New funding opportunities presented at the EKT Energy Horizon 2020 event

The info day ‘Energy-Horizon 2020‘ organised by the National Documentation Centre (EKT), co-ordinator of Enterprise Europe Network-Hellas, the Greek node of the biggest international innovation and entrepreneurship network Enterprise Europe Network, and National Contact Point for Horizon 2020, was successfully held on Monday 15th January 2018. The event, which was supported by the European Commission and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology, highlighted ‘Horizon 2020’s new funding opportunities for the Energy sector during the period 2018-2020.

Through Horizon 2020, the EU is investing further in energy research and innovation supporting related activities to promote the development of science, industry and meet societal challenges.

Alexandros Kotronaros, representative from the Directorate-General for Energy of the Europoean Commission, presented the ‘Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy’ programme as well as its new calls for 2018-2020, while the National Representative for the programme explained the Greek position and participation in the programme. The total budget for 2018-2019 in the energy sector is expected to surpass 1 billion euros, but has still to be stipulated for 2020. Mr Kotronaros referred to the Energy sector’s 15% success rate for 2014-2017, and the European Commission’s average contributions of 4.7 million euros per funded project.

Sotirios Karellas, Associate Professor at the National Technical University of Athens, and Greek Expert for the programme presented data on the Greek participation in the ‘Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy’ programme for 2017. According to this data, the EU contribution was over 14 million euros. Particularly significant was that, for the first time, 4 Greek entities, among which were the Municipalities of Alexandroupolis and Kozanis, were involved in 3 of the projects funded as part of the Smart Cities and Communities call.

Dr Aliki Pappa, International R&T Cooperation, Directorate, from the General Secretariat for Research and Technology talked about the strategy for the 9th Programming Framework explaining that although it is still under discussion, one of the key goals of the EU is to strengthen the impact on society.

Dr. Dimitris Tzovaras, Director of the Information Technologies Institute (ITI) at the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), shared useful tips and good practices in preparing a proposal for Horizon 2020, based on his many years’ experience at CERTH both as co-ordinator of and participant in Horizon 2020’s funded projects.

Dr. M. Aggelaki (EKT) presented actions for Open Access in research and scientific data under Horizon 2020, while Christiana Siambekou, National Contact Point and Social Call 3 at the National Documentation Centre, explained the actions and services of EKT in supporting research and innovation as National Contact Point for ‘C-Energy 2020’, Horizon 2020. Dr. Fani Lambrianidou gave information about EKT’s action as part of the ‘EMPOWA’ project to enhance female entrepreneurship.

The National Documentation Centre is National Contact Point for Horizon 2020 and a number of its individual programmes  (such as ‘Safe, clean and efficient energy’), supporting Greek academic, research and business communities in their participation. All stages of the projects are covered, from proposal preparation to implementation and exploitation of research results. EKT services include: Information and Advisory Services, Helpdesk, Development and Handling of informative material, Organisation of events and seminars, Partner search for the formation of consortia and joint proposal submission. It documents national participation and publishes statistics and performance indicators.

In addition, it co-ordinates the largest business support network, Enterprise Europe Network-Hellas. To meet the requirements of the Greek community, it includes systematic updates and support services for those enterprises targeting international markets using innovative technologies.