Science comes to town

Topic updates

13 February 2025

10 October 2024

Call HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02 has closed on the 25 September 2024.

91 proposals have been submitted.

The breakdown per topic is:

HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02-02: 10 proposals
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in February 2025

Science comes to town

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02-02

Type of grant: Call for proposals

General information

Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)

Call: Enhancing the European R&I system (HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02)

Type of action: HORIZON-CSA HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions

Type of MGA: HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]

Status: Open for submission

Deadline model: single-stage

Opening Date: 15 May 2024

Deadline dates: 25 September 2024 17:00 (Brussels time)

Topic description

ExpectedOutcome:

Part of the ambition of the new European Research Area is to increase societal responsibility, trust and commitment in science and innovation by engaging stakeholders, local communities and citizens in the design and implementation of R&I policies and by enhancing science communication activities. This action provides a unique opportunity to cities in Member States and Associated Countries to take centre stage in implementing this vision. It allows them to bring together their citizens and R&I communities to showcase the contribution of science in addressing the needs of citizens and its contribution to improving the wellbeing of citizens on a sustainable planet together with economic prosperity. The call topic invites a small group of cities to jointly design and implement a vibrant and engaging year-long programme of activities under the label “Science comes to town 2026” with impact at local, regional and European level. The programme should connect local R&I communities with a broad group of stakeholders and, most importantly, citizens around the topic of science and its role in society.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• A year-long programme of diverse events and activities with a robust concept and brand, jointly developed and organised by a group of cities, promoting R&I in Europe and fostering dialogue and exchange on science and its role in society.
• Improved communication of science to the public through regular activities showcasing the latest developments and results in R&I and their relevance to citizens and their lives, and through experimentation with innovative ways of connecting citizens and scientists, involving different age and social groups at local, regional and European level.
• Enhanced discussion and debate on the future of science and R&I policy in Europe, with emphasis on inclusive and participatory approaches, involving all relevant stakeholders within and outside the EU (e.g., researchers, research funders, policy-makers, publishers, citizens, civil society organisations).
• Improved appeal of younger generations to careers in R&I (in academia, industry or starting own business) through organising European-wide science competitions, including the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) and the European Union Contest for early-career researchers (EU TalentOn), as well as other similar initiatives.

Scope:

The new European Research Area (ERA) has the engagement of citizens, local communities and civil society at its core, seeking greater societal impact and increased trust in science. This action supports ERA Policy Agenda (2022-2024) action 14 – ‘Bring science closer to citizens’ through broad and inclusive engagement of all relevant stakeholders in a range of activities with a view to increasing the understanding, acceptance, uptake and impact of R&I in society.

The action supports a consortium involving cities to host a coordinated joint 1-year programme with focus on connecting citizens and scientists in the participating cities and beyond, including the following:

• A year-long programme of various events and activities, such as lectures, workshops, exhibitions, competitions or prizes, in the spirit of the European Capital of Culture or the European Green Capital, that highlights the contribution of science to society and the results of R&I projects supported by national/regional/EU funds, including the Horizon Europe programme.

In addition, the programme of activities must include the following two components:

• EUCYS 2026, the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, an annual science competition for 14- to 20-year-olds that brings together first prize winners of national science contests for pre-Higher Education Institution school science projects to compete for prizes and awards. The contestants are judged by a jury of eminent scientists selected by the European Commission. The jury award 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd monetary prizes as well as other prestigious prizes donated to the contest by international research organisations and other similar bodies. The EU Contest takes place each year in a different location. The organisation of the contest is based on the General Guidelines on the organisation of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists and its Annex 1 – Rules of the contest. These are updated annually by the European Commission^[1]. The participating city that the proposal designates as host for EUCYS 2026 must provide as part of the proposal the commitment from its respective National EUCYS Organiser to run the 2026 competition as part of the project.
• EU TalentOn 2026, the European Union Contest for Early Career Researchers, is a biennial science competition for 21- to 35-year-olds that brings together at least 100 early-career researchers to work on scientific solutions to societal challenges^[2]. The objective is to promote careers in research, facilitate cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration among early-career researchers, and to promote entrepreneurship and opportunities in academia and industry. The researchers are divided into small teams, which should be gender-balanced and be as much as possible geographically and socially inclusive, to compete for prizes and awards. The teams are mentored by experts from academia, industry and SMEs. Specific challenges are determined through a consultation with stakeholders in the field and are based on broader policy priorities.

The programmed activities should target a wide population of European citizens with impact at local, regional and European level, and involve participants of different ages and across social groups and actors (students, researchers, citizens, policymakers, business and third sector organisations).

Proposals should develop and test the overall concept and brand of “Science comes to town” with a view to future editions. Proposals are invited to experiment with new interactive and engaging formats across the programmed activities. In this context, special emphasis is placed on exploring and supporting citizen science as an important dimension of open science and as a way to promote science education and various forms of public engagement with science. The programme should take place in the participating cities, but proposers are encouraged to design and implement outreach activities that reach communities beyond the ones in the cities directly participating. Wherever possible, synergies should be sought with the European Researchers’ Night, Europe's largest science communication and promotion event which brings together over 1,5 million visitors across Europe every year; as well as the Researchers at School initiative, both funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions^[3].

The programme of activities must take place in at least 3 cities of 3 different Members States and/or Associated Countries, with the majority being in Member States. The consortium can comprise different types of legal entities that can represent the host cities and/or join them in designing and implementing the activities. Applicants must provide with their proposal commitment letters from the public authorities of the selected cities (city council or similar). The inclusion of local partners that provide the link to science, research and innovation is strongly encouraged.

Applicants must submit as part of their proposal the overall concept for the annual programme of activities, including the vision for content (focus and scope of activities), outreach strategy, and contribution to long-term vision for the cities. The concept has to distinguish between:

a) events, including EUCYS and TalentOn, that will be funded partially or fully by the Union contribution;

b) activities, such as the overall coordination and communication activities, that will be funded partially or fully by the Union contribution;

c) activities and events that will be financed by the participating cities; sponsorship and other resources (activities not funded by the Union contribution).

The consortium has to quantify in their proposal their commitment to mobilise substantial resources beyond the Union contribution. Monetary or in-kind sponsorships are encouraged to support and broaden the programmed activities, and further increase the impact of the action. Already established activities of the participating cities and other partners are encouraged to be included in the programme, but are excluded from funding under this action. The consortium has to report on the implementation of the activities and events not financed by the Union contribution, but not the related costs.

If participating cities wish to further expand the collaboration by engaging with other cities, e.g., with satellite events, they can consider to include them as partners without declaring costs in order to limit the administrative effort for them.

Priority activity for the successful applicants will be to co-design the detailed draft programme of activities. This will be a deliverable, due not later than 3 months before the formal launch of the “Science comes to town 2026”, subject to the approval of the Granting Authority.

This action allows for the provision of financial support to third parties in the form of prizes to the total amount of:

• EU TalentOn: €80,000
• EUCYS: €70 000

The amount awarded to individuals must not exceed €60 000.

The expected duration of the project is between 24 and 30 months.

[1]https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/eucys_en.

[2]https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/eu-talenton_en.

[3]https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/msca-citizens

Topic destination

Reforming and enhancing the EU research and innovation system (2023/24)

Introduction

Horizon Europe has a new level of ambition – to maximise the impact of the European Union's research and innovation funding for European science, the economy and the wider society. It marks a paradigm change in the design of the European R&I framework programmes (FP) from an activity-driven to an impact-driven programme. Coupled to this ambition is the relaunch of the European Research Area (ERA) as described in the Commission Communication “A new ERA for Research and Innovation” (COM/2020/628 final of 30.09.2020).

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of R&I cooperation to provide solutions to society’s most demanding needs. With the priority on delivering Europe’s recovery as well as on the green and digital twin transitions, a new level of ambition, linking R&I better with the economy, and with education and training, is needed to match these challenges and put scientific knowledge to work.

The new ERA calls for deepening existing priorities and creating new initiatives by strengthening the mobility of researchers and the free flow of knowledge and technology, to improve access to excellence, boost market uptake and prioritise investment and reform. Working together has been the philosophy of the ERA since its launch; however, the green and digital transitions and the COVID recovery call for more and closer cooperation between the Commission, the Member States and stakeholders. They require the setting of new priorities, launching ambitious joint initiatives and developing common approaches between policies.

To address these requirements, Destination 3 of part 11 of the Horizon Europe work programme will support efforts to reform and enhance the European R&I system. Destination 3 is built around four strands corresponding to the four objectives set out in the ERA Communication:

1. Prioritising investments and reforms in research and innovation;
2. Improving access to excellence, progressing towards excellence across the whole EU and striving for stronger research and innovation systems;
3. Translating R&I results into the economy to meet the digital and green transition objectives, and boost the resilience and competitiveness of our economies and societies;
4. Deepening the ERA, to further progress the free circulation of knowledge and to ensure an upgraded, efficient and effective R&I system.

The principle of excellence, meaning that the best researchers with the best ideas that offer the best solutions to the societal challenges obtain funding, remains the cornerstone for all investments under the ERA.

Strand 1 recognises the importance of prioritising investments and reforms to accelerate the green and digital transformation and to increase competitiveness as well as the speed and depth of the recovery. It offers support for policy-makers and addresses the need for better analysis and evidence, including simplifying and facilitating the inter-play between national and European R&I systems.

Strand 2 addresses the need to improve access to excellence and to increase the performance of R&I systems, building on dedicated Horizon Europe measures as well as complementarities with smart specialisation strategies under the Cohesion Policy.

Strand 3 focuses on the importance of translating R&I results into the economy. R&I policies should aim to boost the resilience and competitiveness of our economies and societies.

Strand 4 addresses the challenge of deepening the ERA and includes Open Science, Higher Education and Researchers, Citizen Science, Science Education, Gender and Ethics. It aims at underpinning a new ERA benefitting from knowledge creation, circulation and use. This empowers higher education institutions and research organisations to embrace a transformative process; where a highly skilled workforce can circulate freely; and where research outputs are shared; where gender equality is assured; where the outcomes of R&I are understood, trusted and increasingly used, by educated informed scientists and citizens to the benefit of society.

Expected impact:

Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impacts, focussing on those that are most relevant to the respective topic:

1. Reform and enhance of the European R&I system;
2. Prioritisation of investments and reforms, accomplish the recovery and the twin transitions;
3. Improved access to excellence;
4. High quality scientific production and stronger translation of R&I results into the economy;
5. Deepen the ERA;
6. Coordinated national and regional R&I programmes by pooling national resources and contributing to the alignment of national research and innovation policies;
7. Improved knowledge for policy making about the networking patterns of research support staff and research management;
8. Synergies between research & innovation and higher education policies and programmes;
9. Modernised higher education sector, adressing higher education, research, and innovation;
10. Increased number of interconnected knowledge ecosystems, strong in knowledge creation, circulation and use;
11. Researchers benefitting from attractive careers;
12. Inclusive gender equality is promoted in the European research and innovation system;
13. A more open and inclusive research and innovation system;
14. Increased capacity in the EU R&I system to conduct open science and to set it as a modus operandi of modern science;
15. Increased engagement of citizens with research and innovation;
16. Increased alignment of strategic research with societal needs, expectations and values;
17. Identify synergies between second and third level education, and between education and business;
18. Increased trust in science and R&I outcomes, and greater two-way communication between science and society;
19. Knowledge and a highly skilled workforce circulate freely;
20. Improved capacities within the EU R&I system to conduct open science.

General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex Aand 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 Bof 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

The following additional eligibility criteria apply: Applications must be submitted by a consortium including at least three legal entities, independent of each other, established in three different Member States or Associated countries, of which at least two are different Member States.

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 Dof 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

This action allows for the provision of financial support to third parties in the form of prizes. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.

Subcontracting is not restricted to a limited part of the action.

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

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