EC R&D funding September 2006

1. EC R&D funding September 2006 Danny Lustiger CFO Optibase Ltd Optibase proprietary

2. Agenda • What is the EC program • Case study - Optibase • Who are we? • What do we do in the EC Programs • How we did it? • Strategy, Tactics and Tips • How the government can contribute to increase the Israeli companies participation? • How the CFO forum can contribute to this initiative? Optibase proprietary

3. The EC R&D program • Support European R&D innovative activities. • Central control and budget. • Large budget. (17 Billion for the 6TH Program and 49 Billion for the 7th program) • Very generous in terms of funding and support (75% funding). • Work mainly in consortiums. (Few partners from different countries) • All the major player in the European Industry participate in this program. • Great opportunity to establish strategic and business relations with the main players in Europe. • Long terms programs (4-7 years) • Variety of topics. Touches almost every subject. • Israel is a full member since the 4th Program (1997) • So far the Israeli Industry wasn’t exposed enough to the huge opportunity. The returns are good but can be much better. Optibase proprietary

4. FP7 – The seventh program • 2007-2013 • Suggested budget of 49 Billion Euro • Cooperation – total 32.2 Billion Euro • Health 5,984 Million • Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology 1,936 Million • Information and Communication Technologies 9,083 Million • Nano-sciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies 3,467 Million • Energy 2,236 Million • Environment (including Climate Change) 1,886 Billion • Transport (including Aeronautics) 4,150 Million • Socio-economic Sciences and the Humanities 607 Million • Security and Space 2,855 Million • Ideas 7,532 Million • People 4,577 Million • Capacities 4,121 Million Optibase proprietary

5. Why participate? • Finance: • Grants Vs. “Loans” (No need to pay royalties). • Funding of 75% of the total R&D expenses for small/medium enterprises • No limit on expenses. (Reasonable marketing and administrative expenses are permitted, allow high overheads and no limit on level of salaries). • Long term planning (4 years in FP6, 7 years in FP7) • Huge budgets (17 B in FP6 and 49 B in FP7) over variety of subjects. • Technology: • Exposure and visibility to innovative cutting-edge technology • Support in high-risk projects and technology development • Marketing: • Strategic contacts and closer ties with European industry, business and research institutes. Open doors to European companies. • Early and better view of the market and its trends. • IP • No Intellectual Property rights for EC (Vs Chief Scientist). Optibase proprietary

6. CASE STUDY - OPTIBASE Optibase proprietary

7. About Optibase • Founded in 1990 • Public since 1999 (NASDAQ – OBAS) • Provider of standard video encoding and streaming solutions • Worldwide sales and support presence • Strong Intellectual Property • Financially sound position • ~ 150 people in Israel • Experts in Digital video and IPTV technology. Optibase proprietary

8. Optibase • Core Competence: • Video/Audio • Encoding • Transcoding • Streaming • Streaming / Networking Protocols • over IP, ATM, DVB • DVB to IP conversions • Multiplexing, splicing technologies • Product Portfolio: • Solutions for providers of IPTV and broadband TV services • Equipment for broadcasters, content providers and other video applications Optibase proprietary

9. Optibase “Track – Record” in EC • Active in EC programs since FP4 (1997) • Participation in 16 projects over the last five years • Coordinators of three projects • Ongoing projects • Participant in four projects. • Over 5M EURO net over the years (FP4-FP6) to support R&D activities) • Established business relations with major players in the EC. Optibase proprietary

10. NexTV Optibase’ Projects Optibase proprietary

11. Optibase Partners in EC projects (partial) • T-system Nova (Deutsche Telekom ) • TILAB (Italia telecom) • Philips Research • Telediffusion De France (France Telecom) • Telefonica I+D • Thales Broadcast and Multimedia • ALCATEL • Portugal Telecom Innovacao • IRT • Fraunhofer IIS Optibase proprietary

12. Our Strategy to Win Projects • Study the process inside / out (Good feasibility check) • Commit Management (time & resources) • Allocation of resources (the first attempt might be expensive….) • Appoint Champions (R&D, Marketing and Finance) • Top people for the whole process • Stick to the company road map • Plan to be a coordinator. (Participation is also good but being a coordinator leaves the control and major budget within our hands) • Use a professional consultant. (At list for the first time) • Take advantage of the government support. (funds, institutions, ISERD) • Maintain relationships with project partners • Nurture your branding in the community • Workshops, concertation, documents and reports • Once you “joined the club” things are much easier… Optibase proprietary

13. Tactics • Tailor Project to Company’s road map • Find and select the right partners. • Establish contacts – The past perpetuates itself • Use professional experts for: • Support good feasibility check • Finding partners • Support in writing Project Document • Project negotiation • Project administrations • Maintain close ties with the EC project officers • EC and local Workshops and events Optibase proprietary

14. Tips (1) – The Idea • Good, interesting, innovative ideas • Good fit to Strategic Objectives and EC goals • Attached to the company road map • Have clear vision of the goals, workplan and results • Balanced construction of the consortium (type, geography, size) Optibase proprietary

15. Tips (2) – The planning • Define and keep proposal preparation workplan towards deadline • Early stage – partners’ roles and budget • Use common project structure • Plan the work as in any real project (Gantt) with early deliverables for the specification and design stages • Build a well-structure proposal • Sound Work-Packages • Spread resources evenly between Work-Packages • Build a balanced consortium. Optibase proprietary

16. Tips (3) – The writing • Writing the proposal – clear, readable, promising, outstanding • Respect the auditors - don't submit a proposal that you wouldn't accept • Capture the auditors in their first 10 minutes • Nock-out introduction • A picture worth 1000 words • Make it clear where is the advance over state-of-the-art • Address all parts of the template (management, workplan, dissemination and exploitation and others) • Don’t hesitate to use professional experienced writers • Assign writings tasks to all partners but be ready to edit and write most of the proposal Optibase proprietary

17. Points to Consider • Project acceptance rate of ~ 25% Nothing is guarantied. • The evaluation criteria are very objective. There is no room for any involvement of the company. You should address and explain all the requested issues within the proposal. • Evaluation is not anonymous, the submitters’ names play a role • Entering the club looks difficult (at the first attempt). • Long term planning – between submission and project start • Large and long projects – require long term vision and innovation • Management overhead • The more you wait - it’s getting harder, and FP7 is coming… Optibase proprietary

18. How the government can support ? • Decide to accept the European invitation and join the program. • Keep the Israeli status as FULL MEMBER of the program. • Allocate the necessary budget for the Israeli participation. • Maintain the Israel Directorate for the EU programme (ISERD). (There is a need to improve its reach to the Israeli Industry) • Establish a fund to support the participation of the Israeli Industry: • Support the preparation of proposals by funding a fraction of the first attempt. (There is a good start by the OCS) . Optibase proprietary

19. What CFO forum can contribute? • Support the Israeli participation in the European program. Help to convince the government to accept the European invitation and join the program. • Lobby to increase the support in Israeli participation, mainly the government support in proposal preparation. (Having a fund similar to the old marketing fund). • Increase the Israeli Industry awareness for the huge business and funding opportunity Optibase proprietary

20. Thank you !! Danny Lustiger Optibase Ltd. Phone: 09-9709210 Cell: 054-4563666 Email: dannyl@optibase.com www.optibase.com Optibase proprietary