As announced before, the European Commission presented yesterday a webinar on how to prepare a successful proposal in Horizon Europe. The recording of the webinar as well as the new template for RIA/IA actions and the model for Grant Agreement can be found here.
If the main types of action, their reimbursement rate and the three award criteria “Excellence”, “Impact” and “Quality and efficiency of the implementation” will not change, some novelties are introduced:
Regarding international cooperation, which is one of the five objectives for Horizon Europe in its first strategic plan 2021-2024, an important novelty concerns the participation of third countries as associated countries. The possibility to join Horizon Europe as an associated country will indeed be opened to all countries around the world, providing they respect democratic rules (China is therefore not eligible). To be eligible, the consortium will need to be composed of at least three independent legal entities, among which at least one established in a Member State.
Public bodies, research organisations and higher education establishments in Member States and Associated countries will be requested to have a Gender Equality Plan as an eligibility criterion from 2022. This Gender Equality Plan will:
- Take the form of a formal document published on the institution’s website and signed by the director;
- Dedicate resources with expertise;
- Detail the data collection and monitoring supported by an annual reporting;
- Organise trainings and awareness raising.
Finally, some horizontal considerations are also going to take an even greater importance than before:
- Open Science;
- Gender dimension in R&I content;
- Pathway to impact;
- And measures to maximise impact.
Are you ready to form a consortium and participate to a Horizon Europe proposal and project?
Do you want to include a Chinese partner in your consortium? Contact us!