What is Horizon 2020?

Horizon 2020 is a European Union research and innovation program, and is also the largest funding system for these purposes in the world. The program provides around 80 billion euro non-refundable grants to organizations from all sectors (academic sector, state organizations, economies, small and medium-sized enterprises, associations, NGOs, etc.) to focus more on innovations and scientific-research activities to the near market. Special attention has been paid to areas with less developed scientific infrastructure and small and medium-sized enterprises, for which 20 % of the total funds are allocated.

Horizon 2020 is open to everyone and significantly reduced administrative procedures to improve the quality of results. Horizon 2020 provides the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina with a unique opportunity to fund projects that would otherwise be difficult to find funds from other sources. Among other things, these are projects that finance the professional development of the academic community or work abroad, cooperation with the economy in the commercialization of innovative products or services and the improvement of infrastructure. The areas covered by Horizon 2020 are extremely broad and it is therefore one of the most important challenges for organizations in the RS and B&H to find their place and the appropriate role in the projects that will be financed in order to maximize the resources that the EU has made available.

During the creation of this Program, the experiences and advice of independent expert groups with which the European Commission conducted consultations, including representatives of the economy and civil society sectors, or non-governmental sector, were used. In this way, interdisciplinarity has been gained and it has enabled the examination of given problems from several aspects from different sectors, while taking into account the national and general European interests defined by regular consultations with national and regional authorities. This structure and dialogue has led Horizon 2020 to become the largest financial instrument for science, research and innovation in the world.

The Horizon 2020 program will be implemented in a way to enable the fulfillment of priorities and actions that are important in the changes and taking into account the evolutionary nature of science, technology, and innovation in a global society. In a global knowledge-based society, innovation involves business, organizational, technological aspects, as well as the aspect of environmental protection. That is why the social challenges of Horizon 2020 address the same issues and priorities.

Horizon 2020 will be implemented through three specific, interconnected priorities or pillars of the program, each with its specific objectives. These three priorities have compatible goals to avoid duplication of funding and enhanced combined effect. The accompanying components of the program and these three priorities are the Joint Research Center (JRC) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The JRC is tasked with contributing to its overall goals and priorities through scientific and technical support to Union policies. On the other hand, the EIT has the task of integrating the knowledge triangle – higher education, research and innovation – through cooperation within this knowledge triangle, which will lead to the development of innovative products, services and processes.

 Project goals

One of the most important challenges we are faced with is the reduction of unemployment, and creating new jobs. In order to solve the challenges ahead, it is necessary to use talents, knowledge, skills, experiences and enable effective cooperation of those who are best in their fields.

The overall goal of the Horizon 2020 is to contribute to build a society and economy based on knowledge and innovation in the EU, by engaging additional resources in research, technological development and innovation. This is fully in line with the Union’s efforts to achieve by 2020 the goal of investing 3% of GDP in research and development. Horizon 2020 is a financial instrument to help achieve the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy and other Union policies, as well as to achieve the establishment of a quality European Research Area (ERA).

The main goal of the program is to support the building of society and the world’s leading knowledge-based economy and innovation across the EU, with a direct contribution to sustainable development. In this way, different European policies and strategies, such as the “Europe 2020” strategy, as well as the previous achievements and functioning in the ERA, are supported. The achievement of success and progress in achieving these general objectives will be observed according to different indicators, for example, by investing 3% of GDP in research and development, increasing the share of researchers in the working population, and other indicators of innovative progress in the Europe 2020 strategy.

National Contact Point System (NCP)

The NCP team was set up to serve the academic community throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

National Contact Person for Horizon 2020:

http://unibl-test.etf.rs/uploads/files/strane/saradnja/Drzavne-kontakt-osobe-za-Horizont-2020.pdf

“Lear person” at the Faculty of Law at PIM University in Lukavica is Dragan Mitrović.

PIC number: 923369385

How to write a project proposal for Horizon 2020

The development of the project and the process of writing project proposals is not easy. It starts researching the context and reading reference documents to meet the requirements of the European Commission. Then open and announced competitions are analyzed in detail, in order to make an adequate plan of activities and identify the best partners. The process of analyzing, preparing and negotiating with partners is very demanding and usually begins almost a year before the deadline for submission of the project proposal.

Where to find partners for Horizon 2020

Identifying adequate partners is crucial. It is necessary to choose the best, but in order to get them, it is necessary to take the initiative and present it in an adequate way. The key is to be proactive, to establish communication with everyone who can help.

GUIDE  – THE HORIZONT 2020

GUIDE – THE HORIZONT 2020 PROGRAM (Part Two)

More information about the Horizon 2020 program can be found on the following pages:

http://ncp.ba/horizont-2020.aspx

http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/what-horizon-2020

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html