Providing online consultations to the future Horizon Europe participants from Ukraine
The Department “Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine”, NRFU continues to provide assistance to potential applicants. The last few days have been extremely busy with requests for online consultations, as the number of people interested in participating in EU grant programmes, in particular Horizon Europe, is constantly growing.
On September 2, a consultation was held for representatives of Gerchak LLC. The company specialises in the production of rusks. As part of its modernisation efforts to transition to a more climate-neutral and energy-efficient production model and support energy sustainability, a system of solar panels and generators was installed. Therefore, the company is interested in the possibility of applying for funding under the Horizon Europe Programme, in particular under the Cluster 6 or any other relevant areas.
The leading officers of the Office provided thorough answers to all questions. In particular, Maksym Kolisnyk guided the enquirers on relevant open calls for submission and requirements for grant applications. For his part, Oleksandr Moiseiev provided recommendations on opportunities for searching for partners and forming a consortium.
The following day, on September 3, Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine specialists provided online consultation to representatives of Promenergia LLC, which specialises in the production of titanium, titanium compounds, and zirconium. Wishing to receive additional funding from the EU, entrepreneurs are looking for partners and need assistance in preparing an application to participate in the Programme’s calls.
The enquirers were advised by Nataliia Didenko, Deputy Head of Department, who presented detailed information on working with the EU funding and tenders portal, Maksym Kolisnyk, leading officer, who presented the general structure of a grant application, and Olga Kurykina, who provided information on budgeting.
Also, on September 3, another consultation took place, this time with PDM Engineering, a company that implements comprehensive engineering solutions in the field of renewable energy, critical infrastructure, and energy security. With a successful experience of international cooperation in climate innovation, the company is working on solutions such as rapid grid balancing, environmentally friendly energy generation, backup operations for critical infrastructure, etc.
After receiving written consultation from the Office and learning about the Programme’s opportunities, the PDM Engineering team identified the most relevant funding instrument for them – EIC Transition, which most closely matches the objectives of their project. The Office’s specialists provided the applicants with answers to the following questions:
- how to prepare an efficient application for the call for proposals: general requirements and structure (Leading Officer Tayisiya Simochko);
- what documents should be prepared first and how to best present the innovative nature of the solution (Leading Officer Vladyslav Mykhailenko);
- application ‘s budget: correct formation (Leading Officer Olga Kurykina);
- practical aspects of the call application procedure (Deputy Head of Department Nataliia Didenko).
In addition, on September 4, the Office’s team held an online meeting with representatives of the SPI (System for Promoting Innovation) project to provide advice on the conditions for participation in the Programme’s calls. The participants developed and tested a pilot project – an innovative export model for Ukraine’s development based on this platform. SPI aims to develop Ukraine’s export potential through the introduction of advanced technologies and the creation of international partnership networks with the aim of stimulating the innovative development of domestic enterprises, creating effective channels for entering European markets, and developing technological partnerships between Ukraine and the EU.
Currently, the project participants require additional funding for its implementation and scaling. Therefore, representatives of the company approached Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine with a number of questions. The Leading Officer, Oleksandr Moiseiev, reviewed the competitions most relevant to the project’s activities and explained how to find reliable European partners to create a strong consortium. For her part, Leading Officer Tayisiya Symochko provided recommendations on the best structure for the application and consortium. In addition, she informed the enquirers about brokerage/matchmaking sessions and other networking opportunities.
