On June 6, 2025, a significant online event, the “European Excellence Initiative (EEI) Information Day,” took place via MS Teams. This half-day session, higlighted on the intricacies of the HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-01-ACCESS-01 call under Horizon Europe. It offered attendees crucial insights into competition details, consortium building, expected project outcomes, and an analysis of previous EEI calls. A key highlight was the presentation of successful EEI projects involving Polish institutions, including the Unite! Widening project itself, presented by Dr. hab. inż. Agata Klaus-Rosińska from Wrocław University of Science and Technology.
The Unite! Widening project, officially titled “Raise excellence in R&S&I in HEI for widening countries,” is a significant initiative under the HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions, funded by the European Research Executive Agency. Launched on January 1, 2024, and set to run for 60 months until December 31, 2028, this project aims to bridge the research and innovation (R&I) gap within Europe.
Unite! itself is an alliance connecting nine European universities, established in 2019 in response to the European Commission’s vision of creating a European Education Area by 2025. It integrates engineering, science, and technology with major societal challenges, fostering solutions for the next generation of European and global citizens. Key areas of focus for Unite! include Sustainable Energy, Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0, and Entrepreneurship.
The primary goals of the Unite! Widening project are to:
- Reduce disparities and strengthen the R&I capacity of Widening countries through increased collaborations and networking.
- Implement structural R&I policies, institutional reforms, and enhance overall performance.
- Foster the free circulation of knowledge, researchers, and innovators to build a more diverse, inclusive, informed, and productive workforce across the EU.
- Strengthen Unite! as an alliance.
- Enhance the scientific, technological, and innovation capacity of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) within the consortium, raising their excellence both collectively and individually.
- Expand activities and elevate the excellence profile of Widening countries, specifically Poland and Portugal.
- Implement the European Research Area’s (ERA) widening policies.
- Promote the implementation of Gender Equality Plans across various thematic areas, including recruitment, career assessment, work-life balance, leadership, gender in research and education practice, and addressing gender-related harassment and assault.
The project engages in various key activities, including:
- Outreach: Organizing workshops, hackathons, and conferences.
- R&D Recommendations: Developing recommendations for horizontal R&D policies.
- Competence Development: Focusing on skills enhancement and infrastructure sharing.
- Science-Business Cooperation: Fostering collaboration between academia and industry, including green transformation, excellence centers, and doctoral programs in collaboration with industry.
- Open Science: Promoting open science practices, living labs, and research communities.
- Matchmaking: Facilitating connections for collaborative opportunities.
To date, significant results have been achieved:
- Project Management Documents: Preparation of key documents such as the “Data Management Plan,” “Quality and Risk Management Manual,” “Plan for Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation,” and “Quality and Risk Management – Initial Report.”
- Online Presence: Launch of the project website (https://unite-widening.eu/) and a LinkedIn profile.
- Reports and Handbooks: Development of “New Policy Recommendations for R&I Widening countries Agendas,” a report on “Research management needs in PL and PT – identification of gaps and future actions,” and a “Handbook of HRS4R (Human Resources Strategy for Researchers) for Widening countries.”
- White Paper: A “White Paper UNITE ‘A new University Open Science & Innovation Strategic Roadmap'” adapted for Widening countries.
- Catalogue and Guidelines: An “Enhanced, extended and updated online catalogue of RIs + directory of TTOs (Technology Transfer Offices)” and “Guidelines to the creation of a Science & Innovation Skills Academy.”
- Organized Events: Successful workshops like “The 5 EU Missions H2030” in Lisbon, Turin, and Wrocław, as well as the “Open Science Policy Forum” held in Wrocław, Lisbon, and online.
