RI-LINKS2UA - Strengthening Research and Innovation Links towards Ukraine

The following three core objectives are achieved by a consortium of 12 renewed organisations with professional STI policy and policy analysis background from EU MS /AC (including Ukraine of course):

• to further support and stimulate the policy dialogue on R&I between EU and Ukraine and therefore to enable the better integration of Ukraine into ERA, by identifying remaining obstacles, drivers and opportunities through analytical evidence and R&I policy advice;
• to contribute to the improvement of supportive framework conditions in the field of R&I through a targeted portfolio of activities in order to systematically enhance and stimulate the EU-Ukraine STI cooperation;
• to further encourage and facilitate cooperation between research actors from the EU and Ukraine through a set ofsupportive R&I measures and by promoting EU-Ukrainian participation in joint projects in Horizon 2020 and other EU funded programmes.

In particular RI-LINKS2UA:

• contributes to the improvement of the framework conditions for EU-Ukraine STI cooperation
• provides an operational tailor-made support to policy dialogue
• strengthens innovation capacity and economic competitiveness
• stimulates and promote the R&I cooperation between EU and Ukraine
• contributes to the governance of Ukrainian participation in the Horizon 2020 and assure practical follow up and long-term impacts by applying diligent dissemination and valorisation precautions.
• RI-LINKS2UA is supported by ministries responsible for research from 7 EU MS as well as by core members of the project’s consortium from Ukraine, namely the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and National Academy of Sciences.

The proposed activities build up on the results of previous EU funded support projects with Ukraine.

The RI-LINKS2UA project work plan consists of six dedicated work packages.

WP1, International Knowledge exchange to support the integration of Ukraine into ERA, facilitates the policy dialogue on R&I between EU and Ukraine by identifying concrete pathways on the way towards ERA, by providing both continuous structural and ad-hoc operational tailor-made support reflecting the actual demands from the EU-Ukraine R&I affairs through analytical evidence and policy advice. This will be operationalised through (i) the establishment of an international policy support network including stakeholder fora;  (ii) exploring the development of multilateral activities on strategic strengths of Ukraine in Horizon 2020(iii) monitoring the implementation of the recommendations derived from thePSF policy mix peer review. WP1 is fundamental in terms of structuring and supporting R&I in Ukraine and requires high-level commitment which is secured by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, which is co-leader of this Work Package as well as by ZSI’s international R&I policy advice network developed over the last BILAT-UKR*AINA project.

WP2, Widening, promoting and encouraging Ukrainian participation in Horizon 2020, deals with the promotion and facilitation of the participation of Ukrainian and EU R&I stakeholders in joint Horizon 2020 projects by preparing targeted information about Horizon 2020 calls, by establishing a pilot RI-Links2UA project preparation support mechanism and by organising a summer school for young Ukrainian researchers and innovators on the topic of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) including also a module about Horizon 2020 proposal writing.

WP3, Governance of Ukrainian participation in Horizon 2020, contributes to the establishment of a sustainable Ukrainian Horizon 2020 monitoring system and facilitates the Ukrainian participation in Horizon 2020 governance and consultation processes by enhancing and supporting the collaboration of Ukrainian and EU MS/AC Horizon 2020 Programme committee members (PCMs). Additionally, WP3 supports the continuous professional development of Ukrainian NCPs by organising in-house trainings including job shadowing at experienced NCP organisations in EU Member States.

WP4, Innovation Support, is dedicated to the elaboration and promotion of innovation support measures that fit the framework conditions of Ukraine’s national innovation system and to the encouragement of collaboration between research and innovation actors from the European Union and Ukraine. This will be operationalised through (i) international knowledge exchange formats; (ii) cluster management training and cluster internationalisation support and (iii) workshops on strategic innovation intelligence and structural innovation support measures including innovation financing.

WP5, Dissemination, Exploitation and Quality assurance, is connected to WP1 to WP4, as it undertakes targeted dissemination of the project’s activities, outputs and results to its potential users to ensure take-up, valorisation and exploitation as well as exchange on an international level. Furthermore, WP5 is a crucial pillar of the other work packages, as it carries out a portfolio of dissemination activities to promote the STI cooperation between  between the work packages  EU and Ukraine.

Finally, WP6, Project Management and Coordination, will ensure achievement of the overall project work plan and its objectives as well as the project’s smooth implementation and thus is linked to all other work packages. Additionally, it secures efficient communication within the consortium, Advisory Board and with the European Commission as well as with other related projects and initiatives (e.g. SGUA).