ExpectedOutcome:
This action follows Council Conclusions on the European strategy empowering higher education institutions for the future of Europe of 5 April 2022 and ERA action 13 of the ERA Policy Agenda (annexed to the Council Conclusions on the future governance of the ERA, 26 November 2021) on empowering higher education institutions to develop in line with the European Research Area, in synergy with the European Education Area. The action also contributes to implementation of the Council Conclusions on strengthening research careers (28 May 2021). The objectives of this action are to:
Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
The European Excellence Initiative in its widening dimension aims to raise excellence in science and in knowledge valorisation of Europe’s universities through cooperation. The action will engage with universities and empower them further to be actors of change in R&I.
Through the geographically inclusive cooperation and practice exchange, universities from different capacities would benefit from institutional changes. This would increase attractiveness and accelerate access to excellence.
By developing closer cooperation with economic and industrial partners within local and regional innovation ecosystems, academic researchers and support staff will be provided the opportunity to be trained in knowledge valorisation, entrepreneurship, access to finance, at any stage of their careers, and to take into account the variety of academics’ activities in their career assessment.
Cooperation of universities will be supported to create critical R&I mass and pursue specific objectives that contribute to accelerating key R&I areas of own choice, for instance, one or more Mission areas. The European Excellence Initiative in its widening dimension is open to any network or alliance of higher education institutions, such as – but not limited to – European Universities alliances selected under Erasmus+, and allows for variable geometries (where for instances universities participating in alliances for specific themes may team up with other partners to pursue other specific themes or objectives). Under this call the centre of gravity of the action must be in Widening countries. Applicants have to convincingly demonstrate this geographical focus, for instance, by a budget allocation of at least 70% to participants from Widening countries.
Projects should contribute to the implementation of ERA Policy Agenda priorities at the participating higher education institutions, notably the strengthening of research careers in academia and beyond. Projects should pursue the following objectives:
Applicants are encouraged to implement the aforementioned European Research Area policy objectives and to consolidate institutional changes by means of a coherent package of activities which could include the following:
Expenditures for research and innovation activities (such as seed funding for collaborative research projects, activities linked to joint doctoral and postdoctoral research, knowledge valorisation activities, etc.) cannot exceed a maximum of 20% of the total budget.
The actions should envisage a duration appropriate to the ambition and complexity of the alliance of higher education institutions. The duration should not exceed 5 years.