Horizon Europe newsletter

Update on Ireland's performance in Horizon Europe
As we approach the midway point in Horizon Europe, 410 Irish organisations are involved in more than 1000 projects and have been awarded almost €700m. While Cluster 4 Digital, Industry and Space is the highest performing programme area in terms of funding drawdown at €117m, the EIC programme tops the charts for percentage drawdown with Ireland winning almost 4% of all EIC funding awarded to date (Ireland's overall average is 2.2%).

TRA 2024 - Transport Research Arena

A record-breaking 4500 delegates from more than 57 countries made it to TRA 2024 (Transport Research Arena Conference) in Dublin's RDS last month. The opening ceremony was a lively affair with organisers taking the opportunity to showcase Irish entertainment, lifestyle and scenery to the visitors.

National Delegate for Mobility, Bob Flynn, takes a look back at all the activity further below and he will see you for TRA 2026 in Budapest!

Model Grant Agreement update
Version 1.2 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement (MGA) has been published and is available here. This update includes a new provision on the optional unit cost for personnel costs (Article 6.2.A.6), as well as other updates listed in the ‘History of Changes’ table on page 2 of the MGA. Good news too for the Annotated Model Grant Agreement (AGA) which has finally been upgraded from "draft" and also includes a number of updates listed from pages 2-4.

New success story: Making Telecoms Greener
Our latest case study focuses on BeGREEN, a €6m project funded by the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking under Horizon Europe, which aims to develop telecoms networks to accommodate increasing traffic and service levels. Anne-Marie Bosneag from Ericsson Ireland, who has been involved in several EU-funded projects over the years, discusses the benefits and challenges of participation. You can read the full story further below.

National Support Network team updates
As well as National Delegate Bob Flynn's review of TRA 2024, we have an update on the new Personnel Unit Cost option from Brigid Burke, National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe Legal & Financial Rules. NCP for Cluster 4 Digital, Stephen O'Reilly, takes a look at participation figures for the most recent Digital call and has a look at activities under the Chips Joint Undertaking.

Get in touch
You will find contact details for all members of the team in our Horizon Europe Support Network directory - please get in touch if you have any questions or require support with your Horizon Europe applications!

Bob Flynn, National Delegate and National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe Cluster 5 - Mobility

Last month's TRA Dublin 2024 featured many global and European industrial companies as well as a significant presence of Irish industry across multiple transport modes and sectors.

Exhibitors at the event included the EC, CINEA, the European Joint Research Centres (JRC), the transport Joint Undertakings (JU) as well as transport-related technology platforms. Read Bob's summary of activity here.

Stephen O'Reilly, National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe Cluster 4 - Digital and National Representative for the Chips Joint Undertaking

Cluster 4 (Digital, Industry & Space) is one of the largest clusters under Pillar two of Horizon Europe with an overall budget in excess of €15 billion. To date, Irish participants have been doing very well in this area with more than €115m in signed grant agreements to date. Get all the details in Stephen's update here.

Upcoming events:

Tue 21 - Wed 22 May - Horizon Europe Missions Virtual Brokerage Event 2024. More info here
Tue 28 May - Horizon Europe Health (Cluster 1) Info Day. Find out more here.
Wed 29 May - North/South online webinar on Horizon Europe Cluster 4 AI calls. More info here.
Wed 29 - Thr 30 May - EU Green Week 2024. More info here.
Mon 03 - Wed 05 Jun - Indtech 2024 - Conference on Industrial Technologies, Belgium. Info here.
Wed 5 Jun - EU Cancer Mission project cluster (Understanding cancer) policy webinar. Info here.
Tue 11 Jun - European Innovation Ecosystems online info session - register here.
Tue 18 - Fri 21 Jun - EPoSS Annual Forum 2024. Details here.
Wed 19 Jun - Personnel Unit Cost – New cost method in Horizon Europe. Livestream link here.
Mon 24 - Fri 28 Jun - Summer School on Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management. Info here.

Missed it?

Lump Sum Funding in Horizon Europe: How does it work? May 2024 webinar Watch here.
MSCA Ireland Doctoral Networks Promotional Event - watch it here.
European Innovation Council, Info Day - playback here.
Horizon Europe’s Research Infrastructures online info day - watch here.
Horizon Results Booster - steering research towards a strong societal impact - playback here.
Horizon Implementation Day: Grant Management in Horizon Europe - playback here.
Horizon Implementation Day: Grant Agreement preparation in Horizon Europe - view webinar here.
Horizon Implementation Day: Finding opportunities & submitting a proposal - watch here