Societal Challenge 2 (SC2) in Horizon 2020
'Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy'
All brokerage event sessions between 9:30-12:00 CET were recorded, and the videos are available via the links below:
- To view the plenary session and the session on Sustainable Food Security, click here
- To view the session on Rural Renaissance + Blue Growth, click here
- To view the session on Food & Natural Resources + KET-Biotech, click here
Do you intend to prepare a proposal addressing a topic under the upcoming calls in Societal Challenge 2 or KET Biotechnology?
The European Commission will host its Infoday on Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 2 (SC2) ‘Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy’ in Brussels on 4 July 2019. During the event the Commission will present the new version of the SC2 Work Programme for 2018-2020 and provide insights into the upcoming calls and the individual topics. Details on the programme and how to register for the infoday are provided on the Commission website at this location.
Before the SC2 Infoday, on 3 July 2019, there will be a corresponding brokerage event organised by the EU-funded BioHorizon project, a collaborative effort of SC2 National Contact Points (NCPs) from across Europe. Offered free of charge, the purpose of the brokerage event is to help you find the right partners for the upcoming 2020 calls under SC2 and the Key Enabling Technology 'Biotechnology' (KET-BIOTECH). The brokerage event and infoday will roughly coincide with the pre-publication of the work programme 2018-2020, the final round of calls under Horizon 2020, making this the perfect opportunity to start building your consortium ahead of the deadline for the submission of proposals in 2020!
Registration for the brokerage event closed on 9 June 2019. Please note that registration for the SC2 Infoday occurs separately and must be done through the Commission website.
The BioHorizon project also plans to hold a free Horizon 2020 proposal writers' workshop in Brussels on 2 July 2019.
3 July 2019 – BioHorizon International Brokerage Event
The BioHorizon brokerage event will be dedicated to consortium building. The main part of the event will comprise bilateral meetings between people interested in the same topics for 2020. Following successful registration for the event, based on the submission of a high quality profile, participants can pre-arrange these bilateral meetings automatically by means of a sophisticated, user-friendly matchmaking tool.
In addition to the bilateral meetings between potential project partners, participants will also be able to meet with representatives of various supporting bodies and initiatives, as well as with the NCPs from the BioHorizon project. This represents an opportunity for attendees to draw on personalised support and information to help them through the application process.
The event programme will also provide a number of researchers and entrepreneurs a platform to present their project ideas in 5-minute flash presentations.

Focus
The BioHorizon brokerage event targets a wide spectrum of stakeholders from universities and research centres, enterprises, government organisations and NGOs, and others involved in research, from Europe and beyond, interested in sharing new project ideas and finding collaboration partners. The thematic focus of the event covers all of the Horizon 2020 SC2 and KET-Biotech calls for 2020.
Main topics
- Sustainable Food Security (SFS) – Resilient and resource-efficient value chains
- Blue Growth (BG) – Demonstrating an ocean of opportunities
- Rural Renaissance (RUR) – Fostering innovation and business opportunities
- **NEW** Food and Natural Resources (FNR) - Bridging the gap to Horizon Europe
- KET-Biotechnology (BIOTECH)
Why participate?
- To facilitate the setup of Horizon 2020 project consortia
- To present, discuss and develop new project ideas at an international level
- To initiate cross-border contacts
- To receive first-hand advice and support from Commission and NCP staff
The organisers expect that the demand for places will be high. Priority of participation will be granted to registrants who provide high quality research profiles and indicate specific project application initiatives based on the upcoming calls. Participation is limited to two people representing the same department/organisation.
Flash presentations
Researchers and entrepreneurs were invited to present their project ideas addressing topics contained in the SC2 and KET-Biotech work programmes for 2020 in short 'flash presentations'. The candidates chosen from amongst the many submissions can be found in the section 'Flash presentations'.

Webinar ‘How to maximise your matchmaking opportunities’
Matchmaking events offer participants the opportunity to expand their network, find potential collaboration partners with the right expertise, and establish new project consortia. For newcomers to EU-funded research establishing contacts is one of the greatest challenges and the brokerage event format may at first appear a little alien. To help Ms Elena Angiolini from the BioHorizon NCP network explains in a webinar how to make best use of matchmaking events, and provides attendees with some dos and don’ts and valuable tips on how to maximise outcomes. All steps in the brokerage process, from the creation of online cooperation profiles before the event through pitching during meetings to follow-up afterwards are addressed.
Here you can watch the recording of the webinar and download the presentation in PDF format.
Special travel grants for participants coming from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are offered by EaP PLUS project.

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