Supporting ICT industry from Western Balkans to take part in HORIZON 2020,
SUPPORTWBICT
Regional conference in Belgrade
financially supported by Central European Initiative (CEI)
WHY
SupportWBICT conference will gather representatives of ICT industry (private companies, entrepreneurs and associations) and research institutions as participants, policy makers from EC, NCPs for H2020 ICT and SME from EU and non-EU countries and representative of EEN as speakers, trainers from consulting firms and experts with experience in H2020 project development and implementation to boost cooperation, knowledge circulation and transfer of best practices to WB countries.
The conference will provide opportunity to ICT industry, including SMEs from WB region to receive relevant information on EU funding opportunities from H2020 and future Horizon Europe programme, funded projects from the sector, to improve capacities of ICT industry to get EU funds, to develop research-industry collaboration and to get internationally connected within the ICT sector from WB region and with national, regional and European administrations.
HOW
The concept of the conference is a combination of presentations, practical workshops and networking, based on the following activities:
● to provide insight into H2020 ICT and SME policies and priorities for 2019/20 and present future EU research and innovation programme Horizon Europe 2021-2027
● to guide participants through H2020 project development, giving instruction on how to prepare successful H2020 project proposals and
● to strengthen partnerships between ICT industry and research institutions during a network event at the conference and to develop portal for participants for partner search for organizations from CEI and WB countries
WHAT
Main objective is to enhance skills for successful participation of ICT sector from non-EU CEI Member States (Serbia, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) in HORIZON 2020.
Information provided on the conference will help ICT industry from the WB to prepare for H2020 (and future Horizon Europe) calls 2019/20 and to align their business plans in accordance with EU expectations and policy documents.
Training on H2020 and SME Instrument proposal writing will build capacities of organizations from the ICT sector to apply successfully, in consortia and/or individually, and increase their chances to get their projects funded. Finally, through networking activities during the third day of the conference attention will be paid to research-industry collaboration, which will result in creation of an online portal, tool for searching partners from CEI and other EU countries for participation in H2020 and Horizon Europe programmes.
WHO
EUTA – extensive experience in EU project development, proposal writing and project management. Members of EUTA team got more then 15 MEUR in Serbia in the last 10 years.
Tiko Pro – Slovenian consultancy firm with experience in EU project development and management. Got approx. 18 MEUR from H2020, won 10 H2020 SME Instrument projects, success rate over 40%.
ICTHUB Belgrade – center for the development of technological entrepreneurship and innovation.
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
DAY I – H2020 funding opportunities for ICT industry
1. Presentation of funding opportunities for ICT
– Horizon Europe the next research and innovation framework programme from 2021-2027
– ICT topics in Horizon 2020, WPs 2019/20
– SME Instrument 2019/20
2. Institutional support and partner search
– NCPs for ICT
– NCPs for SME
– EEN representatives
3. Success stories: IT companies participating in H2020 projects
4. Networking
DAY II – How to prepare and write proposal for H2020 SME Instrument
1. SME Instrument opportunities for ICT sector
2. Structure in detail, 3 phases
3. Application and Evaluation
4. Application form
5. Workshop
6. Post-evaluation
DAY III – How to develop collaborative HORIZON 2020 proposal and networking
1. H2020 collaborative projects, opportunities for ICT sector in 2019/20
2. Secret to success in H2020 project proposal writing
3. How to find partners and build project consortium
4. Best practice – discussing about two ongoing H2020 projects (Medlem, Aquasense) and role of SME
5. Networking – B2B meetings ICT industry and research institutions