Building upon the priorities set by Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020, the widerAdvance Facility emerges as our strategic solution to the European Commission’s emphasis on optimizing research outputs, particularly within the Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (WIDERA) sector. This area, marked by significant disparities in innovation across Europe, especially in Widening countries and Outermost Regions, is the focal point of our initiative. Drawing upon our extensive experience garnered through previous Horizon projects, specifically Horizon Results Booster, this initiative is meticulously crafted to support and emphasize the research outcomes from these identified regions, while seamlessly aligning with the existing frameworks and tools laid out by the European Commission. The Facility is not merely a supportive platform but a comprehensive learning environment for researchers, research management entities, and tech transfer specialists. Our tailored approach includes the deployment of 50 individual academies focusing on 750 Key Exploitable Results, complementary webinars, extensive training modules, insightful study visits to renowned research centres, follow-up synergies and fostering collaborative environments through networking events. By enhancing the visibility of these regions and making impactful contributions to policy-making at local/ national and EU level, we aspire to reinforce and enrich the European research and innovation ecosystem, ensuring the equitable dissemination and utilisation of research breakthroughs across Europe. The service part is underpinned by active outreach performed by NCPs and local partners to organisations having direct/ indirect research results from Widening actions, which maximes the pathways towards objectives and ensure the sustainability of the actions.

mERCury will help to 1)facilitate the transnational co-operation and capacity building among ERC National Contact Points (NCPs) to achieve a consistent and harmonized level of support 2)strengthen national and local support to potential ERC applicants, in particular to those from countries with weak participation 3)identify and sharing good NCP practices and raising the general standard of support to ERC applicants 4)enhance the competence of ERC NCPs, including helping less experienced NCPs rapidly acquire the know-how accumulated by NCPs in other countries 5)reach a higher quality and quantity of applications especially from Horizon Europe Widening countries by coaching potential ERC applicants. Our project aims at reaching 3 Specific Objectives (SO): SO1: Improve, professionalise and harmonise services of ERC NCPs. SO2: To Increase capacities of less experienced and Widening countries NCPs, facilitate their work and reduce the gap increasing the participation of applicants from those countries and in any country with weaker participation. SO3: strengthen national and local support to potential ERC applicants, in particular to those from countries with weak participation in the ERC programme. We will reach our SOs thanks to 4 Work Packages that include twinnings, meet&exchange workshops, online working groups, train the trainer events, training sessions and workshops for applicants. These activities will focus on issues specific to the ERC programme and to the ERC NCP work. These activities will be shaped and their topic identified by the same ERC NCPs through a benchmarking questionnaire which will deliver NCPs knowledge, capacity building and upskilling needs. 23 beneficiaries –12 from Widening countries- from all levels of ERC experience will be part of the consortium.

NCP4Missions is a networking project of National Contact Points (NCPs) for the five EU Missions, representing 19 Member States or Associated Countries (MS/AC). The project provides continuous capacity building measures for NCPs (e.g. E-learnings, Deep Dives, Meet&Share, Mission Updates) to support less experienced NCPs and to provide more consistent Mission NCP services to applicants. Adding to this, brokerages, workshops and digital tools are offered to potential Mission applicants. The project will establish important collaborations with all relevant Mission stakeholders (e.g. Mission Hubs, Mission Implementation Platforms, NCP networks) to detect synergies and to foster potential joint activities. The projects’ activities pursue the following objectives: • Improving and professionalizing NCP support services for the EU Mission Calls • Lowering entry barriers for applicants and raising the quality of proposals • Enhancing the visibility of the Mission NCPs and the cooperation with other relevant stakeholders and networks Long-term impacts can be expected in the fields of policy, science and society. As NCP4Missions will function as interface between the European Commission (EC), MS/AC and the NCPs, a better exchange of information on the EU Missions will be triggered. This will affect political decisions on EC and national level in support of the implementation of the Missions. The consistency of NCP support services in Europe and beyond will lead to more equal opportunities of applicants of different countries. Through an enhanced knowledge base on Missions in R&I organisations, higher participation rates and a better quality of Mission-tailored proposals can be expected, resulting in innovative projects. Awareness raising and civil engagement activities will impact the environmental awareness, health and well-being of citizens. The projects’ actions will generate an increased participation of civil actors and social innovations in the Mission proposals.

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) brings the European Green Deal to life through inclusivity, aesthetics, and sustainability, evolving from grassroots efforts to impactful implementation. Central to this is the NEB Facility, which bridges research and innovation (R&I) with roll-out efforts, focusing on local neighbourhoods. NEB4All supports the Facility by strengthening a transnational network of Horizon Europe (HE) and Policy (POL) National Contact Points (NCPs), fostering collaboration, sharing best practices, and empowering NEB NCPs to deliver exceptional support to NEB Facility stakeholders. NEB4All unites 28 NCPs from 25 countries, combining the expertise of experienced and newly appointed members. Through tailored training, mentoring, and peer learning, it enhances NCP capacities, improving stakeholder support, increasing participation in NEB calls, and elevating proposal quality. Key objectives of NEB4All include: (1) Building NCP Capacity: Providing training and tools to align HE and POL NCPs and bridge knowledge gaps. (2) Raising Awareness: Equipping NCPs to engage national stakeholders and promote the NEB Facility effectively. (3) Improving Feedback Mechanisms: Creating systems to collect stakeholder insights and deliver actionable feedback to the European Commission. (4) Supporting Stakeholders: Empowering applicants through matchmaking events and stakeholder meetings. NEB4All lowers barriers to participation for stakeholders like municipalities, companies, researchers (from technical backgrounds and social sciences, humanities and arts), and civil society, fostering connections across the NEB ecosystem. By ensuring high-quality services and gathering actionable feedback, it enhances the NEB Facility’s visibility, accessibility, and impact, driving sustainable innovation and inclusive growth across Europe.

NCP_WIDERA.NET aims at support the capacity and effectiveness of WIDERA National Contact Points with a special attention to less experienced entities in low performing Member States (MS) and Associated Countries (AC) to bridge the knowledge gaps to enhance access to funding possibilities under the Framework Programme. Through strengthening and enhancing the role of the NCPs, the project shall support international networking and coordination, as well as improve the quality of proposals from legal entities from low R&I performing MS and AC providing them with better access to services during the application process in particular with regard to Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area, as well as Pillar II actions. NCP_WIDERA.NET will focus on identifying and sharing good practices within NCP community and raising standards of support offered by NCPs to the applicants, taking into account the diversity of actors that constitutes both the Widening and ERA parts. Moreover, this project will equip the transnational network of NCPs to be in a better position to effectively address cross-cutting objectives such as gender equality and open science.