Portugal as a Widening Country – ECO
Opportunity to expand horizons and promote national scientific excellence.
Horizon Europa is the main funding program of the European Commission (EC) for research, development and innovation (RD&I), with a total budget of 95.5 million euros and implementation during the period 2021 to 2027.
as actions Expansion – Expansion of Participation and Expansion of Excellence across Europe, are part of this program and will allow countries with less capacity for scientific production and knowledge transfer in R&D to be able to converge to the European Union (EU) average.
It is expected that this convergence will be boosted through the dynamization of a cooperation strategy between entities from different Member States considered more developed and the countries classified as enlarging – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
According to available data, the actions Enlargement represent around 3.3% of the total budget of the Horizon Europa programme, contributing to the multiplication of knowledge in terms of R&D in countries with less investment, promoting the creation of networks and partnerships between countries with different levels of development and transnational research in innovative processes.
The expansion actions form part of a horizontal and transversal pillar of the Horizonte Europa programme, and are aimed at training infrastructures and increasing the production and technology of research institutions and universities. In this way, it will be possible to increase the qualification of specialists and scientists and, consequently, promote the strengthening of R&D activities and contribute to increasing the consequences of the region.
In terms of financing instruments, four initiatives stand out:
- teaming – implement centers of excellence in countries enlarging in order to provide reference infrastructures, capable of stimulating scientific excellence, promoting new investments and renewing the positioning of R&D institutions;
- twinning – promote institutional partnerships aimed at boosting experiences between research groups in any area of knowledge. Strengthening the link between institutions with high scientific potential and institutions with lesser scientific expression is essential for replicating good practices and enhancing the capacity for scientific production;
- European Research Area (WAS) Chairs – support research institutions and institutions in the attraction and retaining qualified human resources, as well as promoting country-based enlarging of internationally projected excellence in its area of expertise;
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) – dynamize European and international networks of networking promoted among researchers and innovators of excellence, fostering municipal cooperation.
Applications for the actions Enlargement opened in early 2021, and for funding opportunities, the submission deadline is already over. However, it continues in many opportunities with candidacies until 2022, namely in the intervention areas twinning and ERA Chairs.
During the previous Program – Horizon 2020 Framework – Portugal had 153 initiatives fulfilled in actions Enlargement, benefiting from a total funding of more than 107 million euros.
The participation of the Portuguese entities responsible for the areas of intervention reveals, thus, a unique opportunity to expand horizons and publicize national Scientific Excellence. This fact will allow its beneficiaries the possibility of improving innovation and development systems, in order to translate into an advance for the EU as a whole, in accordance with the objectives outlined for this domain.
The views and opinions expressed herein are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions of KPMG.
Note: The author, at her own option, discovered under the old spelling agreement
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