The Swedish Steel Producers´ Association decided on its own initiative to apply to Mistra for support for a research programme entitled ‘Towards a Closed Steel Ecocycle´. One of the aims of the programme is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from steelworks. By making more efficient use of scrap and the metals it contains, and in other ways, Sweden's steelmakers hope to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations.- The important thing is to have a clear picture of your objectives, combined with well-defined system boundaries, says Birgitta Lindblad, who heads the association´s Department of Energy and Environment. That is the principal lesson which her organization has learnt from its applications to Mistra. The association was previously involved with a Mistra project for which, for various reasons, funding was not awarded.
- Despite this, we thought our ideas we re so interesting that we we re still keen to pursue them further. When it comes to major projects with a strong industrial component, however, there aren't that many organizations to turn to. In that respect, Mistra is unique. So, building on our earlier experience, we began to think about how we could make a fresh application.
It immediately became clear to the project group what was important: to put into words what they really wanted to achieve, what their overall goals were.
- That was vital, because we realized that our earlier project had tried to be too many things. It needed pruning back. The whole of that process took much longer than we´d anticipated, but it´s crucial to think through both your vision and your more specific aims.
BRICKS OR A BUILDING
Birgitta Lindblad believes that if you have a number of different goals, however praiseworthy they may be, you can easily end up looking at them simply as individual bricks - and fail to see the finished building.- What we did to limit the project was to define the goal as being that of retaining metal atoms, or reducing their quantities, within a closed cycle. And every component project that we create has to contribute to that overall objective.The group wrote a project proposal as a basis for a planning grant application. It was fairly brief, but nevertheless described the clear goal which they had defined. Following consultation with Mistra, this proposal was revised and expanded.- There was an ongoing discussion, which you really need to have for a programme on this scale. Then we sent our proposal to researchers at various institutes, universities and colleges who we thought might be interested. We asked them to send us brief outlines, limited to 2 A4 pages, describing their ideas, what they could result in, and the estimated costs involved.
When we looked at the project proposals we received, some of them had to be rejected because they didn't fit in with the overall objective. The group also tried to strike a balance between different areas. Then the selected projects were sent out to people in the recycling industry, at steelworks and at the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries to gauge their interest. The relevant environment and technology groups of the Steel Producers´ Association,which include company representatives, were kept informed as the work progressed.
- To ensure that the projects met high scientific standards, we´d already made it clear that the programme was to involve medium-term research, with practical applications coming on stream after an estimated eight years. We´d also explained that we weren't interested in solving problems relating to individual details, but wanted to achieve a complete overhaul of established practices and procedures and bring about new ways of thinking in the industry.
Along the way, the association maintained a continuous dialogue with Mistra.
- They didn't interfere with our choice of projects, but simply helped us with all the related issues and clarified their own visions and goals. Then we sent in our application and a list of suggestions for international peer reviewers to Mistra, says Birgitta Lindblad.
NERVOUS
The next step was to prepare a plan and a presentation for the applicants´ meeting with the review panel. And they certainly felt a little nervous at the prospect.-Some of the researchers hadn't met before, and it was important to develop a common view. Luckily, we decided to have a “dress rehearsal" before the meeting. It´s crucial that the researchers concerned meet during the planning process and agree on how the projects are to be described, taking into account Mistra´s recommendations. The result of our efforts was a slide show outlining our proposal, and the presentation to the scientific review panel went reasonably well, Birgitta Lindblad recalls.
- We now had a coherent view of the programme, rather than a collection of separate projects. All the projects had the same goal. The evaluation of value to users also went well - the person who did it talked both to us and to other researchers, companies and authorities. Now I really enjoy reading the two evaluations, which took a very favourable view of our proposal. For the presentation to the Mistra Board, a new slide show was produced. The group wanted a more compact presentation which still gave a clear picture of what they wanted to do and how they planned to go about it.
- We didn't have to wait long for a response. And I can still remember how happy I felt when I got the phone call informing us that the Board had approved our application.
Looking back, Lindblad realizes that it is vital to allow yourself plenty of time. Thinking through your basic idea and putting it into words is a time-consuming process.
- For instance, you need to find out how the funding body thinks. The entire application process took us a year and a half. Streamlining the project proposals is one of the things you need to allow time for. There are a lot of people involved, who have to be given time to understand and to have their say. And if you've applied before but been turned down, don´t be discouraged - just take the criticism on board and turn it into something positive.
