The EU-funded network TISP it encourages its members to apply for EU funding

The EU-funded network TISP it encourages its members to apply for EU funding

Brussels, 18th December 2013

The EU-funded network TISP (Technologies and Innovation for Smart Publishing) aims to connect the publishing and technology sectors, and encourages its members to apply for EU funding. The Federation of European Publishers is one of the partners of the network, as well as the Italian Publishers Association (AIE). Its director, Piero Attanasio, describes TISP: “For those with little experience of EU funding, the TISP network is a platform on which different companies from the two sectors can meet and find information about the programmes.” A range of funding schemes is available that can be accessed by actors from the worlds of ICT and publishing. “We encourage publishing houses to apply for EU support programmes,” says Anne Bergman-Tahon of the Federation of European Publishers (FEP). John Higgins, CEO of Digital Europe, affirms: “The interface between ICT and publishing needs to be strengthened and EU funding can help in doing so."
The first calls for proposals were published by the European Commission last week, with the first deadlines for applications in early spring 2014. All EU programmes promise a simplified application process to reduce the time it takes to issue grants for projects. There are also simpler methods for calculating the EU co-funding rates, which range from 50 to 100 per cent of projects’ budgets. The new EU funding programmes are set to run from 2014 – 2020, and they explicitly acknowledge the need for innovation and cooperation. Holger Volland, Vice President Creative Industries with the Frankfurt Book Fair says ““The next seven years will be crucial in terms of cooperation between ICT and publishing at the European level. There is an immense appetite for innovation in publishing, and this can only be achieved hand-in-hand with the technology sector. By 2020 the face of publishing will have changed – and it is up to us to craft that change now.”
Three programmes are worth being mentioned for the TIPS partners: Horizon2020, Creative Europe and COSME- for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprise. More information on these programmes can be found in this press release’s annex.
The TISP network is a European project, funded by the European Commission. It promotes interactions between European publishing and technology (ICT) companies, with the aim of stimulating new partnerships and business models, while also encouraging policy innovation at national and European levels. The project is managed jointly by Digital Europe (DE) and the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) – the European umbrella organisations for ICT and publishing, respectively – and will run from 2013 to 2015. TISP is coordinated by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE). It consists of 25 members from 12 countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom).

Contact the TISP network:
Maria Loi, Italian Publishers Association (AIE): maria.loi@aie.it
Enrico Turrin, Federation of European Publishers (FEP): eturrin@fep-fee.eu
Patrice Chazerand, Digital Europe (DE): patrice.chazerand@digitaleurope.org
Nina Klein, Frankfurt Book Fair: klein@book-fair.com

Please find the PDF of the press release here:

Annex: