The Horizon Europe Stakeholders Match-Making Event, held on November 1st at the GIZ Sustainability Hub, successfully united more than 70 representatives from public institutions, academia, civil society, and the private sector to explore the open call for proposals on Climate, Energy, Mobility and Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society.
The event opened with remarks from Mr. Michael Oos, Project Manager of the EU4Innovation project, Deputy Minister of Education and Sports Ms. Ana Kapaj, followed by the Director of Projects from the Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation, Ms. Ami Çarçani. They stated the importance of Albania’s participation in the Horizon Europe program, how it would improve innovation in the market economy, and their endorsement of Albanian applicants to benefit from these programs.
Participants were divided into 4 working groups where they developed concept ideas on the topics of:
– EU Mission Climate Neutral and Smart Cities;
– Sustainable, Secure and Competitive Energy Supply;
– Efficient, Sustainable and Inclusive Energy Use; and
– Innovative Research on European Cultural Heritage and Cultural and Creative Industries
– Building our Future from the Past.
Participants developed concept ideas for each to expand towards a project idea by sharing their expertise, know-how and possible contribution to the topic; they outlined the outcome, the consortium partners, and the project’s objectives to reach. During the afternoon presentations, newly formed consortia presented their project concepts, demonstrating high potential for tailoring their ideas into a Horizon Europe application.
This focused approach to partnership building effectively established new collaborations among local institutions – the way forward to develop fully-fledged project proposals for submission in January – February 2025.
The event’s outcome was rewarding, as it created novice professional relationships among institutions, yielded project ideas, and expanded the support system of the EU4Innovation project towards many new stakeholders to achieve outstanding results towards a higher number of projects in research and innovation.
