Implementing co-funded action plans for interconnection of innovation ecosystems

Projects results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Open^[1], efficient inclusive and interconnected innovation ecosystems across Europe, building on their diversities and complementarities, enhancing the joint definition of visions and strategies with input from across the quadruple helix^[2], encouraging the alignment of their innovation agendas, and strengthening of their efficiency and potential to innovate;
• Enhanced synergies, complementarities and collaboration among all European innovation ecosystems’ stakeholders around promising areas and challenges of joint and European interest, creation of common knowledge assets;
• Increased innovation capacities in Member States and Associated Countries, allowing innovators to bring their ideas into the market and enable innovations to be scaled up at EU level, and facilitating the link with the private sector and research and innovator actors;
• Better links between innovation leaders and strong innovators with moderate and modest innovators across the EU and Associated Countries;
• More innovation co-investments, fostering other funding leverages, including national or regional public funds and/or other private funds, to complement Horizon Europe support.

Target group(s): National and/or regional innovation authorities together with private actors, all relevant key stakeholders of innovation ecosystems from across the quadruple helix, including innovative SMEs, start-ups, social innovators, public-owned enterprises, academia, RTOs, technology transfer centres, investors, foundations, clusters, associations and the civil society, the Enterprise Europe Network.

The aim of this topic is to foster the creation of efficient, open, inclusive and interconnected European innovation ecosystems.

The topic will support strategic-oriented long-term programmes of activities (action plans) to enable authorities in charge of public national, regional or local innovation policies and programmes, with the participation of the private sector and research and innovation actors, to implement joint activities towards innovation deployment, while tackling challenges at EU, national, regional and local level.

The applicants are encouraged to consider a project duration of at least five (5) years and proposals should:

• present the applicants’ joint strategic visions and their proposed innovation programme of activities (action plans); during the proposal submission the participants should have already reached an agreement on what they want to achieve, in order to be able to present concrete action plans; the plans can be further detailed at annual level during the implementation of the action;
• describe the activities necessary, the process that will be followed and the assets that will be mobilised; activities should be open, clear, realistic, impact-oriented and ensure:
  1. participation of private actors, either for the joint implementation of proposed activities, and/or their possible co-funding; for example, via links and cooperation with innovative SMEs, start-ups, industry, private entities supporting innovation and innovators, including clusters, associations, as well as investors and foundations;
  2. inclusiveness and diversity by expanding to territories that are less advanced in innovation deployment (modest and moderate innovators^[3]) and with the involvement of all innovation actors, especially those that are currently less active or missing in the innovation ecosystems (e.g. investors, foundations, public and private buyers, social innovators, civil society organisations including non-governmental organisations, as well as women-led start-ups and SMEs);
  3. complementarity and synergies with other funds (EU, public and/or private) and innovation-related strategies/policies/programmes/plans at national and/or regional level, including their smart specialisation strategies, as well as other relevant programmes (e.g. EIT/KICs, EEN); applicants should outline the scope for synergies and/or additional funding, in particular where this makes the projects more ambitious or increases their impact and expected results.
• explain the need and the reasons for selecting the proposed programme of activities that should be scalable at European level and demonstrate their strong EU added value; the proposed plan:
  1. should include core activities, for example: networking and coordination structures and tools to facilitate innovation development and access to and sharing of best practices, resources, talents, markets, expertise, services and knowledge, including open and collaborative knowledge bases and common knowledge assets (methods, data, processes); market analysis and development and activities towards better access to new markets and finance for innovative SMEs and start-ups; training and skills development; interconnection of open innovation infrastructures; supportive activities towards scale up, exploitation and dissemination of innovative solutions; joint public procurement initiatives; social innovators’ and civil society integration, as interlocutors for society and important inputs to the development of innovations and promotion of gender diversity;
  2. may include additional joint activities non-eligible for co-funding with Horizon Europe budget but in line with the expected outcomes of the topic; the budget of these activities however will not be considered for the final Commission contribution.
• explain the reasons for selecting the proposed strategic areas of cooperation, and how this cooperation will improve the efficiency and performance of Europe’s innovation ecosystems, fostering their interconnection and scale-up; the action plans may focus on a thematic/technological area and innovation priorities of common interest, and/or may be shaped around one or more EU challenges^[4] and/or priorities; the proposals are encouraged to contribute to one or more EU priorities and challenges, including climate, digital and social transitions, and should pay attention to gender equality objectives; the potential for growth and competitiveness foreseen in the targeted sector and/or expected impact in EU challenge(s) through the proposed cooperation should be clarified in the proposal;
• present how the consortium plans to implement these joint activities; the topic will not co-fund financial support to third parties, however the applicants may consider including such activities in their action plan (as additional joint activities non-eligible for co-funding), to be funded by other sources (national and/or regional and/or local or private);
• include clear targets in terms of outcomes for the measures/activities underpinned by verifiable indicators (applicants may wish to refer to the Sustainable Development Goals, the EU taxonomy on sustainable finance, or other relevant policy frameworks);
• ensure their long-term commitment towards engaging in the joint cooperation activities set up in the frame of their projects.

[1] The notion of “openness” can be defined as “the pooling of knowledge for innovative purposes where the contributors have access to the inputs of others and cannot exert exclusive rights over the resultant innovation” (Chesbrough, H., & Appleyard, M. 2007. Open Innovation and Strategy. California Management Review, 50(1): 57–76).

[2] A model of cooperation between industry, academia, civil society and public authorities, with a strong emphasis on citizens and their needs.

[3] References: Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS), European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), Global Innovation Index (GII).

[4] It may develop the connections established among the Innosup05 Initiative from Horizon 2020 Peer learning of Innovation agencies.