Teaming for Excellence

As specified by the Work Programme, in a Teaming project there must be a main applicant organisation (the coordinator), established in a Widening country, which will be a university or a research organisation, or a for-profit organisation that carries out research and/or technological development as its main objective, a national or regional authority or a research funding agency. Even if the Work Programme does not explicitly forbid a Centre with premises in multiple Widening Countries, , the project results and expected outcomes should be defined to provide benefits at national level, either for the coordinator or for other entities from that country.

As specified by the Work Programme, in a Teaming project there must be a main applicant organisation which will be a university or a research organisation, a national or regional authority or a research funding agency, legally established in a Widening country. The project results and expected outcomes should be defined to provide benefits at national level, either for the coordinator or to other potential entities from that country. Besides, the autonomy in decision making shall be one of the main principles of the Centre.

A non-exhaustive list includes access to:

- world-class research infrastructures (most often) that are frequently to be found in the Widening countries (often supported and built through the European Structural and Investment Funds);

- talent, as the Widening countries' institutions have a large pool of unexploited talented scientists;

- future markets, as the Widening countries' institutions are emerging leaders in their respective fields;

- bigger opportunities to future quality research and innovation partnerships.

The topic description does not specify the type of legal entities that are eligible for funding. However, the organization has to be classified as university or a research organization, a national or regional authority or a research funding agency.

The coordinator cannot change from stage 1 to stage 2. In Horizon Europe, Teaming is being shaped as one call, but in two stages. The consortium and especially the coordinator needs to be fixed from the very beginning in stage 1, and all possibilities to provoke a conflict of interest need to be well thought through by the applicant before submitting the proposal. This means that if the conflict of interest can potentially arise, in particular for the coordinator, it needs to be eliminated already for the stage 1 proposal.

There is no limitation on how many partners can participate from the Widening country neither from the leadingpartner's side. The minimum requirement is 1 Widening partner (the coordinator) and 1 leading institution.

However, it is crucial that the partnership does not become too complicated and remains operational according to the needs and specificities of the proposed project.

A Teaming project must involve at least two beneficiaries; the coordinator from a Widening country and at least one leading university or research organisation established in another Member State or Associated Country as an “advanced” partner. Partners from outside the EU are not excluded, but the proposal must convincingly demonstrate their contribution and added value to the project.

There is no requirement to "team up" with stronger or weaker regions in terms of research innovation performance.

In principle, “advanced” and established partners are scientific institutions that have developed an outstanding reputation in research and innovation excellence in the chosen scientific domain and established in another than a coordinator Member State or Associated Country.

Institutions that are still in the process of development or modernisation, e.g. those that are still receiving support as coordinators from widening actions under Horizon 2020, are normally not considered leading institutions, unless a proper justification is provided for in the proposal.

As stated in the Work Programme, a Teaming project must involve at least two beneficiaries: a) the main applicant organisation (the coordinator) established in a Widening country which will be a university or a research organisation or a for-profit organisation that carries out research and/or technological development as its main objective, or a national or regional authority or a research funding agency, and b) at least one leading university or research organisation established in another Member State or Associated Country as an advanced partner. According to the general annexes of the WP (page 11), International Organisations are not eligible for funding. However, a legal entity having the status of European International Research Organisation can apply for funding.

The key role of the “advanced” partner organisation will be to contribute to the nurturing and development of the research and innovation potential of the widening partner through sharing its own accumulated expertise, reputation, access to international networks, and its experience in management and administration in a specific area of research and innovation. This role will be exercised through the direct partnering and involvement in the setting up of a new or upgrading an existing Centre of Excellence in the Widening country.

It is essentially up to the project partnership to propose diverse activities and ways of involvement of the "advanced" partner, which will meet the objectives mentioned above.

A Teaming project should be the result of a joint venture with a long-term horizon of cooperation between the relevant partners from both the “advanced” and widening sides.

It is stressed that despite the fact that Horizon Europe funding for the Centre of Excellence will stop after the end of the project, a lot of effort needs to be placed by the partners in this joint venture, to continue supporting the new Centre in view of achieving sustainability in the long run and financial autonomy after the project duration with an ability to further develop the partnership and eventually to also successfully compete for European and international funding. Concrete measures of how this (financial) self-sustainability of the Centre will be ensured needs to be convincingly elaborated in the proposal.

Yes, signing a consortium agreement between all the beneficiaries in the project (i.e. all entities that sign the grant agreement) is required (following standard Horizon Europe rules), as provided for in Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Article 7.

Any other additional internal agreements/arrangements are voluntary and up to the participants themselves.

This Teaming action is not designed to support CoE that have already benefitted financially from previous Teaming calls. However, a Teaming CoE participating as an associated partner is initially acceptable as far it supports its process of development or modernization, while not receiving additional budget or claiming double funding. Its suitability would be assessed during the proposal evaluation phase.

Due to the fact that it impacts the quality of the proposals, removing partners from the consortium between stage 1 and stage 2 is, in principle, not possible, except in “force majeure” cases (e.g. bankruptcy or any other reason of ineligibility occurring between the two stages). In such cases, the change should be communicated to the European Commission / Research Executive Agency (REA) as soon as possible. However, the addition of new partners is not forbidden, but must be duly justified in the context of the proposal activities.

While a project is running, in principle, this is possible and would require an amendment of the Grant Agreement. However, due to the special nature of the Teaming action, amendments regarding termination and addition of partners will be analysed in detail and dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Given the nature of the Teaming call, it is strongly advised that the coordinator does not change.

It is worth mentioning that according to the Annotated Model Grant Agreement (Article 39.1), “The Agreement may be amended, unless the amendment entails changes to the Agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants”.

The budget request cannot change from stage 1 to stage 2. Both stages refer to the same proposal that needs to be thought through even if not yet fully presented in the stage 1 already.

Infrastructure costs are not eligible under the Horizon Europe grant and are expected to be supported by other types of funding, if applicable. An example of an infrastructural costs could be the rent for the premises in which the Centre of Excellence is/will be installed.

The general reimbursement rates (standard Coordination and Support Action: 100%/25%) and the rules for legal and financial set-up of the Grant Agreements are described in the General Annexes to the Work Programme (Annex G). For further details on the costs expected to be covered (e.g. start-up & implementation, recruitment etc…) by the EU grant see the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024 for Widening.

It is possible for an applicant to request less than €15 million as stated in the Work Programme.

There is no ideal ratio regarding the allocation of funding between the “advanced” institution(s) and the coordinator (and partners) in the Widening country.

Nevertheless, the main reasoning for the budget needs to correspond to the objectives of Teaming that are mainly focused on the partner(s) in the Widening country, especially in advancing the region/country where the Centre of Excellence is/will be established or is/will be upgraded/modernised.

It is not mandatory to constitute the Centre of Excellence as a legal entity and the Centre of Excellence does not need to have a VAT number.

Regarding the human resources strategy, it is expected that the Centres of Excellence to be created (or significantly upgraded/modernised) through the Teaming projects will become drivers for change in the Widening countries. That is why it is indispensable that the Centres have the highest degree of autonomy possible in every aspect of decision-making, including recruitment. Therefore, it is crucial – as specified under the Special Conditions – Procedure of the Call Topic – that the Centres ensure that all recruitments follow a transparent, merit based and open recruitment procedure for all staff, including management positions.

As mentioned in the Work Programme, a robust human resource strategy needs also to address gender equality (in line with the research institutions respective gender equality plans, mandatory for all proposals submitted as of 2022) and international component, ensuring appropriate management capacities for the effective and efficient running of the Centre of Excellence.

Eligible expenses that can be claimed by the “advanced” partner are identical to those of the partner(s) from the Widening Country in accordance with the Annotated Model Grant Agreement (Article 6).

Regarding possible financial contributions from the “advanced” partner, it is up to the partnership to decide if needed and how it would be elaborated in the proposal. As far as such a contribution would reinforce the long-term financial aspect of the partnership, applicants could elaborate it in the proposal.

Regarding the research costs, the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024 for Widening specifies that a minor research component can be accepted. The minor research component may include necessary consumables, small equipment and personnel costs for a preparatory research project. Please see the Work Programme for further details

The actual financial expression of a salary and both level and element of competitiveness is up to the applicant to decide. The European Commission cannot prescribe any values here, since levels of competitiveness vary very much in different countries. However, it is advisable to respect the national legislation.

With the term ‘competitive salaries’ the European Commission intends to underline that applicants, while looking for the best quality personnel to be employed in the Centre of Excellence, need to give an appropriate attention to the salaries paid for their future employees. In this context, ‘competitive’ means that the salary needs to have a certain competitive advantage compared to a chosen bar, which can be an average salary in that country, or a particular value for a certain position or scientific domain or grade.

The source for the complementary funding can be very diverse (e.g. national and/or regional funding, European funding, such as from Cohesion policy programmes, or private sources) with no obligation for any particular source to be used. A combination of several of them, can be contributing to the requested amount. It is very clearly acknowledged that the ‘one size fits all’ principle cannot be applied, but the country size does not matter.

As specified in the Work Programme, the total amount of the complementary funding must be at least equal to the total requested Horizon Europe contribution. This feature is very specific to Teaming calls; therefore, Teaming is called a synergy grant.

As specified by the Work Programme, the proposal submitted to Stage 1 must "outline how the access to complementary funding (CF) from other sources will be ensured”.

Thus, the credibility of the described funding source will be assessed, but not the explicit commitment evidenced by the letters. Practical elements, such as the name of the funding entity, name of the funding programme, amount to be committed, etc. will be taken into account to assess the credibility.

As specified by the Work Programme, the proposal submitted to Stage 1 must "outline how the access to complementary funding from other sources will be ensured”.

Thus, the credibility of the described funding source will be assessed, but not the explicit commitment evidenced by the letters.

The Work Programme mentions, “The letter(s) of commitment for complementary funding of the project will be an integral part of the evaluation of the proposal”. If applicants do not manage to submit a binding commitment at stage 2, they will be down-scored. Therefore, applicants need to carefully explore already before submitting a proposal at stage 1 and decide if there is a realistic chance for getting the commitment.

In the General Annexes to the Work Programme (Annex A) it is stated that for a Coordination and Support Action a general limit is 30 pages and first stage proposals have a limit of 10 pages.

Based on available budget and depending on the requested funding, it is expected that about 18 proposals can be selected for funding under stage 2 of the Teaming call.

No. All proposals are competing against each other on their own merit. The only criterion is the quality of the proposal and there is no country or thematic restrictions.

There are no restrictions on the number of Teaming proposals by country, as long as the coordinator is located in a Widening country (definition of Widening country is given in Horizon Europe regulation Article 2 (17).

Throughout the project’s duration, there will be a continuous monitoring process for the timely and accurate delivery of the complementary funding coming from any financial source.This is particularly important to ensure that the project is carried out in accordance with the evaluated workplan in order to achieve the ultimate goal/objective of the project. Complementary funding being an integral part of the proposal, requires that any change related to it is assessed against the impact it may have on the action’s overall execution and the expected results.

As specified in the Work Programme, the proposal should include a clear description of the project part supported by complementary funding (CF), where relevant including the eligible category of research and development, technical specifications of infrastructure, preliminary planning for building and installations, cost-benefit analysis, etc.

It should present an investment plan including the Letter(s) of Commitment for CF from the competent national/regional authorities or private sources to commit financial resources for implementing the future centre, in particular regarding investment in infrastructure and equipment. The Letter(s) of Commitment for CF will be an integral part of the evaluation of the proposal. The Annex template must be respected (structure and rules).

The Letter of Commitment should contain (at least) the following information:

-the recipient of the CF (i.e. the Centre of Excellence, even in the case when it is a newly created legal entity);

-the role, if any, in the project of the entity committing the CF;

-the identity of the entity committing the CF (i.e. national ministry, regional/local authority, funding agency, private entity, etc.) and the relationship, if any, with the recipient entity;

-the funding instrument(s) used to provide the CF (e.g. national/regional funding programme, collaboration agreement, donation, etc, including the maximum percentage and applicable top-up instrument (only for the European Regional Development Fund);

-the specific amount of CF to be received in Euro, including the timeframe,x for the release of such funds and the specific amounts per each instalment, within the duration of the project;

-a clear description of the scope and the project parts, activities or category of costs supported by the CF;

-any additional terms and conditions, including (if any) administrative formalities requested by the committing entities to unblock access to the CF.

The Letter of Commitment must be duly signed ex officio by a legal representative of the responsible body or authority who is empowered to make such binding financial and legal commitments on behalf of the institution in question.

As far as it is linked to the Teaming action, it might be acceptable. However, it should be noted that the complementary funding (CF) must be made available for the sole purpose of implementing the Teaming project. Its timely availability to the project is necessary to ensure the smooth implementation of the proposed Centre of Excellence project and to increase its credibility and long-term sustainability. In order to avoid further administrative delays, REA’s evaluation covers both parts of the project (i.e. the part covered by the EU contribution and the part covered by the CF). Should a proposal be successful, those entities committed to providing the CF to the project should request a copy of the Grant Agreement co-signed by the Coordinator and REA. Any further internal budgetary verification needed by the committing entities to unblock the access to the CF must not impact the project implementation or the obligation to release the committed CF on time.

If the funding is secured explicitly for that particular project, then by the Letter of Commitment it can be eligible as a complementary funding. This amount cannot be double funding and cannot be committed to any other purpose/project. It also needs to be a cash flow; no in-kind contributions are eligible.

For the future Centre of Excellence the autonomy mainly means being fully autonomous in decision making. Key strengths of it usually cover, among others, autonomy in recruitment/HR issues/salary setting for the Centre of Excellence, financial autonomy, i.e. separate budget line, separate infrastructure building for the Centre of Excellence, academic autonomy in terms of setting its own research agenda, and others.

According to the Work Programme, the coordinator will be a university or a research organisation, a national or regional authority or a research funding agency, i.e. with a public or private legal status.

Under Horizon Europe for Teaming actions a complementary funding equal to the HE grant is required. The sources for this complementary funding can be different - national and/or regional funding, European funding, such as from Cohesion policy programmes, or private sources.

The application form for Teaming stage 2 includes a specific appendix where all relevant information on complementary funding needs to be presented, among others on the sources, amounts, timing and the activities to be funded with the complementary funding. It also has to be made clear how these activities will contribute to reaching the main objectives of the proposal requesting funding under Horizon Europe. The amounts secured as complementary funding should be confirmed by a Letter of Commitment, for each source of funding. It constitutes a formal binding agreement for funding. The Letter of Commitment needs to be fully completed and duly signed before being uploaded (as an appendix to proposal Part B) to the submission system.

The appendix will be evaluated together with the full stage 2 proposal. For this purpose, additional experts with specific knowledge on complementary funding sources may be invited to the evaluation panel.

Yes, open science is one among several aspects to be evaluated under the ‘Excellence’ criteria of the stage 1 proposals. Applicants should describe how appropriate open science practices are implemented as an integral part of the proposed methodology. The proposal should show how the choice of practices and their implementation are adapted to the nature of the work, in a way that will increase the chances of the project delivering on its objectives. If applicants believe that none of these practices are appropriate for their project, justification should be provided in the proposal.

For specific guidance on open science practices and research data management, please refer to the relevant section of the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

For further details on open science please consult the EU’s open science policy.

As specified in the Work Programme, coordinating applicants in the Widening country must demonstrate how the proposed project is relevant to the Smart Specialisation Strategy of the country or the region in which it is/will be established (or upgraded/modernised). It is important not only when Cohesion policy funding is mobilized with respect to enabling conditions on governance of smart specialisation introduced under cohesion policy programmes, but also in more general terms: ‘The implementation of Teaming action is expected to become an influential and meaningful bridge particularly between smart specialisation strategies and excellence in R&I with the aim of strengthening the European Research Area and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.’

In case of Associated countries or Outermost regions, the notion of the Smart Specialization Strategy can be replaced by an equivalent national or regional R&I strategy.

This aspect will be evaluated as a sub-criterion under the Excellence criterion.