Management description

Broadly speaking, the management activities in a NoE, in addition to setting up and maintaining the legal basis for operation of the NoE, are instrumental to make sure that all partners follow the correct procedures in the administration of their own budget, and that prepare timely and accurate reports to the Coordinator and/or to the Commission where requested.

In addition, the network management has also to implement due auditing actions to possibly identify spending unbalance issues among partners as well as possible non conformity of some partner’s activity to the work program of the NoE. In the case some non conformity (financial or scientific) is detected, proper corrective measures are proposed to the Boards of the NoE for consequent action. Finally, another fundamental output of the management activities is a constantly updated review of the status of the NoE that allows to evaluate the sustainability of the NoE as a whole after the Commission funding is over.

This is done by implementing specific actions about promotion of the NoE activity and by identifying the most promising aspects in the network that can be possibly turned into some form of self-sustaining business. The Management activities within NEWCOM++ are organized into three WPs, each regarding one of the main aspects mentioned above.

The first WP, Scientific direction and quality assurance, deals specifically with all aspects related to the proper implementation and management of the research WPs (see 1.3.1). This includes the assessment and possibly the enhancement of the quality of the results obtained from the NoE in terms of scientific and technical innovation, as well as exploitability and spreading of the relevant research results. This includes a periodic evaluation of the impact of the research topics that are being dealt with by the NoE on the scientific and technical community at large and on the actual deployment of systems on the other. Such evaluation appears particularly relevant on such a longterm planning as the one that is envisaged by this NoE (3 years). The review and the assessment of the results, that will also involve a systematic Risk Analysis for the planned activities, will be done taking into account the planning and the objectives of the NoE as stated in this JPA. Any deviations and/or critical issues will be identified in due time and reported to the Executive Board, that will take the appropriate actions to solve the issue.

Reference person: Sergio Benedetto

The second WP, Administrative management, is paired with the preceding one to jointly ensure correct operations and management of the whole NoE. Whilst the previous is focused on the scientific contents of the activity, with a special view on auditing and (scientific) quality assurance, administrative management aims at coordinating all of the administrative operations of the network, making sure that all the relevant activities are carried out in due time, and reporting about the NoE administrative matters to the Commission. A set of guidelines to ensure that all partners follow the same administrative, financial and project management rules, will also be prepared and made available on the NoE website. In parallel to the activities that are due towards the Commission, the WP will also setup and maintain a periodical internal auditing procedure on eligible costs to prevent unbalance of expenditures in time and across partners. In addition to auditing, this WP will also propose corrective actions for under-performing or under- and over-spending partners to be
approved by the NEWCOM++ ExBoard.

Reference person: Marco Luise

The last management WP, Network promotion and sustainability, is concerned on one side with the development of a specific strategy to promote visibility of the NoE in the scientific and technical community, and on the other with the evaluation of the chances of (some of) the NoE activities to attain a level of self-funding high enough to survive the Commission grant. Promotion of the network is a joint action with the Spreading of Excellence (SoE) WPs, and regards the
development of a promotional strategy and/or of promotional material for NEWCOM++.

Such activity is essential to ensure visibility of the “NEWCOM++ brand” (i.e., of the NoE as a whole body) in the European wireless community. This can be done for instance by identifying and publicizing the benefits of being Network Associates or Affiliates, and publicizing (together with the SoE WPs) as much as possible all relevant NoE initiatives. In addition, the WP will develop a Business Plan that will identify the strengths and weaknesses, costs and benefits of the NoE, as well as those activities that will survive after the Commission grant period is over.

Reference person: Mario Chiesa