Dear All - We will have our call today at 14:00 UTC as usual and we will start the exchange with Marc D'Hooge from the European Investment Bank (EIB) at 14:30 UTC. We have not received from him answers to our questions but we still thought it's nonetheless a good idea to have an exchange with him. If you remember we wanted to have an exchange with someone from a) ICANN (we had an exchange with Xavier and Sam) - with someone from a smaller organization (we had an exchange with Nominet) - with someone that works as an advisor to charitable organizations (we had an exchange with Sarah) - and we wanted an exchange with someone from a large organization (EIB today). The EIB is one of the largest investors and the project Marc D'Hooge oversaw for many years, the so called Risk-Sharing Facility allowed the EIB and the European Commission to invest in higher risk carrying projects across Europe and even beyond. The main reason why we, the leadership team, believe it's good to talk to Marc D'Hooge lies in the fact that this project forced the EIB and the EC to cooperate together in a very intensive way. Insofar our exchange with him today might give us some insight into questions related to the challenges ICANN might have to expect if if would jointly coordinate the Auction Proceeds 'Fund' with a second entity. Second, he might be able to talk about 'oversight' issues as well because the EC had to ensure that key EC mission related goals were realized - something ICANN will have to do as well. Marc D’hooge, was the Deputy Head of Division, Research, Development, Innovation RSFF Programme Manager and he's now the Managerial Adviser - InnovFin Program Manager *Below is a selection of key points the EIB and EC defined in their Risk-Sharing Finance Facility approach: * http://www.eib.org/attachments/rsff_faq_31052007.pdf 1. *What is RSFF?* RSFF is the acronym for the Risk Sharing Finance Facility, a new facility jointly developed by the European Commission (EC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance higher risk Research, Technological Development, Demonstration and Innovation investments (RDI projects). 2. *How much is available under RSFF*? RSFF is a EUR 10bn debt facility financing sub and low investment grade junior/mezzanine/senior financing for eligible, for high risk RDI project investments. This amount will be financed by EIB by leveraging up to EUR 2bn of capital of which EUR 1bn is from the Community Seventh Framework Programme and EUR 1bn from EIB’s own resources that covers the risks incurred related to higher risk financing. 3. *What are the objectives of the RSFF?* The investment objectives of RSFF are to facilitate and accelerate RDI investment as the strategic targets set in most European countries for both public and private sector RDI investment remain below target. One of the key factors constraining the implementation of RDI activities is the insufficient availability of financing, at acceptable terms, to promoters of investments involving complex products and technologies, unproven markets and intangible assets. In order to overcome these difficulties, the Commission and the EIB have joined forces to set up the Risk Sharing Finance Facility, an innovative scheme to improve access to debt financing for private companies or public institutions promoting RDI activities. 4. *Who can benefit from RSFF financing?* RSFF financing is provided to promoters of eligible RSFF projects, i.e. private and public entities of all sizes and ownership, including Midcaps, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Special Purpose Companies, Joint Ventures, PPP’s Research Institutes, Universities, Science and Technology Parks, Joint Technology Initiatives as well as Partners collaborating under European Technology Platforms and Eureka. Beneficiaries under RSFF financing will be required to present a coherent business plan confirming their capacity to repay RSFF financing. The EIB will under RSFF provide or guarantee loans with higher risk profiles compared to its normal financing activities. 7. *What kind of investment can be supported?* The scope of eligible activities is wide and extends from traditional “brick and mortar” investments to equipment and intangible investments such as R&D operating cost, salaries of researchers, management and support staff, utilities, consumables, IPR acquisition or protection costs. *8. How much financing can the EIB provide?* Up to a limit of EUR 300m per project: The share of EIB financing is limited to 50% of the total amount of eligible project cost, i.e. of the investments in RDI and/or research infrastructures mentioned above. Small Projects, i.e. with a financing need of EUR 7.5m or more can be financed directly by the EIB. For small and medium-sized enterprises and projects with an investment cost of up to EUR 25m, the EIB is also in the process of establishing a network of RSFF Framework risk sharing credit facilities to be made available to its partner banks in the EU and in Associated Countries. Looking forward to our call today, Erika On Tue, Apr 17, 2018 at 6:18 PM, Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org> wrote:

Dear All,

Please find below the proposed agenda for the next new gTLD Auction Proceeds CCWG meeting which is scheduled for Thursday 19 April at 14.00 UTC. You are encouraged to review the attached documents ahead of the meeting and share any comments and / or proposed edits you may have with the mailing list.

Best regards,

Marika

*Proposed Agenda – new gTLD Auction Proceeds Cross-Community Working Group Meeting – Thursday 19 April at 14.00 UTC. *

*As a reminder, all conference call details will be circulated on the “ntfy” (short for “notify”) mailing list to which members only are subscribed in a read-only mode. These details must not be circulated on the wider public WG mailing list. To avoid burdening the WG public mailing list, please send your apologies ahead of time (apologies after the call will no longer be taken into account) and your dial-out requests to the GNSO Secretariat: **gnso-secs@icann.org* <gnso-secs@icann.org> *in advance of the meeting.*

1. Roll call 2. Welcome / SOI & DOI Updates 3. Review and discuss proposed response to ICANN Board (see draft letter attached) 4. Review and discuss proposed update to examples document (see attached) 5. (at 14.30 UTC) Exchange with external experts – Marc D’Hooge, Managerial Adviser, Innovation Finance Advisory, European Investment Bank 6. Confirm next steps and next meeting – Thursday 26 April at 14.00 UTC

*Marika Konings*

*Vice President, Policy Development Support – GNSO, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) *

*Email: **marika.konings@icann.org* <marika.konings@icann.org>

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