TRANS-NATIONAL COOPERATION AMONG ICT NCPS - IDEALIST2020

Project Information

Idealist2020

Grant agreement ID: 831620

DOI 10.3030/831620

Project closed

EC signature date 30 January 2019

Start date 1 January 2019

End date 30 June 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost € 1 633 874,99

EU contribution € 1 499 999,99

Coordinated by

NATIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AUTHORITY
Israel

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Idealist2020 (TRANS-NATIONAL COOPERATION AMONG ICT NCPS - IDEALIST2020)

Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2021-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Idealist2020 project (ID2020) Objectives:
1. Create a working relationship and familiarity among Ideal-ist NCPs, creation of a supportive system where ICT NCPs can cooperate and consult with each other easily
2. Provide training activities, online material and good practice exchange opportunities for all NCPs, specifically targeting newly appointed NCPs, 3rd countries NCPs & countries participating at low-levels
3. Support proposers with pre-and full proposal checks, a Topic Tree to navigate ICT funding opportunities, and a toolbox of resources to support participation
4. Facilitate and strengthen trans-European networking and consortium building through brokerage events, face-to-face meetings and dissemination of partner searches
5. Improve cooperation with other networks, organisations, initiatives and SMEs with the main goal of acquiring and disseminating information beneficial to the European R&D community
6. Build a rich, interactive knowledge base for consolidating and sharing work programme information for the benefit of the ICT stakeholders
7. Act as contact point for international collaboration and support countries targeted with Joint Calls
8. Ensure an efficient and operational management structure with a continual focus on the quality aspects of the project and support mechanisms

ID2020 was a noticeable NCP project due to its activities and services. The variety of services was the needed support in every stage of ICT WP life cycle for NCPs & proposers. Most activities were executed through WP3 (NCP) and WP4 (proposers); with synergies & support of other work packages, strategy (WP2), content related to HE (WP7), a platform (website) to offer information, tips & dissemination (WP5), coordination & admin support (WP1) and followup to assure lessons learnt & impact (WP6).
The project kept examining its activities & community needs, deriving conclusions & adjustments to maintain its support despite obstacles and constraints in the COVID19 era.

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

RP2 Work performed & main results:
• Training activities (online): 1 training session, 3 Good Practice Exchange & 5 Webinars.
• 10 Briefings related to new R&I Framework Programmes, Horizon Europe (HE) & Digital Europe.
• Online Advisory Board (March 2021)- toward the end of H2020 & In light of rapid changes and transition to HE.
• Topic Tree new back-end tool– Data Management Platform – allowing full management of the Topic Tree data.
• 3 full proposal check events- 72 proposals reviewed & a mid-term proposal check service at the ERF2020 (Malaga).
• Partner search (PS) from centralised F&T Portal were promoted and republished using API data (JSON), with enriched, user-oriented functionalities: filtering & search mechanism, recommendation & notification service.
• A partner search facilitation proposers page guide - the effective ways to get involved in H2020, e.g. partnerships, digital innovation ecosystems, cascading grant calls & brokerage events.
• A high-level workshop (R&I Days) 'Digital tracks on artificial intelligence'.
• 26 events representation - information days, industrial events, cross-sectoral events & online events- gathering information on ICT & related call topics and policy issues, raising awareness of services.
• Ideal-ist's proposer toolbox updated periodically, with relevance for the final year of HE, inc. Videos and a pilot MOOC on issues of relevance for participants.
• Updated Background information on the H2020 call requirements- 58 ICT and ICT-related topics. A first limited set of background information was compiled for the first HE calls.
• Online Digital Face2Face brokerage (June 2021)- over 1000 participants, 49 countries, networking features left open for the long term.
• Project website- continuous work & maintenance, implementation of new functionalities.

Exploitation & Dissemination:
Promotional campaign continuously adapted to clarify and promote the message: what Idealist2020 is about and what it offers- 1. Updates on H2020 and HE programmes, 2. ICT related calls and topics Information 3. Various services offered 4—tips & tricks for proposers and NCPs.
In this realm, videos were produced and used- Support's success stories, MOOCs and promotional. Leaflets developed and changed to maintain message attractiveness & interest.
The project's website enables better results dissemination and effective external communication with the community, including updates registration.
ID2020 made efforts to share valuable information and services provided by the network; the advertising activities, through social media, newsletter and spotlights, were made to increase services traffic and exposure.
Project's dissemination campaign was challenged by COVID19 & HE program adoption significant delays. The project kept examining its operation routes, proactively developed solutions and adjustments relevant to constraints of delayed approval and no physical meetings.

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)

1. An improved, more consistent & professionalised NCP service across Europe, thereby helping simplify access to H2020 calls and lowering entry barriers for newcomers.

Through the training opportunities offered, ICT NCPs participated in various activities allowing them to offer better quality services to the national ICT community, thereby simplifying access to H2020 calls and preparing for HE. A series of activities addressing general matters relating to NCP service while also offering theme-specific activities related to key burning issues. The interaction between NCPs during activities, the exchange of knowledge and experiences are key means of supporting the participation of different constituencies, lowering the entry barriers for newcomers.
Ideal-ist offered an extended online brokerage facility for several ICT calls as well as for targeted events. This facilitated online networking between proposers who were unable to attend the information days organised by the EC.
Ideal-ist offered high-impact full proposal check events - offering expert advise on 72 proposals and a paralleled learning experience for experienced and novel NCPs alike. This service also contributes to more consistent NCP services across Europe as NCPs encounter a higher range than nationally seen of good quality proposals.
Work Package 7 Activities allowed all NCPs, MS, potential AC & 3rd Countries to access HE information.


2. An increase in the quality of proposals submitted, including those from countries with lower success rates than average.

Ideal-ist supported proposers and proposal development life cycle while considering the need to increase proposals' quality in the following ways:
• By providing an online proposal idea check form and NCPs guidance on how to provide feedback.
• By providing a proposal idea check service during the early phases of proposal development, involving Ideal-ist network most experienced ICT NCPs, who provided valuable advice.
• By providing a full proposal check service a month before the deadline while adjusting to developments (COVID19)- offer extra occasions in addition to online session format to remove participation barriers due to time/cost of travel. Experienced H2020 evaluators shared feedback with Coordinators, reaching 72 proposals in 2020. An effort was made to involve NCPs who have less experience and/or come from countries that have lower than average success rates as supporters. They gained experience which they may then use at a national level to organise respective events.

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