Strengthening Moldova's Horizon Europe Ecosystem: Expanding the Reach and Capabilities of the Horizon Europe Office

Expected Outcomes

NCP System sustainable and professional: Leverage the already established Horizon Europe Office and the National Contact Point (NCP) system's sustainability and robustness. This will be achieved through assuring the proper number of members covering the envisaged R&I areas and activities and by offering training and capacity building, ensuring professional and localized services across Moldova, and facilitating the coordination among thematic NCPs. This will also be assured by the organization of complementary training, information and experience sharing events between the ecosystem and community members, and development of dedicated support materials (tutorials, guides, information materials etc.), as well as assuring the mobility of the HEO and NCPs and participation in related brokerage, networking, and other thematic events. At the same time, to support the community development, idea generation and projects implementation events will be organized (hackathon, training camps, meet-ups), for the ecosystem members actively involved in development and submission of proposals under the funding opportunities of Horizon Europe Programme.

To assure international collaborations and knowledge exchange, Moldova’s ecosystem members will actively participate in related national and international events. Also, via the dedicated webpage, will be offered relevant information and support materials, to ease and facilitate the use of funding opportunities as of the Funding and Tenders Portal. At the same time the organization of B2Bs and networking events will support and facilitate the identification of potential partners.

To assure the achievement of the proposed activities, Active Monitoring and Promotion activities will be held: Monitor and analyze the implementation of R&I cooperation projects, disseminate success stories, and identify and address operational challenges. This information will inform discussions in the annual EU-Moldova Joint Committees under the Association Agreement with Horizon Europe and Euratom.

Expected Impact

• Increased acknowledgement and information of Horizon Europe Opportunities for the national and regional R&I ecosystem, as well as the cooperation potential between the local and international stakeholders.
• HEO and NCP services in Moldova enhanced as of the requirements of the similar structures in EU Member States and bearing the best practices and know-how from more experienced representatives.
• Increased participation of Moldova stakeholders and community members within R&I activities, as well as with better quality of Horizon Europe proposals from Moldova, with a notable rise in funded projects.
• Increased robustness of the R&I ecosystem due to the development of the team, technical assistance, mentoring sessions, developed digital tools and materials needed to support and assure the achievement of FP objectives and measures in Moldova.
• Improved integration of Moldova into the European Research Area and facilitation of R&I with scale up potential, as well as of the cooperation and integration in the European ecosystem.

Scope

With the Horizon Europe Office (HEO) in Moldova already established, the upcoming program will now focus on enhancing its capabilities and expanding its support across the Moldovan research and innovation (R&I) ecosystem.

Therefore, the proposal aims to:

• Enhance research and innovation capabilities and application in Moldova.
• Increase international collaboration and knowledge exchange.
• Develop a robust and sustainable research support system.

To achieve the scope and aims of the project, more emphasis will be made on the creation and development of the capacities of the office and of the network of National Contact Points (NCP) in Moldova, that will act as the key gate in promoting the HE programme objectives and measures, thereby facilitating a more comprehensive and localized service for the Moldovan R&I community. At the same time, specific activities will be implemented to support the R&I ecosystem and community development, including by know-how exchange, national and international collaborations, as well as technical assistance needed to assure the success of the HE.

The general conditions, including admissibility conditions, eligibility conditions, award criteria, evaluation and award procedure, legal and financial set-up for grants, financial and operational capacity and exclusion, and procedure are set out in Annexes A to G of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2025.[[European Commission Decision C(2024) 2371 of 17 April 2024, available here.]]

The following exception applies:

The evaluation committee will be composed fully by representatives of EU institutions.

Funding Rate: 100%