Creating a Transnational Network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for EU Missions

This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to all the expected impacts of all destinations of the Missions Work Programme.

To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed towards and contributing to all of the following expected outcomes:

• An improved and professionalised NCP service across Europe, thereby helping simplify access to EU Missions calls, lowering the entry barriers for newcomers, and raising the average quality of proposals submitted.
• A more consistent level of NCP support services across Europe.
• Mobilising expertise from across all of the clusters, as well as from the other pillars of Horizon (a whole of programme approach) and into other policy areas thus reflecting the ‘beyond R&I’ nature of the missions, as well as outreach activities to the most relevant national and regional networks that support dissemination of other major EU funding programmes and support EU-wide engagement of major relevant EU policy actions.
• Triggering societal transformations by encouraging applicants to enhance citizen engagement and actions widely relevant to society.

• Proposals should aim to facilitate transnational cooperation between National Contact Points (NCPs) for EU Missions with a view to identifying and sharing good practices and raising the general standard of support to programme applicants.
• The network will organise NCP Information Days, NCP trainings, brokerage events for potential participants and provide suitable tools and instruments to support NCPs, as well as to Missions’ target group (government, researchers and innovators, education institutions, small and large businesses, investors and civil society). Other matchmaking instruments may be used as appropriate. Where relevant, synergies should be sought with relevant networks targeting the Missions’ target group. Activities supporting the societal dimension of the Missions should be put forward.
• To achieve its expected outcomes and objectives the NCP network should establish close cooperation and exploit synergies with other relevant thematic and horizontal HE NCP support structures. Close coordination and/or integration with the current Horizon Europe NCP Portal is expected to maximize synergies and efficiency in this respect.
• The proposed structure and activities of the EU Missions NCP network should interact with the mission hubs established within Member States and Associated Countries, which will build national structures (at national and regional level) between ministries and agencies for example, in ways that foster information exchanges related to the missions.
• Special attention should be given to enhancing the competence of NCPs, including helping less experienced NCPs rapidly acquire the know-how built up in other countries.
• In this sense, contributions from this network to the Virtual Campus hosted under the Horizon Europe NCP Portal is more that welcomed to achieve such objective.
• The consortium should have a good representation of experienced and less experienced NCPs.
• Submission of a single proposal is encouraged and it should cover the whole duration of Horizon Europe.

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