Annual_Report_2024

Activity Report

Activity Report of NCPs and Regional Offices

Services

is very important to us and we regularly survey attendees for feedback on our performance. More than 95% of respondents rated our events as good or very good (3 or 4 on a scale of 1-4, respectively). In 2024, Euresearch held 140 events (27.3% more than in 2023) and reached 64.9% more participants (see Fig. 2). The majority of the client events were classified as “informing” (59.5%), followed by “advising” (38.1%) and “connecting” (2.4%) (data not shown). Several of them were a unique combination of event format, target audi ence and stakeholder involvement. Below we showcase selected examples: targeting companies, in collaboration with the non-profit agency for business and innova tion “BaselArea”. The online event “Finance your innovation – Funding and support for start-ups and SMEs”, featured presentations by the Euresearch National Contact Points (NCPs) on Horizon Europe innovation pro- grammes (EIC, EIE and EIT) as well as presentations on regional and national fund ing schemes. 84 people participated, and some additionally booked bilateral meetings to discuss their specific project ideas with the advisors. - The Euresearch Regional Offices in North western Switzerland organised an event - The event “Upcoming AI funding in Horizon Europe” took place at the newly established EPFL AI Center as a collaboration between Euresearch advisors at the EPFL and the NCPs for Digital. The event provided useful insights to EPFL researchers on the 2025 focus of AI calls across all fields. It was also an excellent

The types of clients making use of Euresearch services in 2024 remained unchanged to the previous contractual period. This year, again, clients from the universities and ETHs made up the larg- est group, followed by “others”, the private sector and the universities of applied sciences (UAS) (see Fig 1.1). Regarding the client segments, we no longer saw the trend observed in the last 3 years of a steady decrease in the proportion of “prospects” and corresponding increase in “grantees”. In 2024, the prospects made up the largest client segment served (39%), followed by applicants (37%) and grantees (24%, see Fig.1.2). Unchanged over the years however is that the proportion of “advise” service types is the highest (54%) followed by “inform” (45%) and “connect” (1%, see Fig 1.3). Euresearch offers 12 services. Amongst these, the 5 most frequently requested are listed in Figure 1.4. Interestingly, proposal advice and project advice make up nearly half of all the services offered. Events The advantages of offering events in addition to providing information online are numerous: for our client-directed work particularly relevant are (i) a more dynamic experience through direct engagement and interaction, (ii) real-time commu nication and personalised experiences (whether in-person or virtual), and (iii) fostering a sense of community and trust towards Euresearch by bringing people together. The quality of our events

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Annual Report 2024