Support for R&I policy making in the Western Balkans
HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-06-01
- Programme
- Support for R&I policy making in the Western Balkans
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- June 29, 2021
- Deadline
- September 29, 2021
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €5,000,000
- Keywords
- International Cooperation
Description
The actions funded under this topic will coordinate national and regional R&I, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport initiatives by pooling resources and contributing to the alignment of national and regional research, innovation, education, cultural youth and sport policies and thus contributing to the objectives of the Widening programme.
Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:
- Support to the Western Balkans Steering Platforms for Research and Innovation, and Education and Training as valuable instruments of policy dialogue with the region (incl. support to the annual Ministerial meeting of the Western Balkans Platforms on Education and Training, Research and Innovation and Culture);
- Facilitation of the implementation of the Western Balkans Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport:
- Highlighting the strategic importance of the Western Balkans and facilitating actions aiming to support the region’s EU integration process, covering Research, Innovation, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.
- Aiming to promote regional economic growth and prosperity through planned investments, to be directed towards game-changing innovations and actions that create a sustainable and human centric development and digital future. Support the ongoing process of reforming education, training and research systems, and the development of the cultural and creative sectors with more and better opportunities for capacity building.
- Contributing to the closer integration of the Western Balkan partners with the EU’s priorities, most notably the Green Deal, the Digital transformation, including the enhancement of ICT and digital skills along the lines of the Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans and the renewed Digital Education Action Plan, the European Education Area and an Economy that works for and connects people and communities.
- Providing support to the accession process and facilitate the association of Western Balkan countries to relevant European funding programmes.
- Identification of common priorities agreed among the participating national and regional R&I, education and cultural programmes as well as activities in the field of youth and sport, taking into account international developments where relevant;
- Contribution to joint initiatives, resulting in the funding of cross-border innovation actions, design/implement a portfolio of complementary actions which would enable Western Balkans stakeholders and policy makers to better internationalise and integrate in EU actions and policy making;
Implementation of and financial support to other joint activities supporting R&I, regulatory or societal uptake of results.
Scope:
The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed the important role of research and innovation to tackle the immediate crises but also to ensure a sustainable and inclusive recovery while boosting the resilience of production sectors, the competitiveness of economies, and the transformation of the socio-economic systems across Europe. The Western Balkans are trying to catch up on Research, Development and Innovation (RDI). Closer links between research and innovation and institutional cooperation to produce high-quality knowledge, underpinning economic and societal solutions are paramount to help bridging the R&I gap between the EU Member States and (potential) Candidate Countries. Actions stemming from this Call will foster the capacity building in the Western Balkans to allow successful participation in the R&I process, improve the Technology Transfer Process, promote networking of and access to excellence, thus optimising the participation in and impact of Horizon Europe across the region. Activities from this Call will strengthen and foster the development of the human capital base in the region, they will promote the establishment of open, inclusive and responsible national research and innovation systems, support an institutional change through the development of inclusive gender equality plans in line with Horizon Europe and the ERA objectives, as well as support evidence based policy making.
The expected duration of the project is up to four years.
Underpinning the Western Balkans Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, this action will foster a comprehensive policy approach, while seeking synergies across the entire Horizon Europe and other EU funding programmes. An action funded under this call will support the coordination and synchronised interaction among a multitude of instruments and programmes targeting the Western Balkans region. This should not only facilitate an increased participation of Western Balkan entities in relevant European funding programmes but also create economies of scale, complementarity, synergies, and avoid overlapping of actions.
An action stemming from this topic will support a platform for the various services addressing education, culture, youth, sport, research and innovation in the Western Balkans in their programming and implementation. All these areas are key for finding new solutions to the challenges we are facing across South East Europe. The actions should also aim to support the implementation of people-to-people cooperation projects with and within the Western Balkans, supporting partnerships between higher education institutions as well as creative professionals and industries and European incubation networks for creativity-driven innovation.
This action aligns with ERA and Widening objectives in that it aims to strengthen links with EU partners and opens up to EU networks, contributes to improving research and innovation management capacities in the Western Balkans, and it supports national policy reforms through targeted actions. A key element in this is the support to the development and implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies and macro-regional strategies in cooperation with the JRC and the Policy Support Facility.
Initiatives in the fields of research, innovation, education, culture, youth and sport create new opportunities, reduce the skills mismatch, help to tackle climate change, support sustainable economic growth, the competitiveness of businesses and industries and the intercultural dialogue, enables digital transformation and provides better public services for all Europeans. The challenges of today require international efforts, addressing them jointly is in of broader and direct interest.
Proposals are invited to demonstrate engagement from relevant programmes and initiatives to pool resources and to ensure complementarity between activities and policies with those of the Framework Programme and relevant initiatives.
Proposals should seek parallel synergies with national (or regional) research programmes and initiatives as well, where appropriate, facilitate access to resources from national agencies, pertinent foundations, charities and transnational initiatives.
The proposal should also demonstrate potential impact on national, regional and transnational research and innovation.
Participation of key legal entities from associated third countries, particularly from the Western Balkans, is encouraged.
Destination & Scope
Introduction
The ERA Communication (COM(2020) 628 final, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0628&from=EN) has established the need of improving access to excellence as one of the four main strategic goals. In particular striving towards more excellence requires a stronger R&I system where best practice is disseminated faster across Europe. The strategic plan for Horizon Europe aims at underpinning geographical diversity, building the necessary capacity to allow successful participation in the R&I process and promoting networking and access to excellence thus optimising the impact of Pillar 2 and contributing to the objectives of the entire programme.
This destination will address “improving access to excellence” through a portfolio of complementary actions that aim at building up R&I capacities in widening countries, also through national and regional R&I reforms and investments, to enable them to advance to the competitive edge at European and international level. This portfolio constitutes the widening dimension of a broader European Excellence Initiative that reaches out beyond this programme part and will be implemented together with ERASMUS+.
Each of the five proposed actions is addressing a different target group of potential beneficiaries with a customised intervention logic. The use and appropriate design of partnerships with leading institutions abroad will be a key vector for accessing excellence. The intervention logic is designed to work points at a multitude of scales ranging from individual researcher through career development, focussed networks, institutional development to a systemic impact on national R&I systems.
Capacity building will go beyond purely scientific capacities since it includes the development of management and administrative capacities for the benefit of institutions (notably in Twinning and the Strengthening Capacities for Excellence in Universities) that are eager to take over consortium leadership roles especially under Pillar 2. Teaming actions will create new or modernise existing centers of excellence by means of a very close and strategic partnership with leading institutions abroad. The impact will be amplified by the conditionality of a securing a complementary investment (especially for infrastructure, building, hardware) from the structural funds or other sources. Once established the centres will function as lighthouses with far reaching impact and role models for attracting the best talents. Further, they will demonstrate the success of modern governance and management, and, hence stimulate generalised reforms in the national R&I environment.
In a complementary manner with a focus on the transformation of the academic and higher education system the university related scheme will foster reforms in widening countries embedded in dynamic European university alliances. Scientific excellence in the more traditional sense is the aim of Twinning where focused networks with excellent partners will develop new promising R&I domains and test novel approaches in smaller joint research projects.
Innovation excellence is the focus of excellence hubs where innovation ecosystems in widening countries and beyond will team up and strive for creating better linkages between academia, business, government and society that will foster a real placed based innovation culture in widening countries on the grounds of a strategic agenda in line with regional or national smart specialisation strategies. In this context, synergies will be sought with the programme parts on European Innovation Ecosystems and the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT).
Furthermore, research and innovation performance is correlated with the efficiency of the national research and innovation system and the capacity and the effectiveness of the National Contact Points (NCPs). Special attention should be given to the less experienced entities in low R&I performing countries to bridge the knowledge gap and rapidly acquire know-how accumulated in other countries thus enabling better access to funding opportunities in the EU Framework Programmes and beyond.
A dedicated support mechanism is envisaged in this Work programme part with the specific objective to strengthen the activities of NCPs to support international networking and to improve the quality of proposals from legal entities from low R&I performing countries.
The NCP action will include the establishment of an NCP network for the ERA component of this work programme part.
In addition, particular attention will be paid to cross-cutting objectives set for Horizon Europe, such as gender equality and open science practices, through the different funded actions.
Expected impact
Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impacts:
- Increased science and innovation capacities for all actors in the R&I system in widening countries
- Structural changes leading to a modernised and more competitive R&I systems in eligible countries
- Reformed R&I systems and institutions leading also to increased attractiveness and retention of research talents
- Mobilisation of national and European resources for strategic investments
- Higher participation success in Horizon Europe and more consortium leadership roles
- Stronger linkages between academia and business and improved career permeability
- Strengthened role of the Higher Education sector in research and innovation
- Greater involvement of regional actors in R&I process
- Improved outreach to international scale for all actors
- A more consistent level of NCP support services across Europe
- An improved and professionalised NCPs in the widening countries, that would help simplify access to Horizon Europe calls, lowering the entry barriers for newcomers, and raising the average quality of proposals submitted.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
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.
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
5. Evaluation and award:
- 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
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 [specific 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 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
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
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