Q&A SpeedUP! Europe

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K
1	SpeedUp! Europe Q&A			Please use this spreadsheet to gather your questions. This will make the process much more efficient for everyone. :)
2				Feel free to ask in German as well. Gern auch auf Deutsch.
3	Tomorrow morning four representatives of the team leaders will meet Olaf, Stefan and Youssef and try to get answers on these questions in a more relaxed environment.
4	Nr #	Category	Your Name	Date asked	Question	Answer	Links	Answered by	Date answered	Answer OK?

5	0	Budget		21.02.		We have to distinguish between "PAYMENT" and "EXPENSES". Payment have to be underlined by bank account statements or receipts. Expenses have to be underlined by invoices.		Olaf Gemein	21.02.
6	1	Reporting			When the first weekly report by organisers will be sent? And when do we need to submit it?	On next friday 27.02.		Olaf Gemein	21.02.
7	2	Budget			Is there a maximum living cost that you deem correct/acceptable? How much is it?	No, there's no maximum living cost, but you can use only 1000 Euro per head per month. In case the compensation for the work performed is higher, this difference shall not be considered as eligible costs.		Olaf Gemein	21.02.
8	3	Budget			There are teams that cannot afford to advance 5k euro (unemployed, students, ...). How can they manage their expenses? Can they get a advanced payments instead of reimbursements?	Unfortunately, reporting rules of EU funded projects do not allow this to happen.		Olaf Gemein	21.02.	No: In the Guidelines it says otherwise: "SpeedUP! Europe funding scheme consists of a lump sum to be paid in monthly instalments of an amount fixed in the sub-grant agreement". <<SpeedUP! Europe funding scheme consists of a lump sum to be paid in monthly instalments of an amount fixed in the sub-grant agreement (Article 4.5) starting the month following the sub-grant agreement entry into force, provided that the weekly reports and the monthly financial statement detailing the costs incurred are submitted and the costs incurred are compatible with the budget defined in Annex I- Description of Work .>> Notice althouth it says it is a fixed sum (so not the exact costs, if that makes sense), it still says "STARTING THE MONTH FOLLOWING THE SUB-GRANT AGREEMENT ENTRY INTRO FOCE, PROVIDED THAT... COSTS ARE SUBMITTED" Notice: the guidlines as well as any papers from the call, are contractual/binding.	<-- Who has written this "No:" in Column "J"? Olaf? A Project? For Comments, please always add your name!
9	4	Proposal			Where can I find my proposal / grant agreement number?	Check Youssef's email of February 4th, subject "SpeedUP! Europe Open Call - Result of Evaluation of proposals - Invitation to grant agreement preparation"		Andreas	2/21/2015
10	5	Budget	Johannes	21.02.2015	If we hand in the cost and activity report on the 1st of March for February, when are we going to receive the first refund? This is crucial to not run into liquidity problems.	We really hope in the first 14 days of march		Olaf Gemein
11	6				When will the first weekly report will be sent?	Template for the report will be sent on Tuesday: 3rd of March. Perhaps earlier.		Team leaders workshop	2/21/2015
12	7	Budget			List of the acceptable cost and maximum amounts?! (what are eligable costs?)	The eligible costs can be found in within the documents related to FP7 EU funded projects (financial and reporting regulations for R&D&I programmes). http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/fp7/89556/financial_guidelines_en.pdf	http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/fp7/89556/financial_guidelines_en.pdf	Olaf Gemein	2/21/2015	The answer cannot be correct. I already wrote it in a comment but somebody has deleted it. According to that document the living costs would be about 40.000e a years (when no taxes), 89.000 before taxes, for a person (researcher, since the EU document is for research projects). that would be almost 8 times more than the 1000e. I suspect that document rules the relationship between SpeedUp Consorcium/Project, but not the granted projects.
13	8	Budget			Q3 related: or can you provide a loan to enable the cashflow to start?	No, we do not provide loans.
14	9	Reporting			Monthly reporting, can it be sum of weekly reports instead (this would save time and effort)?	Sorry for this, we need weekly diaries for each team member. Latest on friday midnight. The Team Leader has to privide additionally a monthly report.		Olaf Gemein		Lenght of the weekely report & form (structure?!), could you be more precise on this one?!
15	10	Evaluation phasis			Need more info on this one! How is done, who is in charge and how long it will take to get evaluation?	The coaches care to see improvement on a continuous basis. They expect improvements in the process of validating technical and/or commercial hypothesis. Failure is acceptable as it is part of the learning process. We need to see you are on a learning curve.The first milestone will be overcome successfully if the prototyping phase is approved. The Consortium members together with the coaches are responsible for the evaluation.		Olaf Gemein
16	11	Coaching sessions			E-unlimited used online webinar platform for its program European Mobile and Mobility Investment Program, can platform be used in so that team members, can interact from their own offices rather than be present in hub?! For us it would take 4 hours to get to hub (one way only)!? Platform is Cisco WebEX!	Sorry, that is not possible, we have our own platform		Olaf Gemein
17	12	Budget			What is the maximum deviation in each budget category per month with no contacting of coach necessary	depends on specific circumstances. there is no general rule		Olaf Gemein
18	13	Presence			How many full days does a full time team member need to be present in HH until MVP?	est. is more than a half of the working days from start until mvp for the team as a whole (20.2.-26.4.). Practical example: Fulltime members can compensate others.		Olaf Gemein
19	14	Presence			How many full days does a 50% part time team member need to be present in HH until MVP?	s. 18		Olaf Gemein
20	15	Presence			Can we freely define the part-time level of each team member (assigning the percentages)?	there'll be high and low frequency-times concerning the workload. - so: there is no general rule.		Olaf Gemein
21	16	Presence			How many full days does a 25% part time team member need to be present in HH until MVP?	s. 18		Olaf Gemein
22	17				Will the living costs of teams be paid out directly to the single team members?	No, the money goes first to the tea leader. He is the contractor.		Olaf Gemein
23	18	Presence			Can we order a Bahncard100 to ensure presence (is valid for 12 months)?	Yes. But you need to report the cost on a monthly basis (divided over 12 months). It is clear that the programme will only cover and reimburse the cost for the 9 months of its duration.		Olaf Gemein
24	19	Budget			Can we shift budgets between months?	yes, it is recommended to talk before hand with your coach about the change; it is NOT required		Olaf Gemein	21.02.
25	20				Do we have to lease or buy "stuff"?	general hardware up to 490 Euro is OK to be bought (please recheck in the rules f7, see above), hardware that is needed for the mvp can be bought directly. other things can be bought, but need to be written off (depreation, german: abschreibung) properly with regular taxation.		Olaf Gemein
26	21	Reporting	Andreas	2/21/2015	Do we have to use the Templates for the reportings? Background: We already have our own tools to monitor how we spend our time; and for budget we could just export our accounting bookings. If we can use that, it would save lots of time	No unfortunately as it would make it much more difficult for the programme to have and manage comparable data and information. We will make an effort in order to minimize the workload for the reporting.		Olaf Gemein		Yes. We appreciate the effort to minimize the workload.
27	22	Budget	Amelie		Can we change the budget structure as we go?	basically yes. we love improvements - talk to your mentor.		Olaf Gemein
28	23	Budget	Amelie		Due to cost reasons Swedish teams will not be able to attend all workshops arranged in Hamburg. Are there web streaming options (as said in Annex 3 Guidelines paragraph 8.1 "virtual events") or can we arrange some more workshops in Stockholm?	Partly yes. There will be additional workshops in Stockholm, but the main lecturing will take place in Hamburg. Webstreaming is not an option.		Olaf Gemein
29	24	Budget	Amelie		Is the 1000 euro per person in living costs pre or post income tax?	pre (german. Brutto)		Olaf Gemein
30	25	Reporting	Amelie		Reporting of costs. We suggest pre-approval from coach or hub master.	Unfortunately we can not guarantee it would work. Instead, we will offer you a training session before the first deadline is reached, working together to answer all possible questions and making sure you will avoid mistakes. The training session will be live in Hamburg but you could join via web		Olaf Gemein
31	26	HUB			Do we have to sign a contract with the Gaußhof HUB. Or could we choose an other coworking space?
32	27	Budget	Simon	2/21/2015	In my current understanding, non-SMEs (individuals), will receive the living costs directly from SUE to their bank accounts. As we have budgeted living costs for all team members and need to turn in the financial report February 28th. My request is to: Provide the template for providing the team members’ bank account. And to transfer the living costs to all the team members by Feb 28th latest (money received on owners accounts as to prove actual budget). OR to have a confirmation from SUE that they will transfer the living costs to members in March only, but that the 1000€ max living cost limit per month would be lifted for March and that 2000€ living costs for team members could be paid in March.	sorry for this, there is a change. we will send the money to the team leaders account and he will transfer it to his members. A payment until feb 28th will not be possible, because the first payment will come between the 10th or 14th of march - depending on the reporting of the teams and perhaps legal documentation		Olaf Gemein		Thank you. But we still want to pay living costs for the team members for February. How to do that effectively? By receiving the money from SUE to the team leader's account in mid-march and then transferring it to the individual team members?
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34	29	Budget	Flo	2/21/2015	What if the overall Budget is over 50.000€, say 70.000€ for example. We will still get funding for 50.000€ but will we have to report on how we spent the entire 70.000€? Will there be any other things to consider if the planned budget is more than 50.000€?
35	30	MVP	Simon	2/21/2015	Does the MVP (prototype) already need to include the implementation of the Fiware enablers? As our priority would be to have a demo available to show to customers to do interviews, etc. Our concern is that the implementation of Fiware for the MVP (prototype) would hinder the successful development and launch of the prototype in time (until 26th April)
36	31	Evaluation	Simon	2/21/2015	In the Guidelines it says "the credits gained through education tracks: By attending specific SpeedUP! Europe training workshops, the team gains credits" and "the participation of the team members in virtual and physical events (participants listings)". Will there really be credits for attending events? Will the team receive 1 credit per team member per day for each event and will these really be taken into consideration after each of the 3 months to consider the question of further funding?
37	32	Budget	Simon	2/21/2015	Can the remaining budget money be transferred to the following month? It was said at the TL-workshop that this is discussable with the Coordinator Olaf.
38	33	Product	Rin	2/21/2015	How much can we change the initially proposed product? E.g. if we decide to limit the feature set to one main feature?
39	34		Angelo	2/21/2015	Can we change the MVP because now we only have two months instead of three?
40	35	Evaluation	Simon	2/21/2015	Who will evaluate after each of the 3 months? 1 coach and 3 external evaluators (jury)? What could or should the evaluation look like? (live in HH or digitally), etc.? Obviously the originally stated key results of the DOW (description of work) would be evaluated in the 2 areas: tech and non-tech. Is there any rating or weighing of criteria of evaluation? Like teams' and individuals’ effort as seen through weekly reports.. a process similar to the proposal evaluation how many credit points each aspect can have? Are there thresholds? Is there a weighing of criteria? (e.g. team effort weighs more than implementation of fiware)?
41	36	Weekly Reports	Simon		When will you sign the agreement and when will we get the signed copy?
42	37	Budget	Michael	2/21/2015	Can we use our flat as a facility and make the cost eligible?
43	38	Weekly Reports	Simon		Where do we find the template for the weekly report/diary?
44	39	Budget		2/21/2015	Can we rent/lease a car for 9 months and make the cost eligible for travel?
45	40	Budget	Michael	2/21/2015	Are invoices related to the project but paid before beginning of the project be eligible? If yes - back to which timeframe
46	41	Budget	Michael	2/21/2015	Are SME related lawyer/IP Protection/tax consultant costs eligible?	(unofficial answer by luis: in the meeting in november Steffan said "yes" in other costs. And that makes sense, those costs are necessary for running the project)
47	42	Travels	Nahuel	2/21/2015	I need to travel often to Chile and China as we have some prospect customers there and we manufacture in China. Do I have to talk to anyone so I can expense these travels? Also, would accommodation and food could also be expenses? What if I have to stay for a month in China while we manufacture and I can't be in the HUB?! how can I deal with such thing?
48	43	HUB	Nahuel	2/21/2015	We are a hardware startup, does that mean that for at least 2 days a week I need to take all my electronics equipment (oscilloscope, soldering iron, PCBs, electronic components, desktop PC) to the hub so I can fullfill the SpeedUP! Europe requirements?!
49	44	Budget		2/21/2015	Will the financial report be checked before the next monthly rate is transferred to the account? I.e. if we spent ~1k in February and estimated 5k, would we then get 5k on our bank account and be able to use the additional 4k to kickstart our cashflow in March?
50	45	HUB	Flo	2/21/2015	What are the opening times at the Gaußhof? I am asking because for the first month most of the team will have to work in the evening and on weekends.	It says 24/7 here: http://www.primoportal.de/english-speedup-coworking-hamburg/	http://www.primoportal.de/english-speedup-coworking-hamburg/
51	46	Reporting	Nahuel	2/21/2015	Why do you consider "lines of code written" as a way to monitor a startup? How are you taking into account the fact that we are a hardware company? How do you benchmark this and the efforts on sales development and manufacturing?
52	47	Budget	Nahuel	2/21/2015	What do we need to make something expensable? such as in renting a house, do we need a contract + some sort of receipt of payment + our bank statement showing how the money left our accounts? what happens with cash payments?
53	48	Budget	Arvid	2/21/2015	We intend to purchase two mobile devices (iOS and Android) for app testing purposes. Are we allowed to include these costs in the budget?
54	49	Budget	Arvid	2/21/2015	What are the limits for marketing videos (image videos, stop motion / animated videos) or other media (e.g. print) in the budget?
55	50			2/21/2015	How much weeks before do we get the dates of obligatory dates with the coach or in the HUB?
56	51	Finance	Nahuel	2/21/2015	Can we change the bank account that we use for the programme? for now we have used an international one but if we stay in Amsterdam we would like to have a Dutch bank account as if we have a problem with the card at any time it would require myself to go to my bank in England until I sort the problem out!
57	52			2/21/2015	Laptop 4 Teamleader? without limited budget. Issue was comunicated so some weeks ago.
58	53	Finance	Piotr	2/21/2015	We are a team, not a SME, is for us VAT eligible, so ie. if I present a reciept for a hardware I will get full price refound, including VAT?
59	54	Finance	Darek	2/21/2015	If VAT is not eligible for teams (not SME), then can we have a cost category of indirect cost (according to FP7 rules) so we can cover the cost of VAT (23% in Poland)?
60	55	Fiance	Piotr	2/21/2015	For team,, not SME, what are the expenses that can be put in the Cost of living category? Food, apartment rental,...? Do we have to present bills for all?
61	56
62	57		Daniel	2/21/2015	We are a team of 5 people and like to put all of our member on part time, because we area a running sme. However 10 h a week is achivable for us. Is that ok?
63	58		Daniel	2/21/2015	Is this true that every team member needs to have a place at a hub. People form sweden and amsterdam reported they do not have that rule.
64	59	Finance	Tobias	2/22/2015	Do we need to present bank statements at the monthly cost reports, or are accordingly dated bills regarded sufficient proof of our spendings?
65	60	Contract	Tobias	2/22/2015	We are in the process of founding our company, as we are starting as a team now, will we be able to switch the contract to SME after setting up our company?
66	61	Contract	Dominik	22/2/2015	For SME: If we assure the work will be done by the nominated team, is there any relevance how the team members are affiliated to the SME?
67	62	Finance	Dominik	22/2/2015	Are grant payments subject to VAT, if the receiving party (team leader/SME) is? This will determine if we need to provide VAT numbers and if we can deduct VAT in invoices we pay. Any difference between team of individuals and SME?
68	63	Payments	Dominik	22/2/2015	For team of individuals: Will living cost for team members be paid through the team leader, or directly to each member?	s. 27
69	64	Accounting	Dominik	22/2/2015	For SME, if team members are not employees: Shall the living cost be deducted as expenses, subcontracting fees, or any other way?
70	65	Finance	Dominik	22/2/2015	How can the living cost be treated in individual's tax statements, if not as freelancer income?
71	66	Accounting	Dominik	22/2/2015	For travel costs, software etc, do the invoices have to mention Speedup in any way?
72	67	Agenda	Dominik	22/2/2015	Looking forward to receiving the workshop agenda for the coming months!
73	68	Budget		22/2/2015	My understanding is that living costs do not need to be documented in order to be included in the monthly installments (in any case, with the limit of 1'000 Euros per person). Can please you confirm that this is correct?	In case of an SME in most state fund programs you have to document the wages via the monthly payroll you receive from your accountant
74	69	Budget		22/2/2015	Regarding the question above: in particular for teams (not SME), it would not make sense that the team leader pays the other team members for the living costs and later be refunded. Can you confirm that there is no need to document any transfer in order to receive these sums? Then of course the team leader would not in any case be able to prove a transfer to himself in order to receive the grant for living costs for himself... He is not having expenses in paying other team members, he would just receive and transfer funds to team members.
75	70	Budget		22/2/2015	How can freelancers be involved and their costs refunded? Can the costs for them be refunded, in case they do not perform core tasks? Should that be indicated under "other costs", or under other sections ("development software"??)
76	71	Budget		22/2/2015	Can freelancers be considered as part of the team in case of SME (not as employees)?
77	72	Budget		22/2/2015	For freelancers, can just living expenses be granted as member of a SME team (up to 1'000 Euros per person/month), or can their cost be indicated in some expenses report section (e.g. "other costs") and refunded?
78	73	Budget		22/2/2015	Can team members that are sole traders charge the SME for some of their time spent on the project, and this cost be refunded?
79	74	Contract		22/2/2015	There is no problem for a team of individuals to continue the program as a SME (with the same team members and project), right?
80	75	Budget		22/2/2015	Can costs for e.g. insurance or accountants be refunded, and how should they be indicated in the financial reporting?
81	76	Reporting		22/2/2015	In the reporting of, for example, February, should we consider the invoices received in February, or the payments done in February?
82	77	Finances	Sabine	22/02/2015	With regard to the question above: If the team leaders need to transfer the money to their respective team members (here: talking about living costs) would it be possible for you to provide us with an official letter stating that these are in any case not personal revenues but that the money is spread on behalf of the EU and that it is a funding? Otherwise the question of necessary social security payments for the team members will arise for all teamleaders and this might bit tricky to solve for anybody on its own with their respective Finanzamt.
83	78	HUB	Flo	22/02/2015	Will we have to pay rent for the Gaußhof in February? And if yes, how much?	If you stay there, yes. You can get day tickets for 18,50€		Angelo	22.2.15
84	79	SME Team	luis	21/02/2015	Do team members need to be employees (for an SME)	Please confirm this answer in written form: (Yousef, @Leaders Session said) No, there should a proved relationship but members don't need to be hired (employees)
85	80	Location	luis	several	For an SME already with address in another city or another site, is it needed to move and rent also in SpeedUp HUB? (Sorry to ask again but I heard yesterday again new news on this from other teams): A) In a meeting in November it was said that only for the workshop or coaching sessions B) On the 20th I was told that more than 50%, as a group (so one could represent the rest) C) On the 20th a Team told me they were not moving because the had already space in the same city D) On the 21th we were said that 50% of the time of each member participation E) On the 21th after the session a team told that they reached agreement to come only for workshops	A) In a meeting in November it was said that only for the workshop or coaching sessions B) On the 20th I was told that more than 50%, as a group (so one could represent the rest) C) On the 20th a Team told me they were not moving because the had already space in the same city D) On the 21th we were said that 50% of the time of each member participation E) On the 21th after the session a team told that they reached agreement to come only for workshops
86	81				How many hours does a full time member need to work? 30h/week?
87	82				How many hours does a part time member need to work? 10h/week?
88	83	Budget	Piotr	22/02/2015	As an invidual, I work also from home, so I would like to cover the half of my appartment rental cost from the budget. Should I put it in the facility rental category, or if an other, which?
89	84		Marco	22/02/2015	Today, we heard about the mandatory workshops. So far you said all of these worskhops are going to be over weekends, eneabling everybody easily to participate. Now, some of the workshops are during the week (for 3 days) this causes some problems, especially for exsiting sme, like us. for example we have a sales person who is in charge for selling and we are very reluctant to send that person to let's say a runpat workshop discussing our business model. do we have necessarlily to participate in all workshops? Of course many workshops are helpful and we are happy to join but some of the basic workshops are just stopping us from selling our product ;-)
90	85				does the 1000 euros for "living cost" include the rent in them? do we need to show how we use those 1000 euros?
91	86		Tobias	23/02/2015	Is there an overview which dates we need to block during the 9 months? Would be good to have that for planning holidays etc.
92					If I have a non EU team member applying as individuals, is he/she eligible for the living cost expenses?	No		Tobias
93	87	Weekly Report	Simon	26/02/2015	For the Weekly Report at speedupeurope.eu, for "Problems you need help with", are these problems just for ourselves for clarity or are these problems we actually want or need help with, from our coach or a mentor or someone else and the coach feels responsible for helping us with for the coming week?
94	88	Weekly Report	Alex	26/02/2015	Cuold you please supply a link to form for weekly reports. I can't see it on dashboard. Thanks
95	89	Monthly financial report	Alex	26/02/2015	Cuold you please supply a link to form for monthly financial reports. I can't see it on dashboard. Thanks
96	90	other	Peter	27/02/2015	Hi there, for our two special SpeedUp Projects we would like to find an experienced designer who is based in the Hamburg Hub at Gaussstraße. Duration: 3 months or more. If you are interested, just contact Frank.Schweikert@aldebaran.org
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