Expanding Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-01-01
- Programme
- Elevating the scalability potential of European business (2022.1)
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- January 24, 2022
- Deadline
- May 9, 2022
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €5,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €1,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €1,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 5
- Keywords
- HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-01-01HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-01Business developmentConducting educational researchEconomic Sector based skillsEducation-enterprises partnershipsEntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship educationInnovation policyInternational cooperationMarket-creating innovationStart-up companiesTypes of innovation
Description
Projects results are expected to contribute to some of the following expected outcomes:
- Improved flows of innovation resources between innovation ecosystems at various levels of developments;
- Improved quality of entrepreneurial education and local talents equipped with skills to support business acceleration and digitalisation[1];
- Enhanced entrepreneurial activity in developing innovation ecosystems and its scale up across Europe or internationally;
- Increased youth (self) employability;
- Raised awareness of diverse business cultures and opportunities across sectors and / or geographies.
Target group(s): Vocational schools, higher education establishments, public authorities in the field of education and employment, SMEs, corporations.
The transforming economy and rapid development of technology have changed employment conditions and the set of skills needed to grow one’s own business. More than ever should educational institutions work hand in hand with the business sector to prepare students for a rapidly changing working environment by nurturing their entrepreneurial competences. Compared to dense areas around economic centres, the entrepreneurial skills and activity gap is bigger in peripheral areas with lower economic activity, confirming the importance of closely interlinked ecosystems for sustaining entrepreneurial activity and employment rates.
The Expanding Entrepreneurial Ecosystems should enhance entrepreneurial skills of youth in ‘modest’ and ‘moderate’ innovation ecosystems by supporting entrepreneurial education through programmes designed in closed collaboration with the private sector and business acceleration entities. The proposals should leverage on the best practices of the private sector in Europe’s well performing innovation hubs and the existing collaboration with educational institutions. Only by building local talents, including female talents, and providing them with knowledge and opportunities to contribute to the local private sector or develop their own businesses, the local innovation ecosystem can expand based on sustainable and inclusive growth. The proposals should valorise high levels of technical skills in developing innovation ecosystems with hands-on knowledge and experiences in business management and international scale-up process.
The action supports co-designed programmes of activities, of at least two (2) study years, proposed jointly by educational institutions from ‘modest’ and ‘moderate’ innovation ecosystems and the private sector from innovation hubs (‘strong innovators’ and ‘innovation leaders’)[2], to nurture entrepreneurial skills by activities, for example:
- engagement of business experts into the implementation of educational programmes;
- engagement of students and graduates from various disciplines and departments into the respective companies’ structures, and engagement of educational staff in companies’ business processes, both with a target of gender-balanced participation;
- organisation of co-ideation challenges, where students can propose innovative solutions in the field of partners’ expertise and are provided with resources and support to develop the product and its business development strategy.
To ensure that the impact of the action goes beyond consortium members and their respective countries, it is encouraged that the consortium works closely with innovation agencies from their respective territories and beyond, and seeks for synergies with relevant EU initiatives such as the European Institute of Technology and Innovation.
[1] See Entrepreneurship Competence Framework for more information on entrepreneurial competences.
[2] References: Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS), European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), Global Innovation Index (GII).
Destination & Scope
In today’s competitive landscape, innovative companies thrive through the support of an ecosystem that provides additional capabilities, data, customers and knowledge. Network connectivity within and between innovation ecosystems greatly contributes to sustainable business growth with high societal value. An ecosystem focused on the meeting concrete needs of companies helps them to stimulate their expansion at European and global level and lead to accelerated growth.
This destination aims at strengthening and expanding cooperation between innovation players to better support the next generation of innovative companies whose solutions will lead the shift towards a more competitive EU and a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world.
The actions of this destination will help innovation ecosystems to support companies to better sustain their growth and gain new competitive advantage. Besides stronger innovation performance, increased competitive sustainability and more rapid transitions to a green and digital society, ecosystem integration can provide companies with access to new markets and customers and contribute to disruptive strategies. By being actively engaged in their local, national and European networks, companies can increase their overall growth potential.
Expected impact
Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to elevating the scalability potential of business, and more specifically to one or several of the following impacts:
- Enhanced network connectivity within innovation ecosystems by reinforcing their capacity to support existing and emerging innovators and companies;
- Strengthened and expanded cooperation between innovation ecosystems worldwide;
- More inclusive and gender equal innovation ecosystems.
Proposals are invited against the following topics:
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
The following additional eligibility criteria apply:
Consortia must have at least three (3) independent legal entities, of which at least one (1) is established in 'modest' or 'moderate' innovator region and at least one (1) in 'strong' or 'innovation leader' innovator region. The Regional Innovation Scoreboard is taken as a reference, and in the case of entities representing national authorities, the European Innovation Scoreboard. The applicants must use as a reference the latest version of the documents mentioned above at the time of the call closure. Associated Countries which are not included in the European Innovation Scoreboard and are ranked below 25 on the Global Innovation Index 2020 are considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘modest innovators’. In cases of Associated Countries not included in any of the previously mentioned references, the participation rank of the country in the Horizon Europe programme (H2020 country profile) will be taken as a reference and countries ranked below the average will be considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘modest innovators’.
The consortium must consist of at least one educational institution and at least one representative of the private sector.
Legal entities established in Widening countries may join already selected actions, subject to the agreement of the respective consortium and provided that legal entities from such countries are not yet participating in it.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
- Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
7. Specific conditions: described in the topic of the Work Programme
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 10. European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE)
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 13. General Annexes
Decision on the use of Lump Sum grants
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation YYYY/NN
HE Specific Programme Decision YYYY/NN
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.
Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.
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CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment– consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.
Partner Search Services help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.
Latest Updates
In the topic description, the following paragraph
“The action supports co-designed programmes of activities, of at least two (2) study years, proposed jointly by educational institutions from ‘modest’ AND ‘moderate’ innovation ecosystems and the private sector from innovation hubs (‘strong innovators’ AND ‘innovation leaders’)[2], to nurture entrepreneurial skills by activities”
Should be read
“The action supports co-designed programmes of activities, of at least two (2) study years, proposed jointly by educational institutions from ‘modest’ OR ‘moderate’ innovation ecosystems and the private sector from innovation hubs (‘strong innovators’ OR ‘innovation leaders’)[2], to nurture entrepreneurial skills by activities”
Dear applicants,
Due to technical difficulties, the opening of this call is delayed.
Our teams are working to resolve the issue.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause,
the European Innovation Ecosystems team