Maurizio Toscano, Horizon Academy Project Coordinator, reflects on this year’s Horizon Europe roadshow across Canada.
Research collaboration between Canada and Europe has been substantial for many years now, with Canada’s association to Pillar II of Horizon Europe now offering further opportunity to accelerate this relationship.
The Horizon Academy (NCP4HE) is a project funded by the European Commission to support the worldwide community of National Contact Points (NCPs), helping to foster international collaborations. In March 2025, the Horizon Academy joined other representatives from the European Union, along with the Canadian Ministry for Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), on a roadshow across Canada to help educate Canadian researchers on the benefits and opportunities offered by Canada’s partnership with the Horizon Europe programme.
The Innovation Platform spoke to Maurizio Toscano, Horizon Academy Project Coordinator, to hear more about the Horizon Academy’s participation in the roadshow and their takeaways from the event.
Can you elaborate on the Horizon Academy project and its main objectives?
The Horizon Academy brings together over 100 individuals from 31 countries – 22 Member States and nine Associated Countries – and operates across three strategic lines of action: providing a wide range of training opportunities for NCPs, bringing together the networks of Legal & Financial NCPs and National NCP Coordinators and supporting the development of the Horizon Europe NCP Portal and the NCP Virtual Campus, two digital hubs that provide access to NCP knowledge both for participants and NCPs, particularly newcomers.
The project, which is the fourth in a row in this genre since 2014, started in April 2023 and has a duration of 60 months, supporting the NCP community until well into the next Horizon Europe framework programme, which will start in January 2028.
How does the Horizon Academy help to foster international collaborations under the Horizon Europe programme?
One of the main goals of the Horizon Academy is to foster international collaborations among National Contact Points, well beyond the members of the consortium and the boundaries of Europe, to achieve a more unified NCP system.
There are several hundreds of NCPs spread across the world and there is a need to strengthen their capacities and give them opportunities to learn from each other, reducing the gap between more and less experienced national support systems. We support this mainly through periodic training opportunities, coffee talk and meet-and-exchange events among NCPs, but also through the NCP Portal, which provides built-in features to support synergies among international NCP networks.
What does Horizon Europe’s partnership with Canada mean to you?
Horizon Europe’s partnership with Canada represents a significant advancement in international collaboration for research and innovation. The longstanding connections are substantial, and, while Canadian researchers have participated in numerous European-funded projects prior to 2024, the association marks the beginning of a new phase filled with opportunities to enhance integration and foster joint efforts on global challenges.
For me, personally, it offered a new opportunity to collaborate internationally, but also the challenge of extending the reach of support that the Horizon Academy provides to newly created NCP national networks. Now, after the roadshow and the intense week spent there, it also means valuable new personal relationships.
Can you explain more about the Horizon Academy’s role in the Horizon Europe roadshow across Canada?
Following Canada’s association to Horizon Europe, Tamara Sone, the NCP Coordinator for Canada, reached out to us to explore collaboration opportunities. Throughout the second half of 2024, she actively participated in several of our training sessions and meet-and-exchange events. In this context, I was contacted by the European Commission’s Unit for International Cooperation between Europe and the Americas to check the interest of the project to participate in the roadshow, covering the practicalities of applying to Horizon Europe funding opportunities.
Specifically, one session was dedicated to the practical steps for applying to Pillar II, which contains calls for collaborative projects in a series of thematic Clusters, as Canada is associated with this part of the programme. The second session was on Administrative, Financial and Legal aspects of HE projects. I took charge of the first, and invited Lenka Chvojkova, our Legal and Financial Work Package Leader, to cover the second. Both Lenka and I aimed not only to deliver informative presentations but also to provide hands-on support during the Q&A sessions – addressing participants’ doubts and helping them feel more confident about engaging with Horizon Europe.
What were your key takeaways from the roadshow?
It has been a truly enriching experience, both professionally and personally, to represent the Horizon Academy project and the NCP network during the Horizon Europe roadshow in Canada.
From a practical standpoint, the roadshow confirmed the importance of clear, hands-on guidance. All sessions were met with active participation and thoughtful questions. One of the most striking takeaways was the genuine interest of Canadian researchers and research managers in building partnerships with European institutions. It was inspiring to see how much they value the possibility to participate in Horizon Europe – and how open they were to learn more about the framework, rules, and collaboration pathways.
Lenka told me that she truly appreciated the opportunity to introduce the NCP system and explain how they support applicants and beneficiaries – not only in thematic areas, but also on legal and financial matters, which she proudly represents.
In my daily work, I have a back-office role, both as Project Coordinator and NCP Portal Lead Developer, so meeting potential participants was a relatively unusual opportunity to highlight the value of the Horizon Academy’s role in demystifying the application process and in supporting a recently created NCP network. In fact, it was also fantastic to meet and connect with our counterparts – Canadian NCPs and support officers. We believe that these personal exchanges are essential to strengthening co-operation and making the EU–Canada association a success in the long-run.
And of course, we also enjoyed some fun moments – like when we had to explain what “exploitation” means in EU projects. “Exploitation of research results” is actually a good and fair thing in Horizon Europe – though some native English speakers found it quite surprising! It reminded us that even in international research, small cultural and linguistic nuances still matter – and sometimes create the best memories.
In summary, the roadshow was not just an outreach event – it was a catalyst for deeper engagement, an opportunity for knowledge exchange, and a moment to strengthen the bridge between European and Canadian research and research support communities; and of course, also a recommendable format for new countries that will join the programme in the coming years.
Maurizio Toscano
Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)
Horizon Academy Project Coordinator
Horizon Europe NCP Portal Lead Developer
Lenka Chvojkova
Technology Centre Prague (TC Praha)
Horizon Academy Legal and Financial Work Package Leader
Please note, this article will also appear in the 23rd edition of our quarterly publication.
