October 23, 2025 in the Creativity Hub of Ivan Puluj Ternopil National Technical University, a training session on developing a project proposal for Horizon Europe programme has been held in the framework of TNTU Grant Lab training program. The trainer’s presentation is published in open access in the institutional repository of Ternopil Ivan Puluj National Technical University and the collaborative workspaces will be available for the training participants till the end of the Grant Lab training program.
As ai important prerequisite, all participants were asked to familiarize themselves with essential information related to Horizon Europe application procedures.
- Destination;
- Type of action;
- Status and deadline for the proposal submission;
- Expected Outcomes and Scope.
The structure of the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) application consists of two main parts: Part A (general information and administrative data) and Part B (detailed technical description of the project). Part B is assessed against the criteria “Excellence”, which includes the objectives, methodology and concept of the project, and “Impact”, which describes how the project will contribute to the achievement of the programme objectives.
Application structure:
- To be filled in the electronic application system.
- Includes general information about the project, such as:
- Project title.
- List of consortium members (minimum three partners from the EU or associated countries)
- Funding requested.
- Short description of the project.
- This is the detailed technical part of the application.
- Includes sections describing:
- Excellence
- Project objectives: What will be achieved through the project.
- Methodology and approach: How the objectives will be achieved.
- Project concept: Detailing the ideas and innovative aspects.
- Impact
- Description of the expected impact of the project results.
- Plan for dissemination and exploitation of the results.
- Implementation
- Description of the project management and implementation.
- Work plan and implementation stages.
- Consortium: detailed description of each partner’s contribution.
- Excellence
During the training, participants were asked to fill in sections of HE RIA Application Form template in a collaboration board which will help them in structuring the concept of their project proposal and present it in the pitch session after completion of the Grant Lab program.
The most essential source: Horizon Europe Participant Portal
Other sources:
https://horizoneuropencpportal.eu/
https://horizon-europe.org.ua/uk/heo-in-ua/ncp/
…
HE short thesaurus:
Results: outputs achieved during the project lifetime; these can be, for example, new knowledge, innovative solutions, algorithms, proofs of concept, new business models, policy recommendations, guidelines, prototypes, demonstrators, databases and datasets, trained researchers, new infrastructures, networks, etc. Some project outputs (such as inventions, scientific papers) are “intellectual property” (IP) that may be protected by formal “intellectual property rights” (IPR).
Research outputs: project results that can be made publicly available; publications, developed software, algorithms, data sets. Research outputs are thus part of the results described above.
Objectives: Goals that are to be achieved with the implementation of the project in terms of research and innovation (depending on the topic orientation, this can also refer to networking, dissemination of results, etc.).
Depending on the type of project, research questions are addressed, prototypes are developed, innovations are tested or knowledge is shared among R&I actors.
The objectives are the basis for developing the results and research outputs.
Corresponding measures for R&I are to be provided – depending on the project objective.
Expected Outcomes: The expected medium-term impact of the projects funded under a specific theme.
The results of your project should contribute directly or in the medium term to the Expected Outcomes, in particular through dissemination, exploitation and exploitation activities. This may include the adoption, dissemination, implementation and / or exploitation of the project results by the addressed target groups.
Expected Outcomes generally occur during the lifetime of the project or shortly after the end of the project. Thus, expected outcomes can either be direct project results or objectives, or they represent a medium-term impact that is achieved (even after the end of the project) through the fulfilment of the project objectives or to which the project results at least contribute substantially.
Impact: Impact describes the potential effect/significance or the (long-term) effect/influence of your results on relevant target groups, (end) users/consumers/society, environment, science, industries/sectors, value chains, markets and jobs, European competitiveness, policy areas, regulatory aspects, etc.
Please note: Impact is not synonymous with the mere execution of the work or the achievement of your project objectives, but it describes the consequences that result from the implementation and application of your results. In most cases, the impact is only achieved over time (possibly via intermediate steps) after the end of the project.
Expected Impact: Impacts defined in the individual destinations of the work programme to which the projects are expected to contribute under the corresponding destination. In the Expected Impacts, projects do not usually have to contribute to all the points listed under the destination, but only to at least one. However, the more of these points you can meaningfully address, the better.
Pathway to Impact: Logical steps to achieve the impact of the project, especially beyond the lifetime of a project. This pathway starts with the project results and leads through their dissemination, exploitation and communication to the expected outcomes and finally to the wider scientific, economic and societal impacts.
Dissemination means the publication / announcement of project results. You have the duty to make your results public. Of course, this does not apply if this would affect the interests of your consortium or individual consortium partners (e.g. trade secrets, patent-relevant knowledge / IPR). According to the Open Science principle, you should make knowledge, data and results available to the relevant target groups free of charge, if possible. Publications are an important instrument for dissemination and must be made available according to the Open Access Principle. In addition to scientists, there are other target groups, depending on the type of project, that you should address through appropriate dissemination measures. In general, these include all stakeholders who can learn from your results, e.g. public authorities, industry, policy makers and civil society. Typical dissemination activities are
– Publications in scientific journals
– Presentations at conferences
– Publication of data / results in (publicly accessible) databases
Dissemination takes place at any time during the project, as soon as results are available. The aim is to maximise the impact of the results. Other researchers can thereby take a step forward, the state of knowledge and technology is advanced and relevant target groups can use and apply your results.
Exploitation measures aim to ensure the use of results (either directly or indirectly, including through transfer or licensing). Exploitation may include:
– Use of the results, data, new methods, etc. in further research activities (outside the project).
– Development, creation or marketing of a product or process
– Creation and provision of a service
– Standardisation activities
Communication means everything that serves the public perception of the project, e.g. a press release at the start of the project, the creation of a project homepage, the production of a flyer, an information event for stakeholders, newsletters, field days, a trade fair appearance, perhaps a radio/newspaper interview of a partner institution – i.e. rather public relations for different target groups. Communication should take place during the whole project duration. The relevant activities should address several target groups (beyond your own community), including the media and the general public, in a way that can be understood by non-specialists.
They should highlight the objectives and outcomes of the action and include the intended policy perspective, e.g. by addressing aspects such as:
– Contribution to competitiveness and addressing societal challenges.
– Impact on daily life (e.g. job creation, development of new technologies, higher quality products, increased comfort, improved lifestyle, etc.)
– Actual or likely use of results by policy makers, industry and other communities.
– Transnational collaboration in a European consortium (i.e. how the collaboration has enabled more to be achieved than would otherwise have been possible).
The activities must:
– be effective, i.e. suitable to achieve the communication and dissemination objectives of the project
– Be appropriate to the scope of the project
– be strategic (ad hoc activities are not sufficient)
– Be coherent (avoid contradictory messages).
Please note that the term “use” does not refer to economic use. The use of your results, e.g. for further scientific activities or for setting new standards, also counts as exploitation/utilisation. So you do not necessarily have to develop a commercially viable product / service in every project (especially not in RIAs), and not only large companies or SMEs benefit from exploitation.
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