Marcel Bruins, the Editorial Director for European Seed, sat down with Nick Vangheluwe, Manager Research Policy and Project Coordination at Euroseeds, at the Euroseeds 2022 Congress to talk about the benefits of Euroseeds participating in the various EU projects.
“We are involved in quite a number of projects, and they actually provide a platform for us to engage with different stakeholders,” Vangheluwe said. “So the most interesting funding body, let’s say, for us and our members, is the R&I funding research innovation called Horizon Europe now, and before it was Horizon 2020.”
With multiple projects on the go in the EU, how does Euroseeds decide what ones to get involved in?
“In 2015, the Euroseeds board made the strategic decision for Euroseeds and its members to be involved in European research projects,” he said. “And the current approach is that usually we are invited because you have a consortium that is being developed and our members are being contacted to join a project.”
He said when Euroseeds get a request for project participation, it’s the mandate of their working research group and its members to evaluate if the project is relevant topic for Euroseeds to be involved in.
They need to ensure this fits with one of their many priority topics Euroseeds is involved with.
“Indeed, we tackle a lot of different issues in our sector, so we need to make sure that our activities in these projects have a support of the broader advocacy activities.”
To learn more, watch the interview above.
