European Excellence Initiative: Acceleration services in support of universities
European Comission
ExpectedOutcome :
In line with the objectives of the European strategy for universities, projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes in relation to acceleration services in support of the institutional transformation of higher education institutions (HEI) in the research and innovation dimension (R&I):
- Access for higher education institutions to a range of tailor-made coaching services, expertise, (virtual) meeting platforms or tools, and seed funding at any stage of development of institutional change in the R&I dimension;
- Successful institutional reform and upgrade of higher education institutions in the R&I dimension (empowerment to be actors of change);
- Connection of higher education institutions with peers and other ecosystem actors, as well as with investors and public funders;
- Progress of the user groups of the acceleration services in institutional change in the R&I dimension and strengthened R&I capacities in higher education institutions, measured through a monitoring mechanism; in particular,
- Modernised research careers in higher education sector, interoperable with other sectors;
- Accelerated digital transition of the R& I dimension of the higher education sector across the entire ERA;
- Increased global competitiveness of research in higher education institutions by strongly increased critical mass in terms of upskilling, knowledge creation and knowledge circulation in the green transition and other key European policy areas such as European Missions;
- Contribution to implementation of the relevant ERA Policy Agenda actions (Action 13) in the higher education sector in general.
- Policy feedback to the European Commission and Member States on the acceleration services, and widespread dissemination of the pilot results to other target groups. Scope :
The overall aim of the Higher Education Institutions acceleration services is to help institutions to make progress in institutional change in ERA priority areas, such as strengthening research careers, gender equality plans and reform of career and research assessment, mainstreaming of open science, institutional strategy development in R&I, etc. The acceleration services will support institutions in these efforts, by creating a shared knowledge base, coaching service and virtual meeting place to enable the connection with peers, as well by providing seed funding to users. The acceleration services should involve large user groups (either individual HEI, networks or alliances of universities and surrounding ecosystem actors, or umbrella organisations of HEI).
Projects should be aligned with assessment tools such as HEInnovate and HRS4R. Complementarity with existing similar tools, such as those funded under WIDERA 2021-2022 and EIT’s HEI Initiative[1] will be taken into account. Experts, tools and platforms generated by previous projects, such as those supported under Horizon 2020 Science with and for Society, should be taken into account.
[1]www.eit-hei.eu; EIT HEI Initiative has been designed with the aim of increasing the innovation and entrepreneurial capacity in higher education by bringing together HEIs in innovation value chains and ecosystems across Europe.
General conditions
- Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
Evaluation and award:
- Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
To ensure a balanced portfolio with services covering different ERA priorities, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to applications that are the highest ranked for individual or a combination of ERA priorities and/or ERA policy agenda actions targeted, provided that the applications attain all thresholds.
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
- Specific conditions: described in the specific topic of the Work Programme
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual