Launched in 2024, the Twin Synergies project, part of the Horizon Europe programme, is an exciting initiative to strengthen capacities to improve the research environment in selected European countries, mainly focusing on green and digital transformation.
The Twin Synergies project brings together nine partners from the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Germany and runs from May 2024 to April 2026. Its mission is to narrow the performance gap in research and innovation capacities between EU Member States by promoting human resource development and international cooperation. One of the objectives of the project is to improve the capacity of partners to prepare Horizon Europe (HE) projects and to better link Structural Funds and HE funded activities. The project thus aims to improve the situation where applicants from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe are less successful in obtaining Horizon Europe funding.
A significant milestone of the project was a meeting aimed at transferring experience in the preparation and implementation of European-funded projects in the field of HPC, artificial intelligence and low-carbon technologies, which took place on 3 and 4 December 2024 at the IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center in Ostrava. At the same time, representatives of the consulting company Steinbeis Europa Zentrum guided the participants through key topics in preparing projects for the HE programme, such as the correct interpretation of the call text, preparation of the project proposal concept, etc.
"I am glad that besides building and expanding the competencies of the participants, this meeting led to the creation of new contacts for future cooperation," comments Martin Duda, project coordinator for the Czech Republic.