The key objectives of Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence are
- Encourage institutional reforms and transformation processes of the R&I system at national and regional level in widening countries in line with ERA principles.
- Mobilise national investments in R&I capacity in widening countries
- Raise the bar for excellence of R&I actors in widening countries in partnership with outstanding European and international institutions (‘win-win situation’)
- Increase number of participations and success rates of widening actors in research and innovation projects in other parts of Horizon Europe (notably in pillars 2 and 3)
- Promote the creation of new innovation ecosystems and upscaling of existing ones by a set of measures, which include, among other, place based and international collaboration between academia and business in widening countries
- Foster brain circulation, including inter-sectoral mobility for researchers and innovators and turn it into brain gain for widening countries
According to the Horizon Europe regulation in this programme component the less advanced countries eligible for hosting the co-ordinator of widening actions are Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and all Associated Countries with equivalent characteristics in terms of R&I performance (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo , Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia, Ukraine, Faroe Islands) and the Outermost Regions (defined in Art. 349 TFEU).
Budget: 2 842 000 000 Euros
