Project Management
1. Coordination of all elements of the project with all relevant stakeholders including EFC and DGR&I.
2. Clear and efficient communication including regular meetings and calls to ensure all partners were kept abreast of developments and that the project was co-created.
Content Management
1. Delivery of high-quality, focussed sessions at the R&I Days. The EFC worked closely with DGR&I and EFC members to shape the content of the sessions, the questions that should be addressed and to select expert speakers and a professional moderator
2. Creation and publication on Philanthropy Prizes
3. Formation of clear next steps and outcomes of the sessions, and a clear mandate for philanthropy and DGR&I to deepen their relationship, in particular through the establishment of a philanthropy strand under the new EIC Forum. This will facilitate the main conclusion: we need to move from co-funding to co-designing and co-creating.
Logistics
1. Close coordination between EFC and DGR&I on relevant logistics, in particular, the lunch with Commissioner Moedas and the foundations CEOs. Given the importance of this lunch, it was vital that every detail was coordinated.
2. Dedicated onsite management of EFC logistics of the R&I Days: EFC’s events team was fully on hand to coordinate the Philanthropy Hub, all the sessions and meetings, the networking cocktail as well as logistical support for the lunch.
3. Efficient management of all vendors related to the R&I Days: EFC logistics staff coordinated with VO Europe for all on-site needs, in particular for the Philanthropy Hub. They also coordinated with the Crowne Plaza Hotel as the lunch venue and the hotel for EFC speakers.
Dissemination and Communication
1. All co-created sessions between EFC and DGR&I were very well attended, both by EFC members, the European institutions and other stakeholders.
2. Clear and efficient coordination between the EFC and DGR&I on communication matters: the EFC and DGR&I COMS teams met to coordinate messaging and delivery. EFC constantly did online promotion and reported all EFC sessions during the conference and disseminated key messages on their channels.
Overall Results relating to the Objectives
• Obj 2: EFC produced a position paper regarding Horizon Europe and how it would like to interact with it.
• Obj 3: EFC explored these opportunities throughout the conference with sessions on prizes, policy coordination and European partnerships.
• Obj 4: EFC produced a first paper on what the EIC Forum could look like in relation to philanthropy and a follow-up meeting has already taken place to take this conversation forward. A first official meeting of the Forum group on philanthropy could take place early 2021 with a limited number of exemplary meetings implemented before.
• Obj 5: The relationships between different foundations and DGR&I have deepened.
• Obj 6: There is a clear mandate from both sides to continue strategic dialogue with a view to collaboration. From an EFC perspective this will be primarily moving forward via the EIC Forum, however DG R&I is also continuing conversations with individual foundations to establish collaboration.
• Obj 7: There is a much clearer understanding of each other’s constraints and drivers. One of the key messages throughout was if bumps arise in the partnership, the key is to remember the objectives and goals, and a solution can be found. DGR&I and EFC agreed to continue discussions on the philanthropy group in the EIC Forum and to define a set of thematic priorities and objectives.
