Do I have a good project idea?
You need to ask yourself and discuss with colleagues:
- Does the idea match the call or what the funder is asking for?
- Is the idea unique?
- Is my idea a real challenge?
- Does it require national or European cooperation?
- Can I/we take the leadership in fulfilling the idea?
- Do I really want to do it?
At least you must have a YES to all this.
To check the uniqueness of your idea try it out on your colleagues first. Then proceed with some of the same as you will do in establishing the SoA. Check literature, earlier projects, patents and other relevant sources to see if and how this has been approached by others. Probably you will find a lot of scientific research similar or close to your idea. In writing your text, acknowledge this, and do not hide it.
What you must be able to argue for is how your approach is new or differ (to some extent/great extent) form previous research.
A 100% “new” or “never thought of idea” is not required. But it must have some newness aspects. New method, simplification, cheaper, new use of data, more efficient etc, etc may be sufficient for newness.
However it is your job to argue and present the idea as unique in one or more respects.
This is important. You must believe in your idea and write convincingly about it.
In evaluating your idea it is also important to consider impact, dissemination and use. A good idea will have great impact, it will be easily disseminated because all want to hear about it and it will be put into use for new research, as method, product or other. If this is not the case it is probably not a good idea.
You may also ask yourself about the need for your idea and how challenging it is for research? Someone must need your solution and you should know who they are. The scientific community should applaud your idea as a real scientific challenge to be solved.
If your idea can be solved at national level it is probably no challenging enough for an international project. To go international/European there must be a need for cross border cooperation to solve your idea.
When writing consider “the first sentence” question and be sure that your idea is refined and shown in the objectives to make a consistent story.
©OUS-aro