Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU and the Agency for European Innovations held the second joint practice-oriented webinar

On October 16, the team of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine took part in a joint event with the Agency of European Innovations, a practice-oriented webinar: Participation in Horizon Europe projects with a focus on calls in the area of health, bioeconomy and agriculture.

Olga Polotska, Executive Director of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, delivered a welcoming speech. In her speech, the Head of the Foundation emphasised the importance of the event, participation in which contributes to raising awareness and, as a result, the use of opportunities by Ukrainian researchers and innovators in grant programmes from the European Union.

The participants were also greeted by the Head of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU Igor Taranov, who presented a detailed overview of the activities of the Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, emphasising that October 17 marks the one-year anniversary of the Ukrainian Office. In addition, the Head of the Department presented statistical data on the participation of domestic applicants in Horizon Europe compared to the previous EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020.

Ivan Kulchytskyi started the working part of the event by describing the participants who had registered for the event in terms of experience and awareness of Horizon Europe and other criteria, as well as the knowledge and skills that potential applicants need to have to successfully participate in EU grant programmes.

Nataliia Didenko, Deputy Head of the Department “Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine”, NRFU, informed the audience about current calls and priority areas in the context of the Cluster 6: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment of the Programme.

In addition, Lyudmyla Lisova, Leading Officer of the Office, presented an analysis of the results of the call within Cluster 1: Health, dedicated to bio-printing of living cells for regenerative medicine.

Among other topics discussed during the webinar were practical cases of implementing projects at the local level in rural development, the agricultural sector, and the bioeconomy, presented by Tayisiya Symochko, Leading Officer of the Department.

The information provided by the speakers aroused great interest among the participants. The Q&A session and discussion of actions to prepare successful project proposals with the participation of Ukrainian organisations were intense and lively, which gives understanding of the need to hold such practice-oriented events in the future.

This was the second time that such an event was held. The first joint practice-oriented webinar dedicated to the calls under Pillar II: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness of Horizon Europe, the Agency for European Innovations and Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU was held on June 14, 2024.