EU "Twinning" grants to close research and innovation gap within the European Union - Hoofdinhoud
Research institutions from Portugal, Luxembourg and countries that joined the European Union (EU) in 2004, 2007 and 2013 can now benefit from a new package of EU grants particularly intended to foster knowledge transfer from leading European research centres. Around €64 million are available for this first lot of ‘Twinning’ grants published today under Horizon 2020.
Twinning is a new action under the new Horizon 2020 activity, Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation. It aims at building upon the huge potential of networking for excellence through knowledge transfer and exchange of best practices between research institutions and leading partners.
The main aim of Twinning is to strengthen a field of research in a particular knowledge institution and to reduce the disparities across Europe, in research and innovation performance, by creating a link between their institution and at least two leading international- research institutions in other member states. Driven by the pursuit for excellence, research intensive institutions tend to collaborate increasingly in closed groups.
Potential applicants should clearly outline the scientific strategy for stepping up and stimulating scientific excellence and innovation capacity in a defined area of research, as well as the scientific quality of the partners involved in the twinning exercise. € 1 M will be the available maximum grant per proposal, for a duration of three years. Funding will be available for expert visits, short-term on-site or virtual training, workshops and conference attendance, organisation of joint summer school activities, and outreach activities. Equipment and researchers' salaries will not be covered by the grant.
The coordinator must be from an organisation in the EU13(those countries joining after 2004), Luxembourg or Portugal, and the proposal needs to include at least two additional leading institutions from two different Member States and/or associated countries.