Organisation of Project consortium

China

Beijing

If you decide to prepare a co-operation project in which you work with national or international partners, it is important to give yourself plenty of time before the deadline to organise your consortium.

You need to consider:

Who will be the project co-ordinator or main participant? The project co-ordinator normally takes the lead in the submission process. They decide on the general project outline, the number and content of the work packages and the overall budget. The co-ordinator is usually also responsible for managing and co-ordinating the project and signing the official contract once the application has been endorsed. If you decide to become the project co-ordinator, you must devote a considerable amount of time to co-ordination and management activities. However, it’s possible to outsource some of these project management and secretarial activities to Project Desk. The Project Desk team has plenty of experience with project management and can monitor progress and assist with the completion and submission of periodic reports. The Project Desk team can also estimate the budget for these project management costs.
Who is responsible for each task or responsibility? It is important to make a clear description of tasks and responsibilities and to make sure each partner is aware of their contribution – and is willing to commit to doing it. It is good practice to draft a handbook of your management procedures, plus your legal, financial, administrative and reporting requirements for the funded project. If RSM is to be the co-ordinator of a large co-operation project, then Project Desk can help you compose the handbook, which can then be distributed to consortium members at the kick-off meeting. You can also use such a handbook as a formal way to deliver management activities. Ask to see examples of such handbooks at Project Desk.
Who holds the consortium agreement and intellectual property rights? You are strongly recommended to set out a consortium agreement for your co-operation project. In many cases such an agreement is compulsory. The consortium agreement is a contract made between project partners. It stipulates all arrangements and obligations, and assigns intellectual property rights. Project Desk has a legal consultant who can advise you and give you a template to work from. More information about the consortium agreement is in Consortium Agreement.