The Pongratz Consulting–Eurida Research Management second workshop, “En Route to Horizon 2020”, has been finalized. This time the workshop was organized with the help of EUCOPE (European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs) who also hosted this event on their premises in Brussels.
The speakers of the Second workshop included Ingemar Pongratz, Rita Clancy additional EU experts, namely John Stringer and Daniel Schubart.
John Stringer provided a presentation about the administration issues that will accompany Horizon 2020 project. Stringer also highlighted the need to include expertise and experienced EU project administrators into Horizon 2020 proposal and a questions was raised for the audience: “Simplification for whom…for the Commission Officer or for project participants?” It is noteworthy that the simplified New Horizon 2020 Core Contract is expected to be over 100 pages long, which raised a lot of concern among SME owners.
Daniel Schubart provided key insights in his presentation about the submission process, and very practical insights on the practical details of writing a Horizon 2020 proposal.
Ingemar Pongratz and Rita Clancy made several presentations regarding the future possibilities in the different Horizon 2020 pillars and as well as policy. The pair also brought forth expectation that the European Union has on Horizon 2020 projects and the increased requirement to conduct efficient and well planned communication activities within the project.
In addition, the workshop included official presentations from the European Commission and Eureka, Eurostars officials.
Dr. Strohmeier provided very interesting information regarding novel possibilities for Pharmaceutical Industry in the coming IMI scheme, in particular for larger organizations which are too large to be considered SME according to the EU SME definition. Dr. Strohmeier also presented several novelties that we can expect in the future, provided the legislative process proceeds as planned and pointed out that the Commission services expect large number of Horizon 2020 proposal to be submitted.
The workshop itself was centered around two intensive days and we are very pleased to note that at least two Horizon 2020 proposals will be submitted as a clear outcome of this workshop.
In addition, it is very rewarding that to see the overall positive comments that Pongratz Consulting and Eurida Research has received after the workshop. In fact the only criticism we received is that we were not clear enough about the services that Pongratz Consulting and Eurida Research can provide to support project proposals.