NCP4HE

Horizon Academy: Connecting And Training NCPs Towards A Unified Support System (NCP4HE)

The implementation of the project Horizon Academy: Connecting And Training NCPs Towards A Unified Support System (NCP4HE) officially started on April 1, 2023, while the project completion date is March 31, 2028. The project duration is 60 months, and it has been funded by the Horizon Europe programme, under the HORIZON-EURATOM-2022-NCP-IBA call. In total, 35 partners participate in the implementation of the project, while the project coordinator is the Spanish organisation Fundacion Espanola Para La Cienciay La Tecnologia. 

The purpose of the NCP4HE project is, on the one hand, to connect and support the needs of the National NCP Coordinators and the Legal & Financial NCPs, and, on the other hand, to foster stronger and more efficient coordination and cooperation among the different configurations of the national NCP systems under Horizon Europe. To achieve this, the project will continue maintaining and developing the HE NCP Portal and the NCP Virtual Campus, the infrastructures inherited by the Bridge2HE project, expanding them in terms of content, functionalities, and user base.

The Ministry of Science and Education (MSE) is one of the implementing partners in the project, with a grant of 14.440,00 EUR. In addition to the work packages dedicated to project coordination and communication, in which all partners are involved, the Ministry of Science and Education is a partner in Work Package 3, the main objective of which is to establish good practices and quality standards for national NCP systems. As part of the work package, MSE participates in the project activities of tasks T3.2 and T3.3, focusing primarily on building capacities of the NCP Coordinators (T3.2) and developing recommendations for the EC on improving the NCP Minimum Standards (T3.3). Project activities include, among other things, interviews with the NCP Coordinators from other EU member states, exchange of good practices for better functioning of the NCP systems, as well as individualised mentoring activities for less experienced NCP coordinators.