The conference Spreading Excellence and Crossing the Innovation Divide was organised during the Slovak presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second semester of 2016. The event was held in Brussels, Belgium on 23rd November 2016. The overall objective of the conference was to provide a platform for stakeholders to have an in-depth discussion on the role of excellence
in European research and innovation as well as opportunities presented through Horizon 2020 and European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) for crossing the innovation gap between countries, research institutions, universities, and enterprises. The event served as a forum to assess results of Teaming, ERA chairs and Twinning projects. In addition, the conference raised awareness
of specific measures for spreading excellence and widening participation in Horizon 2020, namely ERA Chairs, Teaming, Twinning, Policy Support Facility. Last but not least, the conference provided a space to discuss other instruments focusing on spreading excellence and crossing innovation divide outside Horizon 2020.
To achieve these goals 320 participants from 44 countries were brought together; in particular, European and national stakeholders, universities, research organizations, small and medium sized enterprises, researchers and European, national and regional government representatives.
During the conference Commissioner Carlos Moedas and Slovak Minister of Education Peter Plavčan also congratulated to coordinators of 10 winning projects of Teaming Phase 2 under Horizon 2020 programme. Winners were chosen from originally 167 projects. Winning projects from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Latvia, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and two projects from Hungary will split 140 million Euro to create a centre of excellence helping to improve performance in R&I funding programmes. Each project will be funded up to 15 million EUR.