The co-ordination of a RTD project at European level: difficulties and traps by the different steps

When a scientist wants to set up and co-ordinate a Research and Technical Development (RTD) project for the first time, he is confronted with a certain number of factors, which, generally, are completely unknown. To co-ordinate a research project, it is not sufficient to have, as starting point, a set of interesting and innovative scientific themes. In fact, after the first preparatory steps, he is confronted with a number of difficulties such as the sinking of the project before it is put forward for financing. The different visions from the scientific and industrial partners are sometimes completely opposite (4): so it is necessary to understand and to assess the requirements of every participant. The industrial partner approach is, for example, linked to this assessment, bearing in mind that his involvement is indispensable for the viability of the project. First of all, this work aims to warn scientists who wish to start up in such an adventure, and secondly serve as a 'vademecum for the co-ordinator' in order to achieve successful completion of work that requires big investments in energy and time.