The third in a series of 9 webinars for SMEs was successfully transmitted at 10:00 on 10^th December 2019. The 2-hour event attracted 60 participants from a variety of companies and institutions.

The webinar was staged as part of the ‘Turkey in Horizon 2020 Phase II project, which is jointly funded by the Republic of Turkey and the European Union. The aim of the training was to better inform SMEs about the European Commission’s ‘Horizon 2020’ programme which is the main vehicle for funding innovative SME projects to a stage where they may be commercialised. The focus of this webinar was on the need to develop viable and convincing business plans for inclusion in proposals submitted for funding. The need for sound business plans is even greater following the introduction of the Accelerator Pilot Programme as a lead-in to the Horizon Europe Framework Programme which will commence in January 2021.

Over 220 SMEs have participated in the three webinars which have been broadcast since the start of the project in January 2019, with an average of 40 topic-related questions being raised online after each transmission.

Details of past and future webinars and other related activities may be found at:

You can see photos from the Webinar in our Google photos Album.

The 3rd Advisory Group Meeting was dedicated to coordination and synergies between 12 projects funded under IPA Programme in Turkey and Turkey in Horizon2020 TA Project. The meeting aims to network End Recipients of Assistance (ERA) and stimulate cooperation and coordination of activities and search for potential synergies between the projects. The principal aim of the meeting was to create a platform for exchanging views on how ERA organizations are planning to implement the projects and identify common interests and opportunities for collaboration. In that context important objective is to raise the interest of final beneficiaries (research, business support organizations and companies) in participation in EU Framework Programmes: Horizon2020 and future Horizon Europe.

The focus of the 2^nd event was technologies in many interrelated thematic fields like transport, energy, environment, ICT and Nanotechnologies under the umbrella concept of “Cities of the Future 2019 (CoF 2019)”. The event targets calls in: Next Generation Batteries, Automated Road Transport, Mobility for Growth,  Green Vehicles, Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Cities, Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB), Smart Energy Systems and Consumers, Circular Economy, Raw Materials, Sustainable Process Industry (SPIRE), Factories of the Future (FOF), AI for Manufacturing and Robotics.

This event gave the unique opportunity to researchers from Turkey to connect with their European counterparts and pursuit collaborations and partnerships for new projects. These partnerships are essential to the continuous integration of the Turkish Research Area to ERA and the success of Turkey in H2020 and the forthcoming Horizon Europe. Moreover, the event was closely aligned with the objectives of the one the new major European research and innovation missions that will be part of Horizon Europe, namely the mission for climate-neutral and smart cities.

• The event brought together 298 participants from Europe and Turkey, coming from both research and industrial communities working on related fields.
• There was a very good balance between commercial (45%), research (38%) and public (17%) organizations.
• Participants represented 40 countries with 40% of participants coming from Turkey.
• There were 661 cooperation offers submitted to B2Match platform.
• About 90 projects ideas were presented during the Workshops.
• During B2B session there was 707 bilateral meetings being held between participants at 48 tables.

Key speakers presentations are already available to the B2Match web site. Workshop presentations are also available according to the consent of the participants in order to comply with privacy and confidentiality issues. Presentations were made available through the same system and only to registered users. All presentations are linked to participant profile in B2Match. https://cof2019.b2match.io 

Check out all the photos of the event in our Google Photos Album!

The 2nd Advisory Group Meeting was dedicated to Rare Diseases Calls. The principal aim of the meeting was networking of organizations involved in rare diseases research and related health care system in Turkey and relevant initiatives in the EU and to stimulate the involvement of Turkish organizations in EU initiatives and in particular in Horizon2020 and future Horizon Europe. The important objective of the meeting was also to raise the interest of EU partners in cooperation with Turkish organizations. The meeting was designed as a networking event providing information on Rare Diseases research in the EU and Turkey as well as on Joint Transnational Call on Rare diseases and presenting examples of collaborative projects and project proposals.

The 5th Focused Group Training covered key issues in the full proposal development cycle in H2020 ICT calls starting from introduction to the open call topics, familiarisation with key documents and online platforms under H2020 ICT calls, awareness on networking events and who are the key actors in H2020 ICT, including successful applicants and project implementers. Finally, special focus was given on how to write each of the three sections of the grant application form. The training was concluded with a hands-on practice session where the participant had to select a topic that they wish to get involved from pre-selected ones according to their needs and expectations (e.g. formulating a proposal idea for a specific ICT call, preparing an action plan for identifying and engaging key players in the ICT Area, preparing a pitching email for joining promising consortia, dealing with specific sections in the grant application template, etc.

The fourth in a series of 12 project writing training events for SMEs was successfully staged at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Adana on 22nd October. The event attracted 49 delegates ranging from microbusinesses to larger enterprises.

The event was staged as part of the ‘Turkey in Horizon 2020 Phase II project, which is jointly funded by the Republic of Turkey and the European Union. The aim of the training was to better inform SMEs about the European Commission’s ‘Horizon 2020’ programme which is the main vehicle for funding innovative SME projects to a stage where they may be commercialised. The event began with general information sessions about the Turkish project and Horizon 2020. This was followed by sessions which focused on the three key areas which project evaluators concentrate on; ‘Excellence’, ‘Impact’ and ‘Implementation’. The event was highly rated in terms of content and usefulness by the participants.

Almost 300 delegates have participated in proposal training and development events held since the start of the project in January 2019.

Details of past and future events and other related activities may be found at

You can see photos from the training in our Google photos Album.

The training was a three days event. The first two days outlined above were conducted mainly by the Proposal Development Expert on ERC, Dr. Lotte Jaspers. Expert delivered a detailed, hands-on training course to prepare promising and ambitious ERC calls for preselected Turkish researchers. During day 1, any question to help generate the understanding of what the reviewers are looking for was answered. During day 2, the specifics of the proposals were examined.  At the end of the day, 2 self-analysis was performed, which was the ideal opportunity to discuss with each person specifics of the expert’s comments on their proposal. On the third day, some insights on ERC proposals were presented and real evaluation ESR of a winning ERC proposal. Participants had time to work on their proposal based on a specific handbook that was provided to participants.

The purpose of the visit was to enable networking and facilitate communication between European Commission, TARAL and the project regarding the new Framework Programme: Horizon Europe.
This visit was arranged along with other Key Experts from the “Turkey in Horizon 2020” team and TÜBİTAK personnel at the suggestion of TÜBİTAK and with the approval of the MoIT. These organizations saw the event as providing essential input into the project to inform the transition into the next Framework Programme, ‘Horizon Europe.’

This training event aimed to familiarise participants with the essential steps needed to develop successful impact strategies for Horizon 2020 proposals and projects. The training was to support pre-identified individuals to act as information multipliers in Turkey of successful strategies related to Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. This was a highly interactive workshop. An EC officer, Dr. Carolina Rodriguez, Policy Officer on A3 – Horizon Strategic Planning & Programming (Co-design & Co-creation), presented the impact strategies in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.
Objectives of the workshop were:

• i) To understand often confusing concepts related to Impact such as Communication, Dissemination, Exploitation, Impact, Commercialisation ;
• ii) To familiarize trainees with the development of DEC (Dissemination & Exploitation, Communication) strategies for Horizon 2020 proposals and projects;
• iii) To familiarize trainees with the development Impact Strategies for Horizon 2020 proposals and projects;
• iv) To familiarize participants with the development of commercialization activities and business plans in Horizon 2020 proposals and projects

The whole event focused on participants building their confidence in Impact strategies, i.e. plans to advance the visibility of horizon 2020 projects and build effective DEC, impact, and commercialization plans.
The interactivity with the audience was ensured through “Questions and answers” during the presentations and hands-on practice exercises.
The event was a 2-days, demanding the event to be designed as interactive as possible.

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) with the support of the EU-funded project “Technical Assistance for Turkey in Horizon 2020 Phase II” has the honour to invite you to the Cities of the Future 2019 (CoF 2019) International Brokerage Event, in Brussels on 8 November 2019.

The event will target the following  Horizon 2020 upcoming calls:

• Next Generation Batteries
• Automated Road Transport
• Mobility for Growth
• Green Vehicles
• Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Cities
• Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB)
• Smart Energy Systems and Consumers
• Circular Economy
• Raw Materials
• Sustainable Process Industry (SPIRE)
• Factories of the Future (FOF) and AI for Manufacturing
• Robotics

CoF 2019 will bring together up to 300 participants from Europe and Turkey, coming from both research and industrial communities working on related fields. This will not only give you the unique opportunity to connect with Turkish and European researchers to discuss H2020 project ideas, but also get first-hand information about the upcoming H2020 calls.This event will be an excellent platform to expand your network and create new partnerships for the last calls of H2020.

Join this event, present your project ideas and discuss them with potential partners in face-to-face meetings!

Funding will be available to cover travel and accommodation expenses for participants from both Turkey and Europe, who want to present their proposal ideas in one of our workshops!

Looking forward to meeting you in Brussels.
TUBITAK and Turkey in Horizon 2020 Phase II project!

For more information please contact us at: cof2019@turkeyinh2020.eu

Please note that registrations will close by Oct 24 or earlier if maximum capacity is reached!