Key findings from the report indicate a high level of satisfaction among project coordinators who have utilised professional project management services, acknowledging a significant reduction in their workload. The survey, which gathers 64 responses, reveals that coordinators could save 3-5 days a month, emphasizing the crucial role of professional project management in enhancing project implementation.
​
Furthermore, the report highlights the greater need for professional project management support within the private sector compared to Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) and other public sector entities. Internal communication, good management practices, and a focus on exploitability are also among the essential components for the successful implementation of EU-funded projects.

The EAIC's report also offers valuable recommendations for the European Commission, such as further simplifying the financial and contractual rules and applying a standard reimbursement rate of 100% for management activities, among others. These insights aim to foster a more efficient and effective project management practices across European collaborative projects.

Today the European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) releases its response to the European Commission Consultation on the Past, Present and Future Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

EAIC sets out key challenges that applicants and beneficiaries frequently encounter when preparing a proposal and running a project under the current Framework Programme, Horizon Europe (2021-2027).

These  challenges relate to the following four themes: 

• Recognising professional project management
• Improving the Horizon Europe Standard Application Form
• ​Improving the European Innovation Council Accelerator Programme
• Fostering EU 13 Participation in Horizon Europe

“EAIC Members support thousands of beneficary organisations, many of whom are new comers to the Framework Programme”, says EAIC President, Pekka Koponen, “Today, we share this wealth of experience to improve Horizon Europe implementation and lay the ground for the preparation of its successor.”

Main recommendations - EAIC calls on the European Commission to:    

• Amend Horizon Europe rules for participation and allow the delegation of project management services, or its outsourcing, to another entity thus enabling the beneficiaries to benefit from this crucial support.
• Optimise the design of Horizon Europe template to give applicants a better chance to present their concepts, hereby raising the overall quality of proposals received by evaluators and ultimately ensuring that the best projects are awarded funding.
• Scrutinise the evaluation process (remote evaluation and jury interviews) of proposals under the European Innovation Council Accelerator scheme to ensure consistency.
• ​Maintain the actions under the current Widening Programme in Horizon Europe and ease industry access to it. 

The Statement can be downloaded from here.

On Friday 16 December, EAIC organises a webinar in the context of its work on Project Management. EAIC Members will share knowledge on HEU related matters such as  freelancers in projects, lump sums projects, carbon neutral projects etc. 
​​
When? Friday 16 December 2022 (15.00 - 16.00 CET)
By whom? This event is organised by EAIC Member Polite and Neovia.
For whom? This workshop is reserved to EAIC members.  
Interested? Write to [email protected] 

Women make up about half of the population and voters in the EU, but they are still under-represented in high-level positions, whether in elections, public administration, corporate boards or academia. The European Commission has committed itself to promote gender equality in research and innovation (R&I). Horizon 2020 was the first framework programme to make gender a cross-cutting issue, and one of the key objectives was to integrate the gender dimension into R&I content. With Horizon Europe, the Commission has promised to reaffirm its commitment to gender equality in R&I.
 
Horizon Europe sets gender equality as a crosscutting principle and aims to eliminate gender inequality and intersecting socio-economic inequalities throughout R&I systems, including by addressing unconscious bias and systemic structural barriers. By considering sex and gender dimension in the whole research & innovation process we can prevent for example gender or racially biased AI products due to a lack of diversity in the AI training data.
 
Anne Pépin, Senior Policy Officer from European Commission presented the key aspects and novelties regarding gender equality in Horizon Europe in a webinar on 21 April 2021. There are three levels with three different aspects that should be taken into account when preparing a proposal for Horizon Europe.

1. Eligibility: Gender Equality Plan (GEP) is required for calls with deadlines in 2022 and onwards. Having a GEP will be an eligibility criterion for all public bodies, higher education institutions and research organisations wishing to participate in Horizon Europe.
2. Award Criteria: Integration of the gender dimension into R&I content is an evaluation criterion evaluated under the excellence criterion for Research and Innovation Action (RIA) and Innovation Action (IA), unless the topic description explicitly specifies otherwise.
3. Ranking Criteria: increasing gender balance throughout the programme is another objective, gender balance among research teams set as a ranking criterion for proposals with the same score. Another target is to have 50% women in Horizon Europe related boards, expert groups, and evaluation committees.

 
When sex, gender and intersecting factors are all considered in the design and delivery of R&I, it can leads to added value of research in terms of excellence, societal relevance, creativity and business opportunities. It creates in-depth understanding of all people’s needs, behaviours, and attitudes, and with this understanding it is easier to make goods and services that are better suited to the needs of all people.
 
“In business, politics and society as a whole, we can only reach our full potential if we use all of our talent and diversity. Gender equality brings more jobs and higher productivity – a potential which needs to be realised as we embrace the green and digital transitions and face up to our demographic challenges.” – EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025

Article courtesy of EAIC member, Spinverse.