Excellence Lab: Joint Event Held by BayFOR and the NRFU’s “Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine 2.0”

On September 30, an information event “Excellence Lab Bavaria – Ukraine” took place. The event was organised by the Bavarian Research Alliance (BayFOR) in collaboration with “Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine 2.0”, NRFU. The aim was to present future funding opportunities under the Horizon Europe Programme for the potential applicants, facilitate building of international consortia and establish new partnerships between Ukrainian and European organisations.

The event was started with the introduction of the activities of the Bavarian Research Alliance (Martin Reichel, CEO of BayFOR) and Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine 2.0 (Igor Taranov, Head of the department “Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine”, NRFU), their tools for supporting researchers and opportunities for fostering international cooperation.

Special attention was paid to the political perspective on Bavaria – Ukraine (Viktoriia Khomenko, Deputy Head of Programs and Projects, Office of the Free State of Bavaria in Ukraine), as well as dedicated support measures for Ukraine within Horizon Europe (Frederik Søndergaard, Policy Officer, Unit 03 International Cooperation – Ukraine and Türkiye, Directorate General for Research and Innovation, European Commission). Participants were also introduced to the opportunities offered by the Enterprise Europe Network for the development of international partnership and support of the innovation oriented organisations (Nivedita Mahida-Königsdörfer; Unit SME Advisory Services, BayFOR).

An important part of the Excellence Lab was the networking and pitching session, during which participants had the opportunity to present their expertise, research competence and project ideas, as well as to find potential partners for building international consortia.

The work continued in three parallel breakout rooms based on the call of interest under the Horizon Europe in the bioeconomy, sustainable forestry and renewable energy areas:

• HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-06 – Towards a Europe of Bioeconomy Places;
• HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-10 – Strengthening forest research for the support of Ukraine;
• HORIZON-CL5-2026-11-D3-05 – Demonstration of solid biofuel supply and conversion to high efficiency CHP from fully sustainable regional value chains.

The moderators – Thomas Ammerl, Gernot Vogt and Octavian Holtz from Unit Environment, Energy and Bioeconomy, BayFOR, together with representatives of the department “Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine”, NRFU Maksym Kolisnyk, Nataliia Didenko and Igor Taranov – presented in details the previously selected calls, discussed their terms and conditions, expected outcomes, criteria for project proposals, structure of consortia and opportunities for building international consortia.

The event brought together over 70 representatives from the scientific community, business, state and public sectors in Ukraine, Germany and other European countries, interested in developing joint Horizon Europe research and innovation projects. Participants had the opportunity to present their organisations, expertise and project ideas in line with the topic calls. During Q&A sessions and briefs, they also exchanged experiences, presented their areas of expertise and areas of activity, and expressed an interest in searching for partners and building international consortia for joint project proposals under the Programme.

Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine 2.0, NRFU, continues to facilitate the establishment of international partnerships, the search for partners and the building of competitive consortia involving Ukrainian organisations. The event “Excellence Lab Bavaria – Ukraine” therefore represented one more practical step towards developing international scientific and innovation cooperation, expanding the participation of Ukrainian organisations in Horizon Europe and integrating the Ukrainian research community into the European Research Area.