GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Projects should be established around a coherent and well proportioned package of the following core components:

• Cross-border joint R&I strategy aligned with regional smart specialisation strategies and/or European policy priorities such as the green and digital transition;
• R&I project consolidating academia business linkages and providing evidence for strategy building and investment: The research component should be developed by joint pilot research projects in a domain covered by the joint strategy that should facilitate long-term cross border and inter-sectoral collaborative links between partners notably academia and business and advancement in science and technology development with market potential. In particular R&I projects should serve the purpose to close knowledge gaps and develop evidence to underpin the development of the strategy and the investment plans. The description of R&I content should include a long-term vision beyond the state of the art of the chosen R&I domain;
• Action and investment plans for the implementation of the strategy including the development of business models for innovative products, service and processes to ensure the sustainability of the action beyond the project’s life time, leveraging national, regional and European funds as well as private (venture) capital. Investment plans may include pertinent R&I infrastructures as well as demonstrators and pilots;
• Conceptual design and pre-planning for pilots and demonstrators (if applicable) in line with the strategy and if applicable based on the outcome of the R&I component. However, the realisation of such pilots and demonstrators must be financed by other sources in particular programmes co-financed by the ERDF, INTERREG, IPA or similar.
• Accompanying measures are complementary activities that may promote knowledge and technology transfer, visibility, mutual learning and skills development especially in research and innovation management and entrepreneurship for creation of start-ups as well as citizen engagement. Mutual secondments and staff exchange within and between ecosystems should help to build trust and long-term collaborative links;
• Optional: Mentoring of an emerging place-based innovation ecosystem established in rural areas, Western Balkans or Eastern Partnership Countries including Ukraine. Legal entities from such countries and regions are encouraged to join the project as participants in order to benefit from mentoring, training, knowledge transfer even if their ecosystems are not yet developed to a full quadruple helix structure. This mentoring module does not count for the minimum condition of having at least two fully-fledged quadruple helix innovation ecosystems.

Ecosystems or individual partners from outside the Widening countries may participate in the consortium as long as they prove added value by facilitating access to excellence for the Widening countries. Proposals should convincingly demonstrate the relevance of the chosen scientific domain by its alignment with regional (in particular RIS3), national and/or European R&I strategies and policy priorities.

Excellence hubs as a new action under the widening component are complementary but different to initiatives such as Digital hubs or the EIT regional innovation scheme (RIS) because of their strategic orientation, broader scope and alignment with widening eligibility criteria.

Proposals should illustrate quantitatively and qualitatively the expected potential impact of the project and its expected results in terms of new local and international research and innovation partnerships including business, institutional and/or R&I system changes (various levels), increased research and innovation intensity (i.e., new scientific publications directly linked to the project’s area, protected intellectual assets, marketable products and solutions).