- Cluster 5 of the Horizon Europe Programme, an opportunity for the logistics sector.
- European Innovation Council and new EU-wide research and innovation missions focused on societal challenges and industrial competitiveness, some of the novelties of the Horizon Europe Programme compared to Horizon 2020.
- The mySMARTLife and LABYRYNTH projects, as examples of successful cases of submission of proposals.
In order to identify the key aspects for the identification and preparation of successful proposals within Horizon Europe, as well as to deepen and analyse the opportunities for the logistics sector in this new framework programme and to learn about examples of success stories, Logistop has carried out the webinar Public Funding European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon Europe): “Key aspects for the identification and preparation of proposals”.
For this, we have counted with the participation of Julio Dolado, Project Officer of European Union Programmes Division of CDTI, Alessa Pardavé, Senior R&D Innovation Consultant Leader of the Strategic Area of European Projects of innCome, José Luis Hernández, member of the coordinating team of the mySMARTLife project of Cartif and Luis Moreno, professor at the University Carlos III of Madrid, with the moderation of Tomás de la Vega, managing director of Logistop.
Julio Dolado first analysed the context and evolution of the first Transport White Paper in 2011, the importance of Horizon 2020 and the current role of Horizon Europe. Subsequently, he focused on the analysis of all the possibilities offered by Cluster 5, which encompasses climate, energy and mobility and is grouped into five destinations: destination one for climate science, to meet the objectives of decarbonisation; destination two, for cross-cutting solutions where we have the part of batteries and cities closely related to the area of mobility, among others; destinations three and four related to energy supply and demand; and destinations five and six, linked to transport and very oriented to the strategy of sustainable mobility.
For her part, Alessa Pardavé explained the Horizon Europe Programme, detailing, among other aspects, its forms of participation, rules of the game and also analysing the main new features with respect to Horizon 2020, including the creation of a European Innovation Council, the expansion of partnership possibilities, new research and innovation missions at EU level focused on social challenges and industrial competitiveness, as well as a new approach to partnerships, among others. He then detailed the steps to follow for the preparation of a successful proposal, from the identification and suitability of the idea to the definition of the project, the formation of the consortium and the structure of the proposal, all taking into account a number of cross-cutting aspects that can make the difference. To conclude his presentation, he shared with the audience the possibilities offered by the EIC (European Innovation Council), an instrument of the third pillar of Horizon Europe where all the Commission’s support to innovative SMEs is concentrated.
“A good strategy can be to establish the profile of the partners we need. That is to say, first be clear about the objective of our proposal and what tasks or activities will be necessary to achieve these objectives”, Alessa Pardavé, Senior R&D Innovation Consultant Leader of the Strategic Area of European Projects at innCome
To end the day, we learned about two cases of successful proposals. On the one hand, José Luis Hernández, based on the experience of the preparation of the mySMARTLife project, provided some of the keys to take into account when preparing a project proposal, emphasising the importance of ambition and impacts. As far as the work-plan is concerned, it will not win the proposal, but it can lose it. Among others, he stressed the need to be clear about the implications of time, effort and resources required, to the monitoring of the eligibility of the regulation and the elements required by the topic, to the importance of creating a core-group with a joint vision and assigned responsibilities, and to be able to reflect the ambition of the proposal.
“The work-plan is not going to win us a proposal, but it can make us lose it”, José Luis Hernández, member of Cartif’s mySMARTLife project coordination team
On the other hand, Luis Moreno, based on his experience with the presentation of the Labyrinth project, analysed the critical points they experienced when presenting the proposal and the impact of the project on UC3M. Starting with a germ of an idea, they had the support of an expert consultant to evaluate the initial idea and carry out a study of the existing topics at European level in order to subsequently adapt it to one of the open ones. From there, contacts were initiated for the creation of a balanced consortium aligned with the existing objectives.
“From the point of view of the project’s impact, we hope that the technology we are developing, both in terms of communications and planning, our partners can turn it into part of their business”, Luis Moreno, professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Logistop is the leading workspace for collective innovation through the realisation of projects hand in hand with our members. Transforming the entire supply chain into a more efficient and sustainable one. All of this with the objective of articulating and carrying out innovation projects between members, without excluding the possibility of collaborating with or receiving support from certain organisations external to Logistop.