The strategic goal of the Hungarian Innovation Agency (NIÜ) is to support innovative businesses to become an integral and active part of the international innovation ecosystem. This is significantly supported by the Horizon Europe Programme, the European Union's nearly €100 billion fund for direct financial support for science, research, development and innovation (RDI). Our aim is to help Hungarian innovative businesses to participate more successfully in this EU framework programme for research and innovation, not only by broadening the horizons of domestic RDI resources, but also by connecting them to European innovation networks.
WHY IS PARTICIPATION IN HORIZON EUROPE IMPORTANT FOR AN INNOVATIVE COMPANY?
The Horizon Europe (HE) programme is a highly competitive application system, where the best European innovators (companies, universities, researchers) and their international consortia receive funding for the implementation of their RDI projects. Participation in such projects, the international exposure of Hungarian RDI projects already at the development stage, strengthens the chances of the innovative product or new service to be implemented on the foreign market. The grants are substantial and the winners receive a significant financial contribution to the implementation of the project.
Participation in the HE project also serves as a reference for development, and the HE project will also build and strengthen the international network of the participating company. Considering the size of the domestic market, in most industries significant investments and rapid growth can only be achieved by entering the international market, so this kind of networking and validation represents a valuable added value.
The RDI product resulting from the HE project activity may receive additional external market access support through the NIÜ XPAND programme after the project has been completed.
HOW DOES THE ENTERPRISE HORIZON TRAINING PROGRAMME HELP INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISES?
The Horizon Europe Preparation Programme aims to provide enterprises with the information they need to successfully apply for funding and to help them build international consortia. The training scheme developed by the NIÜ offers free participation, in-person and/or online workshops to build further contacts and partnerships, and showcases national good practices and experiences from successful projects.
The multi-stage preparatory programme will introduce the structure of HE, the calls for proposals open to businesses, their conditions and tips and tricks to help you apply successfully. Participants will learn about the application process, from using the EU Funding and Tenders portal to consortium building issues, evaluation criteria and the evaluation process.
Prospective applicants will get help on which call for proposals best fits their activity and how to start writing a proposal.
STRUCTURE OF THE ENTERPRISE HORIZON PREPARATION PROGRAMME
The programme consists of three consecutive training sessions, which can be taken separately, but it is recommended that companies new to HE tenders attend the three levels of training consecutively. The workshops will be limited to a maximum of 30 participants, and each training session will be repeated several times throughout the year, depending on applications and current calls for proposals.
The Start, i.e. the first level programme, is aimed at "beginner" applicants (in this field) with no knowledge of the Horizon Europe application system. The aim of the training is to help participants answer the following questions: what your business can do, what you are eligible for, which call is worth starting and how to get started.
The workshop will provide prospective applicants with an overview of the thematic structure of HE (Pillars, Horizontal Issues, Horizon Europe Clusters, Cluster Partnerships, Missions), the different types of projects, the basic application criteria and how to build a consortium. They will also learn about the structure of the Funding and Tenders portal and basic eligibility and financial issues. At the end of the one and a half hour training session, a question and answer session will also provide the opportunity to address specific situations, targeted topics or calls. The basic training sessions will be delivered by staff from the External Market Directorate of the National Innovation Agency (NIA), who have many years of practical experience as applicants and NCP (National Contact Point) advisors, as well as a strong knowledge of a specific field. Other personal success stories will be shared by Hungarian applicants who have already been successful in HE Framework Programme calls.
Progress is the second, advanced level. At this level, the participant is expected to have knowledge of the Horizon Europe application system and to be able to outline which proposals/calls might be of interest to him/her. In this course, the structure, specific requirements, specific evaluation systems, financial and accountability issues of each application structure will be explained in more detail. Current Horizon Europe Clusters calls, Missions, EIC proposals will be introduced, and the topics will vary accordingly. In addition to the current calls, consortium building tactics will be presented, successful applicants will share their experiences, and participants will also have the opportunity to meet in person with the national contact points for the topic.
So, in addition to the experts from the EIT, we will also hear from external experts who have personal experience of the application system, either as successful applicants or as evaluators.
Submit will support individual proposals and application initiatives, with the help of a mentor pool of Horizon experts. During the programme, we will work with participants to develop a call for proposals and provide a review of the application materials with the help of a professional proposal writer. SUBMIT provides one-to-one advice on proposal writing and consortium building for the most prepared companies, i.e. we help to get your company into an international consortium. The aim and expectation at this level is that all mentored applicants will submit a proposal and thus the quality of the proposals submitted will increase.
Through the ENTERPRISE HORIZON Alumni group, built up from the companies that have participated in the training, we aim to strengthen the further first-hand experience transfer to new participants. Longer-term contact with participants will provide an opportunity to measure results and to continuously improve the training programme. Participation in the Alumni Group can help trainees to receive further information from us on current calls for proposals, training, HE reviews and information. Last but not least, through the Alumni network we also aim to support consortium and network building opportunities between participants.
With the help of our ENTERPRISE HORIZON training programme, we would like to promote the success of companies' applications and indirectly improve the success rate and the amount of funding awarded to Hungarian Horizon Europe applicants. In addition, taking advantage of the synergies of the NIÜ services, if a product developed in an HE RDI project, a participating company is looking for further opportunities to enter the foreign market, we will help it to join our XPAND programme.
