To address the gap between research excellence and the transformation of the findings into market opportunities, the Programme Managers of the European Innovation Council (EIC) have published five strategic plans for the 2021 EIC Pathfinder Challenge portfolios.
These plans incorporate the specific portfolio objectives and activities agreed between individual projects within in portfolio that need to be carried out to reach these objectives, thus informing the public how the portfolios of EIC projects will be implemented.
The plans include portfolio activities at different levels such as technology, transition of technology to innovation, communication and dissemination, and ethics issues. They also include activities that contribute to better understanding and improving the current regulatory framework, market analysis mappings, discussions on IP management and training activities, which would be beneficial to all the projects of the portfolio.
The strategic plans are created based on collaborations agreed between individual portfolio projects. The Programme Managers, working together with the Project Officers and the portfolio steering committees, are responsible for the overall design and development of the plans.
What is the EIC portfolio approach?
The EIC Challenges calls for proposals support portfolios (coherent collections) of projects with the assistance of dedicated EIC Programme Managers. The portfolios reflect the scope of a particular challenge and successful projects are requested to join one or more thematic portfolios overseen by the Programme Managers. These projects are then requested to participate in portfolio activities together with other projects or initiatives to help maximise the impact of EIC funding in a selected priority area.
In particular, projects in a Challenge portfolio are expected to interact and exchange information with each other, remaining flexible and reactive in the light of developments within the portfolio or in the relevant global scientific or industrial community. They will progress together towards common Portfolio goals and create new opportunities for radical innovation as described in the dedicated Challenge Guide.
Detailed information about the portfolio approach in Horizon Europe is available in UKRO’s dedicated article, while further information about the EIC Pathfinder itself is included in UKRO’s dedicated factsheet (link in the ‘Related content’ section).