EU research funding + free software

[Fabian Keil]

Karsten Gerloff <gerloff at fsfeurope.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 06:47:47PM +0200, Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos wrote:
> > Hello,
> >  I was made aware of the following fosdem talk about EU research funding
> > and free software:
> > https://fosdem.org/2014/schedule/event/eu_research_funding/
> > 
> > My experience with EU projects is that it is infeasible for any small
> > project to manage the bureaucracy required by the EU. Could FSFE assume
> > that role? As far as I know all EU projects include funds for
> > secretarial work, so that could be assumed by paid positions within
> > FSFE. What do you think?
> 
> tl;dr: Participating in EU projects usually isn't an efficient way
> for FSFE to achieve its goals. It makes sense for FSFE only when
> the project is 100% aligned with what we're trying to do; and even
> then, the administrative overhead is a big problem. We usually
> don't participate in such projects unless there's a compelling
> reason to do so.
[...] 
> And boy, is there a lot of paperwork. I hear that things are
> supposed to have gotten slightly better with Horizon 2020, but
> it's still *a lot*. 
> 
> That's fine if you're working at a decent-sized university
> department or a company. There's usually a staffer there who
> handles everyone's paperwork for EU projects. But if you don't
> have such a person, then the paperwork will kill you. 

Sounds like the FSFE should have a staffer for this.

Fabian
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