Improving the services of the NMP NCP Network through Transnational Activities 4

Project Information

NMP TeAm 4

Grant agreement ID: 723192

DOI

10.3030/723192

Project closed

EC signature date 19 July 2016

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 31 March 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Total cost

€ 599 992,50

EU contribution

€ 599 992,50

Coordinated by

IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NMP TeAm 4 (Improving the services of the NMP NCP Network through Transnational Activities 4)

Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2020-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

NMP NCP Network is the main source of practical information and individual assistance in participation in the Industrial Leadership KET Part (Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing) of the HORIZON 2020 Framework Programme. The network consists of National Contact Points (NCPs) from all 28 EU member states and H2020 associated states as well as NMP third country contacts.

NMP TeAm 4, the continuation project of the EU projects NMP TeAm 1,2&3, is a Horizon 2020 project which supports and coordinates activities of the network of NCPs in the Industrial Leadership NMP. The project aims to facilitate collaboration between NMP NCPs with a view to identify and share good practices and raise the general standard of support by the NMP NCPs to programme applicants.

NMP TeAm 4 aims to:

o create the mechanisms and tools for capacity building of NCPs' skills that will ensure the NCP Network's high and consistent level of services to clients.
o provide the necessary tools to all NMP NCPs so that they can assist their clients to increase their success rate in H2020 and lower the barriers for participation for new applicants.
o improve the outreach of the NMP NCP Network and maximise the impact of its activities, services and results to a wide audience of clients and stakeholders.

The specific objectives of the project, measured and assessed through deliverables, are:
Objective 1: The standardisation and the provision of high quality services to all NMP NCPs.
Objective 2: To provide the necessary tools to all NMP NCPs so that they can assist their clients to increase their success rate in H2020.
Objective 3: To improve the outreach of the NMP NCP Network and increase the impact of its activities, services and results to a wide audience of clients and stakeholders.
Objective 4: To establish tools and support mechanisms in order to ensure the proper implementation of the project and the timely conclusion of all its activities.

Overall, the project contributed with a wide variety of activities in the objectives initially set, supporting both NMP NCPs and proposers.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main achievements of the project are the following:

• Two NCP trainings in Brussels with 41 participants.
• Three NCP webinars with 80 participants.
• Twinning scheme with 5 NCPs.
• 7 micro learning modules were produced.
• Capacity building event targeted to NCPs from widening countries with 10 participants.
• The Partner Search Facility (PSF), first launched in 2009, received a major update in 2017 that increase the security, the performance and the user experience. During the project, 403 search offers and 27 partner searches were posted in the tool, while 964 users were registered. So far, more than 4.400 unique stakeholders from 163 countries have been registered to the service.
• Organisation of 10 Brokerage Events with more than 4000 participants:
• 5th EU Brokerage Event on KET in Horizon 2020, Strasbourg (France)
• Industrial Innovation Information Days 2017 Matchmaking Event
• H2020 Brokerage Event: Nanotechnologies and Advanced Materials, Cambridge, April 2017
• Assist in the Brokerage event during the EU presidency event EuroNanoForum 2017, Malta
• Brokerage Event on Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Munich, November 2017
• EU Brokerage Event on KETs in Horizon 2020 - Mainz, Germany, June 2018
• Nano.IL2018 - Jerusalem, Israel, October 2018
• Industrial Technologies 2018 - Innovative industries for smart growth (IndTech2018) - Vienna, Austria, October 2018
• EU Brokerage Event on KETs in Horizon 2020 - Strasbourg, France, June 2019
• International Brokerage Event CETI - Horizon 2020 for Circular Economy & Transforming Industry - Warsaw, Poland, October 2019
• 8 virtual events for clients with 1252 participants.
• Awareness raising campaign targeting stakeholders from EU-13 and Associated Countries: 3 events, about 120 participants.
• Maintenance of the NMP TeAM 4 website: Overall, 240 new articles published, more than 19.000 users visited the website by executing more than 25.000 sessions and about 46.000 page views.
• Active use of social media for communication and dissemination. Twitter account: 427 tweets posted, 262 new followers registered reaching 520 followers in total. YouTube channel: 16 new videos uploaded with more than 1200 views in total.
• Active promotion of the project and the NCP Services thought the stand activity in 11 major EU events assisting about 240 clients.
• Active collaboration with other NCP networks and Enterprise Europe Network during trainings, webinars, brokerage events etc.
• Regions with KETs in their RIS3 priorities were identified and a list of proposed synergies and joint activities was produced

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main scope of the NMP TeAm4 project is to facilitate an improved NCP service across Europe and beyond. The project incorporates activities and tasks aiming at assisting both NCPs and their clients to achieve easier access to H2020 calls, support and enhance newcomers’ participation and improve the average quality of submitted proposals.

One of the main objectives of the project is to help newly appointed NCPs as well as experienced ones improve their skills and knowledge. Therefore, the project implements activities targeting the NCP needs such as trainings, webinars, micro-learning modules and twinning scheme. The variety of the tasks undertaken are designed to assist the NCPs offer improved services, more structured and in a consistent and standardised way thus increasing the impact and the quality of the NMP NCP Network.

Furthermore, NMP TeAm 4 offers training and networking services to applicants in order to raise awareness of the H2020, lower the entry barriers for newcomers, assist in consortia building and improve the quality of proposals submitted. Those activities include the Virtual Events for Clients, the Partner Search Facility and the Brokerage Events among others. Those activities are considered to have assisted applicants informing them in specific thematic related issues and find partners to submit proposals. Collaboration with other NCP networks and the Enterprise Europe Network intend to reach the widest possible target audience and have an increased impact to the clients of the NMP NCP network.

NMP TeAm 4 goes beyond the NMP TeAm 1, 2 &3 projects by introducing tasks aiming at assisting NCPs play a significant role in the development and implementation of RIS3 strategies in their countries. Furthermore, the project is aiming at assisting proposers and their consortia foster an optimal combination of H2020 and ESIF funding. Moreover, activities targeting particularly the widening countries in NCP as well as in applicants’ level were integrated in the project. The goal was to offer awareness raising and capacity building targeted to widening countries.

NMP TeAm 4 project is a CSA and it mainly concerns networking and awareness activities for the NCP network and services to NMP community. The impact of the project can be observed on the better awareness on the H2020 NMBP programme and calls to the research community. It is expected that the outcomes of the project have a direct impact on the number and the quality of proposals being submitted especially from newcomers whereas the project aims to raise awareness of proposers in schemes or modus operandi linked with new EU initiatives and in connection with the preparation of future research programmes.

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