Within the scope of the jointly funded by the Turkish Government and The European Union, “Turkey in Horizon 2020 Phase II” project, the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Project Writing Training for SMEs called ‘Full Proposal Writing for EIC Accelerator Support under Horizon Europe’ was held online on Wednesday, 5 May 2021.

The training, which was the ninth of fifteen events, lasted three hours and supported SMEs, spin-offs, start-ups and individual entrepreneurs who have made a successful first-stage application for the EIC Accelerator (the SME Instrument) Programme under Horizon Europe that focuses on the three main evaluation criteria of Impact, Excellence and Implementation.

The new ‘Horizon Europe’ Framework Programme which was launched in January this year introduced a new application and proposal submission process for businesses intending to submit applications for ‘Accelerator’ support for innovative SMEs.

In response to these changes, our team of international experts has staged an online Project Writing Training course entitled ‘Accelerator – Making a Successful Application’ on Wednesday, 28th April, commencing at 10:00 for approximately 2.5 hours. The content provided guidance on best practice in making the important initial application. This event was aimed at SMEs which would like to learn more about the three key elements in applying – completing the standard form, preparing a pitch deck, and developing a 3-minute video.

The event commenced with the speeches of Ms. Özge Gözay, TÜBİTAK Horizon 2020 Health National Contact Point, and Aleksander Bakowski, Team Leader of Turkey in Horizon 2020 Phase – II Project. Emphasizing the importance of the event and drawing attention to the TRANSCAN-3 ERA-NET Cofund Call, they gave the floor to Mrs. Silvia Paradisi from the Ministry of Health of Italy for her speech on the JTC2021 Calls and Procedures of the TRANSCAN-3 Project.

After providing information about the TRANSCAN-3 Project in general framework, Mrs. Paradisi completed her speech with a comprehensive presentation on the objectives of the JTC 2021 Call and application procedures. Also, Mrs. Paradisi and TUBITAK National Contact Points answered various questions of the participants about the TRANSCAN program and partnership structures. After Mrs. Paradisi’s session, Anne-Charlotte Fauvel, the representative of the European Research Infrastructure for Translational Medicine – EATRIS shared valuable information about the EATRIS and delivered a detailed explanation for the participants on how to utilize the platform for the TRANSCAN proposals. In the continuation of the event, a presentation session was held under the moderation of Ms. Özge Gözay and Ms. Şükran Alpdemir in order for the participants to share their project ideas and network. During the session, the participants answered questions and explained their views regarding projects, research experience, clinical capacities, and partnership structures to submit a joint project to the JTC2021.

The event ended with a networking session where approximately 100 one-to-one meetings were held for the participants from across Europe to gather together with the Turkish participants.

The event was a 2-day intensive online workshop focusing mainly on researchers and other participants of Horizon Europe framework programme with little experience, as well as more experienced researchers that would like to learn about the new Horizon Europe Open Science initiatives and the management of research data.

The event was presented the routes and mandates of Open Science publications and the necessary tools and repositories that can help the researchers adopt the FAIR principles. The European Open Science Cloud is also presented along with best practices and instructions on how to prepare Data Management Plans. The sessions are structured in such a way to help participants grasp the fundamental concepts of Open Science and Research Data Management and learn how to best apply them in their own projects. The content is enriched with presentations, training notes, curated literature from the EU, and useful templates.

The event was an introductory event targeting potential participants in Horizon Europe Framework Programme with little or no experience, as well as more experienced researchers that would like to learn about the new Horizon Europe EIC Pathfinder. The event focused on the EIC Work Programme and Pathfinder and Transition Calls, i.e. Pathfinder Open, Pathfinder Challenges, Transition Open and Transition Challenges.

The sessions were structured in such a way to help participants grasp the fundamental concepts and correctly understand the objectives of EIC Pathfinder. The event was presented the key features of the EIC Pathfinder, who should apply, how to apply, and how proposals are evaluated. The content is enriched with presentations, training notes, curated literature from the EU, and useful templates. Keynote presentation will be given by Mr. Gerald Cultot from European Commission.

Please visit https://th2020.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020594319-EIC-Pathfinder-Training-Webinar- to access the presentations and the record of the event.