The proposal for additional activities for the European Partnership for a climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) responds to the Horizon Europe (HE) call HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1. Building on the work for enhancing the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA, updated version publication foreseen in spring 2024), 74 partners (+14 compared to the existing GA) from 29 (+4 compared to the existing GA) countries among Member States (MS), Associated Countries (AC) and Third Countries (TC), with the support of the EC will continue implementing the R&I programme together with comprehensive management activities to support the transformation of the blue economy, enhancing impact and building capacities as well as further structuring the ERA. In continuation with the existing Grant Agreement (GA), in its 2nd cycle, corresponding to the second instalment of the HE Work Programme, the Partnership will contribute to the Expected Outcomes of the topic HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-02 by implementing two joint co-funded calls (in cash) together with a set of additional activities demonstrating European added valued to be carried out by deploying other type of assets. These entail: alignment of national thematic annual programming, alignment of monitoring programmes and sharing of research infrastructures through an open call for transnational access. As far as regards coordination and management activities, beside enhancing some existing tasks towards an increased impact, three new key tasks are foreseen on developing: (i) the Implementation Plan, (ii) thematic/regional portfolios (i.e. clusters) of projects supported through different HE calls as well as different programmes, (iii) future additional activities, e.g. on a European Ocean Observing System Knowledge Hub or an Early career PhDs network. In terms of priority areas, the new one on 'resilient coastal communities and businesses' adds to the four existing ones.

LUKE is an initiative of several EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe aiming to establish a multilateral funding and capacity building platform focusing on Ukraine. Its key objectives are to implement a joint call and fund transnational research and innovation (R&I) projects with Ukrainian participation as well as to enhance Ukraine's R&I capacities. A modern, efficient, and transparent science and innovation system is crucial for Ukraine’s post-war recovery and economic prosperity. Sharing best practices, pooling resources, and transferring knowledge can significantly contribute to unlocking Ukraine's scientific potential, improving the framework conditions for research and innovation, and integrating the country more closely into the European Research Area (ERA). The LUKE network comprises a group of funding parties and the project consortium responsible for accompanying activities. The overall coordination and management are conducted by a call secretariat. Altogether 19 organisations from 13 countries have already confirmed their willingness to participate as funders within the network: Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Ukraine itself, as well as the EU accession candidates Georgia, Republic of Moldova, and Türkiye. Additional funding agencies have expressed interest in joining and may be included in the group of funding parties once the joint call has been finalized. The project consortium includes nine organisations, amongst them the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as coordinator, the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (including the Horizon Office and Science Council), Centre for Social Innovation (Austria), Danish Board of Technology (DBT), and University of Daugavpils (Latvia).

SYSTEMEU is an initiative aimed at transforming European innovation ecosystems through open innovation by fostering digitalization in healthcare, energy, and mobility. It unites five regional ecosystems, fostering inclusivity and collaboration among universities, incubators, public organizations, government agencies, and innovation centers from Germany, Romania, Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Spain. SYSTEMEU addresses the issue of traditional innovation efforts' limited focus on societal and environmental transformation, introducing a systemic and long-term perspective. By fostering a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment, SYSTEMEU will enable adaptable policies and stimulate economic vibrancy, enhancing societal well-being and advancing European innovation. SYSTEMEU promises to create interconnected, inclusive, and more efficient innovation ecosystems, strengthen cross-border network collaboration through six cross-regional projects in project duration and others after the project end, expand global cooperation through existing networks of European actors and ecosystems, promote gender equality, and reduce territorial inequalities in access to innovation support, aligning with EU policies and strategies. SYSTEMEU's innovative approach aims to usher Europe into a regenerative world.

The NCP4HE project has been designed, on one hand, to bring together and support the needs of the NCP National Coordinators and Legal & Financial NCPs communities and, on the other, to boost a closer and more efficient coordination and cooperation among the different NCP configurations through the infrastructures inherited by the Bridge2HE project, namely the HE NCP Portal and the NCP Virtual Campus, which the project will continue maintaining and developing, enlarging them in content, functionalities and userbase. A large series of activities involving training events, e-learning courses, pre-meetings, meet and exchange workshops, coffee-talks, and mentoring activities, have been planned to provide horizontal support to the whole NPC community, improve mutual learning, and create a structured space for exchange, with a particular focus on newcomers. NCP4HE will also prepare the ground for NCPs in the transition from Horizon Europe to the next Framework Programme working closely with the European Commission and their agencies to ensure a proper interaction with NCPs during that preparatory process. NCP4HE brings together a wide and comprehensive consortium of 36 NCPs host organizations from 22 MS and 9 AS countries, spanning three continents. Additionally, 11 of the 15 widening member countries are represented in the consortium. The project includes a balance mix of NCPs from countries with extensive participation in Horizon 2020 with NCPs coming from countries with low level of participation. This wide spectrum of partners is there to ensure that the project activities and outputs serve as many NCPs as possible, but also that the whole community needs are taken into account when designing and implementing the planned actions.

The main objectives of the proposed project are to - Build and expand a core network of organisations engaged in mission-oriented policies mainly at national level, but closely tied to engaged policy actors at regional, local or thematic policy levels, as well as the European Commission as an active partner. - Promote a common vision of mission-oriented policy, and enable knowledge exchange, mutual learning and the testing of mutually compatible practices of mission governance. - Establish partnerships and cooperation with regional and local actors in order to guide and frame the initiatives of targeted mission hubs - Support these actors in setting up suitable governance structures aligning EU, national, regional/local levels of mission implementation.