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Organised by the Research Executive Agency.

REA.A.4 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND, Researchers' Night and Individual Fellowships: Global

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Table of contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................. 4

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020 ........................... 4

2. The Event ..................................................................................... 5

3. Extracts from Marc Tachelet’s welcome Address .......................... 6

4. Main messages from Claire Morel’s keynote speech. .................... 6

5. Plenary Sessions .......................................................................... 6

5.1. Mobility between Academia and Industry – the European perspective ............................................................................. 7

5.2. Fostering mobility between Academia and Industry – the practitioners’ viewpoint ............................................................ 7

5.3. Strategy for an effective Dissemination & Exploitation of Horizon 2020 Results ........................................................................... 9

5.4. Career Paths for Researchers .................................................... 9

5.5. Innovation Radar Exercise ...................................................... 10

6. Working Group Session .............................................................. 11

6.1. Topic 1: How to get the most out of my fellowship? ................... 11

6.2. Topic 2. Getting it right at the host institution ........................... 11

6.3. Topic 3: Coping with the obligations of the GA: challenges to be tackled the way forward ......................................................... 12

6.4. T4. Do good and talk about it .................................................. 13

6.5. Topic 5: From Lab to Market ................................................... 14

6.6. Topic 6: What makes research in S&E so valuable? .................... 15

7. Conclusions ................................................................................ 16

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1. Introduction

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) aim to support the career development and training of researchers – with a focus on innovation skills – in all scientific disciplines through international and intersectoral mobility. The MSCA are expected to finance around 65 000 researchers between 2014 and 2020, counting 25 000 doctoral candidates. The Actions will address several objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, including the Innovation Union flagship initiative. This states that to reach the target of spending 3% of EU GDP on research and development by 2020, the EU will need at least one million new research jobs in the next decade. By funding excellent research and providing attractive working conditions, MSCA offer high-quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age, nationality or discipline. The 2014-2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions are: • Innovative Training Networks (ITN): Innovative doctoral-level training

providing a range of skills in order to maximise employability.

• Individual Fellowships (IF): Support for experienced researchers undertaking mobility between countries, and also to the non-academic sector.

• Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE): International and

intersectoral collaboration through the exchange of research and innovation staff.

• Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes

(COFUND): Co-financing high-quality fellowship or doctoral programmes with transnational mobility.

• The European Researchers' Night: aims to bring researchers closer to the

general public and to increase awareness of research and innovation activities.

Within the IF the Society & Enterprise Panel (SE) was established in 2016. With a budget allocated of EUR 10 million, this multidisciplinary panel aims to boost career opportunities for researchers outside academia as well as the participation of the non-academic sector in the Individual Fellowships. Between 2016 and 2018, 682 proposals were submitted and 158 selected for funding, across 10 countries.

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2. The Event

Some 40 projects from the Society and Enterprise (S&E) panel of the MSCA Individual Fellowships programme got together for the first time in Brussels. The objectives of the event were twofold: to provide networking opportunities and possibility to exchange experience on project management aspects for the researchers and supervisors; and to gather feedback related to various aspects of the S&E scheme. These exchanges and feedback could be pertinent for the design of the MSCA in Horizon Europe (2021-2027). The event was shaped in two main parts: Plenary Sessions and Working Groups. The Plenary sessions covered the following topics: • Mobility between Academia and Industry – the European perspective. • Fostering mobility between Academia and Industry – the practitioners’

viewpoint. • Strategy for an effective Dissemination & Exploitation of Horizon 2020

Results. • Career paths for Researchers.

The six working groups running in parallel were dedicated to gathering feedback from the participants on the following topics: • How to get the most out of my fellowship? • Getting it right at the non-academic host institution! • Coping with the obligations of the Grant Agreement: challenges to be tackled

the way forward. • Do good and talk about it: best practices • From lab to the market! • What makes research in S & E so valuable?

In addition, throughout the breaks a number of researchers had the opportunity to present their projects in poster sessions. During the event, meetings between innovation experts and project representatives were organised in the context of the Innovation Radar. A total of 15 projects were selected and assessed by three innovation experts. Finally, the event also offered ample opportunities for meetings between participants and their Project Officers to discuss and clarify, mainly grant management aspects but also the progress of the projects.

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3. Extracts from Marc Tachelet’s welcome Address

Director Research Executive Agency

During his address, Marc Tachelet highlighted the importance of the Individual Fellowships programme as being one of the cornerstones of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions. Out of 10,000 applications received by the Research Executive Agency (REA) in response to the 2018 call, 1,400 were funded. The objective of the Individual Fellowships is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of experienced researchers through advanced training, international and inter-sectoral mobility. Since 2016, an important part of the action is dedicated to fostering mobility towards the non-academic sector. So far, almost 160 fellowships were funded for a total amount of more than € 27 million. 50% of the funded fellowships take place in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, 30% go to larger companies and the remaining 20% of researchers are hosted by public bodies, foundations and associations. The Director pointed out that the workshop is part of the REA’s overall strategy to promote networking and exchange between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects from the same area. Following the provisional agreement on Horizon Europe between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament last April, March Tachelet encouraged the participants to contribute actively to the discussions during the event as their input would be beneficial to the discussions on the future MSCA activities

4. Main messages from Claire Morel’s keynote speech.

Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Directorate General Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC)

Claire Morel congratulated the participants on their success to be beneficiaries of an MSCA. She underlined that the Society and Enterprise (S&E) researchers are a showcase for excellent intersectoral collaboration, mobility and acquisition of entrepreneurial skills. Claire Morel continued that raising knowledge and skills - especially in entrepreneurship and innovation - is crucial for research, economic and social development. With the help of DG EAC, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) is reflecting on the extension of the EIT Label beyond Master and PhD levels to professionals in a lifelong learning perspective for the future of the EIT under Horizon Europe. This label will accommodate the need for the training of researchers in entrepreneurship and innovation skills and ensure better career development. She also encouraged the fellows and supervisors to share their thoughts on issues such as: obstacles researchers and organisations face; how can the Commission mainstream the successes of the S&E scheme into the other MSCA actions; how can intersectoral mobility be further facilitated.

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Finally, Claire Morel asked participants to be ambassadors, to show their great example to other researchers, to go out and talk about the competences and skills obtained in a non-academic setting.

5. Plenary Sessions

5.1. Mobility between Academia and Industry – the European perspective

The event kicked-off with a presentation by Rinske Van Den Berg (Policy Officer, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission) on the support and challenges for intersectoral activities and mobility in the European Research Area and Horizon Europe. Part of the presentation focused on the “Study on Fostering Industrial Talents in Research at European Level”, carried out in 2018. The purpose was to examine the feasibility of further EU initiatives to increase the participation of researchers in intersectoral mobility (ISM) in Europe. She presented some of the study outcomes and presented the recommendations formulated at European level.

The workshop continued with a presentation on the Innovation Associate Programme by Daniel Gassmann (Head of Sector, Executive Agency for SMEs). Gassmann depicted the main features of the Programme that so far resulted in providing skills development and career opportunities for researchers and access to expertise that lead to a business impact for the SMEs that hosted the researchers.

Francesco Fusco (Project Advisor, Research Executive Agency) presented the S&E Fact and Figures, in this occasion, statistics were provided about the S&E panel for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. He underlined that despite it is too early to identify specific patterns, the statistics show that the majority of the projects are in the life science panel, the applicants, as well as the beneficiaries are mainly coming from Western and Southern Europe, and that about 50% of them are SMEs.

5.2. Fostering mobility between Academia and Industry – the practitioners’ viewpoint

Further to the European perspective, the participants had the opportunity to share their views and experience on the mobility between academia and industry.

Dr Flavia Almeida, a Brazilian chemical engineer, who was awarded a MSCA IF S&E fellowship in 2016, presented her experience in the non-academic sector. Her project, “THEcore” (748256), is implemented in a Germany-based high tech company whose business is, among others, focused on the development of vacuum insulation panels (VIPs). The project started in June 2016 and in June 2019 Dr Almeida was offered a position of Head of R&D with a fix-term contract making her experience a success story.

The industry perspective was, on the other hand, provided by Dr Guilhem Velve Casquillas, CEO of EVLESYS SAS - a young and dynamic France-based company hosting several S&E researchers.

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Although Dr Casquillas, who holds a PhD in physics, has a vast experience in doing research in academia, he, decided to turn his knowledge into marketable services and products, by founding his own company. Dr Casquillas has a high level of awareness about the benefits of engaging with PhD and post-doctoral researchers. He believes that hosting a researcher is a winning solution for any corporate challenges especially for the incomparable competitive advantages that innovation brings.

The engagement in Research & Development and Innovation has been also the core of the presentation that concluded this section.

Prof. Harold Weffers, from the Eindhoven University of Technology, stressed how crucial it is for the researchers to engage in their own research career development, to further develop competences and establish effective and efficient collaboration with the industry, as such, how crucial it is to engage in the intersectoral mobility, a must for the next generation of leading researchers.

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5.3. Strategy for an effective Dissemination & Exploitation of Horizon 2020 Results

The plenary session included a presentation by Maria Carvalho Dias (Research Programme Officer, Research Executive Agency), about available tools for Dissemination & Exploitation (D&E) in H2020. She stressed on the vital role that the D&E of results play, in order to make a better use of the project results for economic and social use and to make available scientific evidence in support to policy making.

The Dissemination and Exploitation Booster, a free service supporting projects on their dissemination and exploitation strategies, and the Horizon results platform, which aims to ensure further diffusion and uptake of research results were presented.

Carmen Ianosi (Innovation and Policy Officer, Directorate-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission) presented the Innovation Radar a data-driven methodology to deliver intelligence about EU-funded innovations and innovators, and their market readiness. The objective of the Innovation Radar is to make the project outputs more accessible and market ready by identifying innovations and innovators with high potential, assessed by by innovation experts.

5.4. Career Paths for Researchers

This last plenary session was dedicated to the researchers' career paths and perspectives.

Mihaela-Elena Costache (Policy Officer, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission) and Odysseus Panopoulos (Policy Officer, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Cultur“, European Commission), presented respectively the Euraxess initiative and the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

Mihaela-Elena Costache explained the importance of Euraxess as a unique pan-European initiative, which delivers information and support services to researchers. It aims to support researchers' mobility and career development, while enhancing scientific collaboration between Europe and the world.

Odysseus Panopoulos, on the other hand, presented the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) as a unique platform connecting researchers throughout Europe, and around the world, boosting international transdisciplinary collaborations. He emphasized on the fact that the MCAA encourages networking, cooperation, and mutual understanding among MCAA members, and external stakeholders and serves as a forum of debate for researchers and citizens.

Based on the survey results, the initiatives were not known to the majority of the participants who declared both presentations as being very useful providing valuable information.

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5.5. Innovation Radar Exercise

The Innovation Radar is an online platform set up by the European Commission, DG CONNECT to identify high potential innovators and innovations within EU funded research projects and to identify their specific "go to market" needs. The Innovation Radar wants to achieve this objective by making use of innovation/market experts that will discuss/challenge/understand the innovation aspects and strategies of a project while helping them define the best innovation path to be followed.

We took advantage of gathering several beneficiaries in our premises to organise for the first time at unit level, a Pilot Innovation Radar Exercise. Several projects were selected, of which 15 projects accepted to participate. The project representatives were invited to attend a dedicated session in order to get familiar with the exercise procedure and to meet with their assigned innovation experts.

Bilateral meetings between the project representatives and the assigned innovation experts were carried out during the event. The parties have been in contact also after the event with the aim to finalise the Innovation Radar Questionnaire. The latter is a formalised questionnaire, which is pivotal for the exercise, and from which conclusions on the level of innovation are drawn.

The below chart shows a graphical representation with each unique innovation/innovator combination plotted on an X-Y axis.

As result of the exercise, it is important to underline the fact that half of the concerned S&E projects have a high level of market creating capacity.

Innovation Radar (IR) Intelligence portal https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/InnoRadar/index.cfm

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6. Working Group Session

In order to maximise the outcome of the event and to gather feedback from the participants, group discussions were organised around six topics. All participants were divided into six groups and each of the groups allocated with one room.

Six rapporteurs, one for each of the identified topics, moved along the six meeting rooms collecting feedback on the specific topic from each group. All participants had the possibility to express their opinion on each of the topics. The main outcomes are reported below.

6.1. Topic 1: How to get the most out of my fellowship?

MSCA fellowships projects should be designed to offer tailor-made support to the researchers. Training through research is the backbone of the activities in a project. However – and in addition – complementary activities like entrepreneurship, patent and IP trainings, participation in conferences or publications might be pertinent. The key points for the research and training programme should be pinpointed in a career development plan. How to go about it?

Discussions:

• Main challenges and opportunities of a MSCA IF fellowship outside academia. • Career Development Plan: why, when, how? • After MSCA IF S&E fellowship: industry or academia? • The supervisor: role and responsibilities. • Communication with REA PO, other MSCA researchers.

Conclusions:

MSCA IF S&E help researchers to better understand the market needs and to adapt to the working environment outside academia.

MSCA researchers provide a bridge between the public and the private sectors.

Recommendations:

Concrete guidance (template) and follow-up is needed on the Career Development Plan.

More effective communication is sometimes needed (e.g. face to face meetings; webinars) with Project Officers at the beginning of the fellowship.

A (web-based) beneficiary's day to be organised for the new S&E beneficiaries could be considered.

Financial support for disseminating the project results after the end of the fellowship is needed.

More support/guidance/monitoring for the supervisors to better understand and perform their role.

6.2. Topic 2. Getting it right at the host institution

It is undoubted that the supervisor has a pivotal role in making an MSCA fellowship a success by providing support, guidance and - often - an existing network of research collaborations. Administrative and personal support is often

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particularly important for the beginning of the project, visa issues, housing of family care might be matters to prepare for. What are best practices for the non-academic sector?

Discussions:

• Support from the host institution when moving to the new country (visa, housing, school) and information on the administrative aspects of your fellowship;

• Opportunity to regularly participate in network/or training activities (conferences, seminars, summer schools…);

• Successful supervision/mentoring structure(s)/arrangement(s).

Conclusions:

The size of the company determines the level of support received with regards to networking opportunities, training and career development. Larger companies are better prepared.

Companies limited experience with MSCA rules and with their obligations towards the researcher.

The well-known reputation of the MSCA researchers is not necessarily recognized in the non-academic environment

The supervisor's role within the company determines the intensity and quality of the supervision.

Recommendations:

The Beneficiaries should provide researchers with a “guide”, containing relevant information about the company and the support service offered (i.e language courses, housing, taxation, etc).

The Beneficiaries should provide the Supervisors with a guide on the administrative management of the grant.

The Beneficiaries should implement a job shadowing programme for the newcomer researchers with the aim to explain how the institution works.

The Beneficiaries should provide the researchers with the employment contract already during the GAP stage along with a clear explanation of the MSCA rights (pay, social security, pension) and obligations. The contract should be in English and a yearly compensation mechanism should be foreseen for countries facing different exchange rates.

6.3. Topic 3: Coping with the obligations of the GA: challenges to be tackled the way forward

The grant agreements for MSCA fellowships offer a wide range of provisions to be respected and implemented. Financial obligations stemming from the allowances that are to be used correctly. Publications and data have to be open access. Ethics requirements have to be respected. A timely reporting is needed for triggering a payment swiftly. What are the critical issues for S & E and how can they be tackled in the best possible way?

Discussions:

• Definition of the employment contract/support to understand it/taxation/financial rules;

• Open Research Data Pilot and DMP; • Open access;

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• Ethics deliverables.

Conclusions:

The Grant Agreement contains all needed information in terms of rights and obligations, but it is not easy to find information;

The applicable taxation and the way to use the budget is often not clear; It is not clear what the Open Research Data Pilot involves and how the Data

Management Plan needs to be drafted. Researchers prefer to publish in top level journals, although some top level

publishers do not offer open access option. There is not enough guidance on the way to use repositories. Ethics compliance is often cumbersome for a non-academic host.

Recommendations

Advertising widely the role of the NCPs; Webinars for beneficiaries and Researchers at the beginning of Grant

Agreement Preparation (GAP); Provide a template for the Data Management Plan to be used by beneficiaries

6.4. T4. Do good and talk about it

An important part of the project are the outreach and communication activities and the dissemination of results. They offer the opportunity to promote the action and the results to a wider public and to spread the project results within the research community. Such information is crucial to make the benefit of a project known and they pave the way for future research activities. Responsible Research and Innovation are requirements for societal acceptance and support to research project. How to do it right?

Discussions:

• Project effort dedicated to outreach/communication and dissemination; • Outreach/communication; • Disseminating project results; • Academic versus non-academic environment.

Conclusions:

The support and the ways of dealing with D&E and Communication, differs and depends on the organisation policy. Restrictions may be imposed depending on the company and type of project and/or results.

Adaptation of the D&E and Communication strategy to the environment. Dissemination and communication activities are sometimes appreciated by

the companies as they are seen as advertising tools. Outreach is not always seen as a priority by non-academic organisations. The sharing of results is perceived as a challenge, because of the restrictions

imposed (e.g. open access). It is, however, important for the researcher to publish if they want to pursue a career outside the hosting organisation or to go back to the academic sector.

Recommendations:

Researchers to promote their projects within the hosting organisation;

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Researchers need to raise awareness of the importance of D&E and communication of project results within the hosting organisation (education within company);

Researchers to act as MSCA ambassador in the non-academic world; Researchers to learn how to overcome restrictions on publishing with more EU

guidance.

6.5. Topic 5: From Lab to Market

In many MSCA fellowship projects basic research and training prevail. For the S & E panel, however, it can be assumed that the research output is closer to commercialisation that in other panels. The dissemination and exploitation of research results is thus crucial for the implementation of a project. In addition, patenting, licensing and IPR issues have to be carefully considered.

Discussions:

• Exploitation of project results; • Entrepreneurship – Business creation • Training on business-related aspects. • Intellectual property right.

Conclusions: Some researchers created their own companies, others are considering to

create their own businesses, but the majority undertook the fellowship to engage in Industry and Business in order to expand their experience

In the majority of the cases, there is no training on business related aspects and it is on the approach ‘learning by doing’ where the researcher has to liaise with other departments (sales, production, marketing, etc). In some cases, training aspects are outsourced according to specific needs. The supervisor does not always play a significant role on trainings related to business related aspects.

Publications remain an important element to disseminate the results although in some cases, patenting and trade secrets might prevent researchers from publishing.

Patenting of the results is often envisaged, even though there is a strong demand for more information on Intellectual Property (IP) rules under the grant agreement and in general more training available on IP.

Recommendations:

Develop a general training programme on business related aspects at the

beginning of the fellowship in the host institution. Develop an online business training programme accessible to all MSCA

researchers (including a specific module on business creation) Develop new modules or to advertise existing training modules on Intellectual

property rights (WIPO/EPO, MSCA Alumni association) and exploitation strategy (patent is not always the optimal solution).

Provide guidance and explanation on IP provisions of the grant agreement and on how it should be translated in the employment contract.

Clarify Open access obligations vs confidentiality, trade secret and patenting.

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6.6. Topic 6: What makes research in S&E so valuable?

Researchers have – quite obviously – an academic background and are familiar with the working conditions in academia. What added value does the work in a non-academic environment have? Are there differences in communication style and expectations? Is working in an S & E host a one-way street? Alternatively, is there circulation between the sectors and anyway a mutual benefit like in spin offs?

Discussions:

• Non-academic environment: differences in the working style and expectations.

• Added value of working in a non-academic environment. • Measures to increase collaboration between different sectors (e.g. academia

and the industry). • Training for researchers to facilitate their transition into industry. • Impact of working in a non-academic institution

Conclusions:

Non-academic sector provides more specific objectives and targets, and many times a better equipment and resources.

Research is applied with concrete outputs that can benefit the society. Non-academic sector offers less structured training but the opportunities to

gain specific skills on ‘learn by doing’. There is less flexibility to pursue different research objectives given the need

to align with the company’s strategy and market needs

Recommendations:

Better collaboration between the academic and non-academic sector, taking into account the differences across research area and countries.

Create more awareness of opportunities in the non-academic sector through dissemination of success stories, sharing platforms, and events.

Training needed at the start: entrepreneurship, IP, leadership and negotiation skills, communication & management skills.

Academia should also aim to attract researchers coming from industry.

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7. Conclusions and follow-up

According to the evaluation feedback, the event met the beneficiaries’ expectations as overall the event has been rated 4.4 out of 5 points.

The success was clear during the event, when participants expressed their appreciation especially for the networking opportunities: the workshop gave them a floor to discover themselves as a community, which is not evident for researchers working outside the academia.

Further to the discussions, participants agreed that there was still room for improvement. Several recommendations and suggestions for follow-up have been identified:

training in the area of entrepreneurship, business development, IP, leadership and negotiation skills, communication & management skills can be provided by the Beneficiary. Projects can also apply for available free services provided by the EC (D&E Booster);

concrete guidance (template) and follow-up on the Career Development Plan as well as specific support and guidance for the supervisors, often not acquainted with supervision practices can be provided;

support to the researchers as regards the administrative information when relocating in a new country, such as salary, social security, pension, taxation can be provided by NCPs and Euraxess;

Whenever needed, effective communication with REA (meetings with Project Officer, e.g. videoconference, webinar) can be organised. Moreover online briefings can be made available to beneficiaries explaining the main rules, as well as issues related to the Data Management Plan (DMP) and Open Access’ obligations;

Overall it can be concluded that the S&E scheme is valuable. The researchers consider the exposure to a non-academic environment beneficial for their career perspectives. The scheme provides a greater variety of experiences in fields such as entrepreneurship, IP, and as such it forges a good basis for them to find their way on whether to pursue a career in the academic or non-academic sector.

A collaboration between academia and the non-academic sector is absolutely essential.