Newsletter March 2022

Focus

Success Factors for Collaborative Projects

Applicants submitting proposals for collaborative projects in Horizon Europe often don't realise how much freedom they have in shaping their consortium and in structuring their proposed solution to the topic challenge. And, instead of being guided by the evaluation criteria, many applicants make decisions based on myths and misconceptions, preventing the potential of a promising project idea from being realised.

The most common misconception is the number of academic or commercial partners required for a project. A consortium should be designed to achieve the greatest possible project outcomes and with the necessary capacity to disseminate and exploit the results, rather than with an imagined number of necessary partners in mind. Partners who are only added to the proposal for cosmetic reasons, without any meaningful contribution to the project, will easily be spotted by the evaluators and fail to impress.

While it is advisable to follow the structure of the proposal template provided, applicants should be aware that there is no evaluation criterion that judges a proposal on how strictly the template is followed. Although it is not required, proposals may benefit from a short executive summary, provided however that it summarises the underlying concepts in a convincing and compelling way and manages to highlight the key elements of the proposal.

There is also no requirement to exhaust the maximum allowed number of pages. It would be interesting to know how short the shortest successful proposal ever submitted was. Unfortunately, we don't have access to this information, but we can safely assume that it addressed all the evaluation criteria with plausible, measurable and convincing statements.

Even though there are some restrictions in Horizon Europe for applicants from Switzerland, they can still participate in numerous funding opportunities. And while Swiss entities cannot currently coordinate projects, there is no reason why they shouldn't initiate research and innovation plans, form consortia and lead work packages.

Stefan Fischer, National Contact Point for Energy and EIC Accelerator
Alexandra Rosakis, Illustration

News

A New Tool to Monitor Childhood Cancer

The European Cancer Information System (ECIS) has launched a Knowledge Centre that measures the extent and types of cancers affecting children in Europe. By supporting the uptake of knowledge about cancer, this centre contributes to the Horizon Europe Cancer Mission to achieve more than 3 million lives saved, living longer and better by 2030.

Stick to Science Initiative

Euresearch has joined the pan-European "Stick to Science" initiative, which was launched on 8 February. The online signature campaign calls for open research and innovation collaborations in Europe and beyond. It also aims at keeping the continent competitive and solving global challenges together for the benefit of society. Visit their website and show your support!

New Euresearch Webpage for Companies!

Swiss SMEs and start-ups are eligible to participate in many Horizon Europe collaborative projects. If successful, their participation will be financed directly by the Swiss Confederation. Visit our new webpage and learn more about the opportunities for your company!

Innovative Health Initiative: First Upcoming Calls

What is the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI)? Who are the partners? And how can I get involved? These and other questions about the IHI partnership between the EU and European life sciences industries were answered in the online launch event. You missed it? Have a look at the event recording!

TechMakers Brazilian-Swiss Bilateral Call

The innovation promotion agency of Brazil, with the support of Apex-Brasil and Innosuisse, has announced the 3rd edition of the TechMakers joint call to fund science-based innovation projects between Switzerland and Brazil. Early registration on the online b2match platform, set up by Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) Switzerland, is advisable for establishing contacts to form a successful consortium.
Deadline: 15.06.2022 (pre-proposals)

New Webinars on Intellectual Property

The next IP webinars for both EU projects and your business are:
15.03. – Maximising the impact of Horizon project results
16.03. – Patent protection for EU projects on AI
23.03 – Importance of IP for SMEs
06.04. – IPR and software

Workshop on Critical Infrastructure Protection

This workshop will include keynote speeches, 23 project presentations, round-table and panel discussions, and thematic presentations. Scientists and experts in the field of critical infrastructure protection are invited to participate.
27.-29.04.2022, online

MSCA 2022 Events: Save the Dates!

All the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) 2022 calls and related events organised by Euresearch are summarised in our MSCA overview 2022. Don't miss interesting opportunities to get more information – visit our event page to stay up to date!