Learning across the borders: visiting of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU to the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (Day II)

The working visit of the delegation of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine to the Republic of Austria continues. On 17 December, experts from Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine continued their training and exchange of experience with representatives of the Austrian Research Foundation (FFG).

Angelo Nuzzo, NCP of the European Innovation Council for Innovation and European Innovation Ecosystems, started the training with a presentation on the services of National Contact Points in Austria with a focus on EIC and SMEs. The representative of the NPC spoke about the Austrian innovation system and how it operates in different regions of the country, ensuring sustainable development. Lil Reif, Head of the NCP for ERC, MSCA and WIDERA, European and International Programmes Division, FFG, told the guests from Ukraine about trainings, education, competence development and the NCP Academy. Ingrid Putz, Data Analyst at the Strategy, Data Analysis and Business Development Department, presented how to better monitor key performance indicators, analyse data, filter and search for the necessary information about the activity of participants in the Horizon Europe Programme.

For his part, Emmanuel Glenck, Head of Department, Thematic Programmes, spoke about Ukraine’s accession to the European Research Area in the context of a joint funding and capacity building platform for strengthening research and innovation cooperation (LUKE project). The speeches by Lil Reif, Margit Noll, and Emmanuel Glenc were of particular interest to the Ukrainian side at the end of the training programme, as they concerned measures to support Ukraine’s participation in the Horizon Europe Programme.

Lively discussions took place between the Austrian and Ukrainian sides, raising topical issues of best practices in the functioning of NFP networks in both countries, removing obstacles to increasing the number of participants who intend to become part of the Horizon Europe Programme. The participants also thanked each other for the productive visit and expressed their hope that the cooperation between the NRFU and the Austrian Research Support Agency (FFG) will continue and will have positive results on the way of Ukraine’s integration into the European research area.

On the first day of the study visit, the specialists of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine held a working meeting and training with representatives of the Austrian Research Support Agency (FFG).