Cooperation with EEN

Call updates

Jul 14, 2021 3:54:36 PM
The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-EIC-2021-EEN-01-01(HORIZON-CSA)

Cooperation with EEN
TOPIC ID: HORIZON-EIC-2021-EEN-01-01

Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Call: Cooperation with EEN (SoE, Applicants in widening countries and from women-led companies) (HORIZON-EIC-2021-EEN-01)
Type of action: HORIZON-CSA HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
Type of MGA: HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]
Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 01 July 2021
Deadline date: 06 January 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

Topic description

ExpectedOutcome:

Deliver support actions to women innovators and widening countries applicants to EIC Accelerator as well as Seal of Excellence (SoE) holders through creating synergies with EU partners and programmes such as the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

For more details, including the expected outcome and impact, see the EIC Work Programme 2021.

Scope:
1.Support to innovative companies in a) widening countries (300-400 per year) and b) women-led innovative companies across the whole EU and HE 3rd pillar Associated Countries (600-800 per year) aiming at preparing high quality EIC Accelerator proposals.

The support should take the form of a 3-5 day (on average) service package of 1-to-1 advice to strengthen the business case of potential applicants through reinforcement of their business, innovation and partnering strategies (e.g. research institutes, investors, clients, business partners). It should focus on strengthening the company’s case in each part of the European Innovation Cuncil (EIC) application. The objective is to increase the number of quality proposals and filter out companies not suitable for the EIC.

2.Support to EIC Accelerator SoE holders (300 per year) to obtain funding from private and/or public sources.

The support should take the form of a 3-5 day (on average) service package of 1-to-1 advice,including:

• Identification of the relevant alternative funding source(s);
• Advisory support for the application process to the identified funding source, including possible reorientation of the project;
• Increase the pitching capacity to present project ideas to investors and introduce regional/national/European investors (including pitching events with investors);
• Identify other needs than funding (e.g.: partnering, business support) and refer to relevant EEN or relevant stakeholders’ services (incl. cross-border);
• Follow-up the supported SoE companies in their success in raising alternative funding and provide data back to the EIC.

3. Exchange of best practice within the EEN and access to additional expertise and private sector actors for the benefit of EENs in widening countries and Associated Countries to 3rd Pillar.

The objective is to bring EENs in widening countries on a par with more advanced EENs to deliver an adequate service under Action 1 and 2 and enhance their collaboration with public and private stakeholders (e.g.: innovation agencies, start-up associations, incubators, Business Angels associations, investors). This action should be delivered by the Coordination Office (see below) and includes but is not limited to:

• Drawing up and implementing a specific action plan based on needs and challenges faced by EENs in widening countries;
• At least 1 training and exchange of best practice per EEN consortium in widening countries (in addition to existing EEN ‘exchange of experience’ scheme);
• At least 2 days of 1-to-1 cross-border coaching by more experienced peers/experts per EEN consortium in widening countries to draft EIC Accelerator proposals (from EEN members and other experts from other Member States and Associated Countries).
• Consortium –Coordination office

In order to implement this action the proposals should be submitted by a consortium of maximum 5 EEN members host organisations with adequate EU geographic representation, fairly distributed budget and well-founded regional knowledge and experience directly related to the scope of above actions (including widening countries).

The consortium should act as a ‘Coordination office’ responsible for:

• Organisation and coordination of all activities, including communication and dissemination;
• Equal and fair allocation of implementation of all actions to other EEN members in all regions of the Member States and Associated Countries 3rd pillar. These other EEN members, which are not members of the Coordination Office consortium,could be subcontractors or act as third parties providing in-kind contributions against payment. In countries/regions in Associated Countries where there are no EEN members, a non-EEN entity could receive the subcontract/third party funding.
• Reporting on indicators, supported companies’ profiles and success stories through an IT tool. This IT Tool should be developed by the coordination office in consultation with the EIC. Data should be collected to enable the production of aggregated descriptive statistics per region to understand the profile of companies being served supported across Member States and Associated Countries. This IT tool should minimise reporting burden for the EEN members.

The EU estimates that between 5% and 10% of the total budget of the CSA would allow for an optimal coordination and project management of the activities of the Coordination office.Satisfaction surveys should be carried out for each action and SMEs’ satisfaction rate should be at least 80%. All above actions need to be carried out in complementarity and avoiding duplication of efforts with other EC actions and programmes e.g. EIC, NCPs, EIT KICS, different parts of EEN and therefore EEN needs to work in close co-operation with them.

For more details, including the expected outcome and impact, see the EIC Work Programme 2021.

Expected Impact:

A broader talent pool will apply to the EIC and will therefore ultimately improve the innovation capacity of the Member States and Associated Countries to 3rd pillar and enhance the European innovation ecosystem. This will be achieved through:

• 70% of SMEs served by EEN through this action will apply for the EIC Accelerator and 8% of served SMEs will receive EIC funding or SoE.

There will be also more realised SoE projects through access to private and public funding (i.e. 50% of served SoE will apply for funding and 25% of these SoE will receive funding).

For more details, including the expected outcome and impact, see the EIC Work Programme 2021.