic partners, 100
  get granted
• FC (Full Cost) for industrial partners, 50 get
  granted
• Dont over-estimate your budget ! It will impairs
  the evaluation of the proposal.
• Be reasonable.
• Detail Justification of the budget

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Where to get the information

• IST Call 6 Site (contains all information you
  need)http//fp6.cordis.europa.eu.int/index.cfm?fu
  seactionUserSite.FP6DetailsCallPagecall_id271
  
• China-EU ST Site http//www.ceco.org.cn/ (in
  Chinese)
• Regarding IST Call 6 International cooperation
  on Grid Technologies
• Target country China
• Research focus
• Grid foundations architecture, design and
  development of technologies and systems for the
  Grid
• Grid-enabled applications and services for
  business and society promote global adoption of
  Grid environments and tools
• Proposals shall leverage and integrate existing
  initiatives in the focal areas in Europe and the
  target countries.

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Conclusion

• Participating in an IST application is a good
  practice to learn how big projects are
  coordinated
• A good opportunity to make China RD initiatives
  open to the world, to foster technological
  innovation through relationships with
  international players.

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Thank You!Contact yhy_at_software.ict.ac.cn