Quality assurance for successful Horizon Europe projects – sharing best practices
10th October 2024 at 3:48 pm
Quality is the cornerstone of successful Horizon Europe project management. To facilitate high-quality outcomes for your research and innovation project, it is essential to adhere to the specific requirements of your research field and prioritise quality management throughout both the grant preparation and project implementation. At accelopment, we are committed to excellence in quality at every level of our organisation. Our recently renewed ISO 9001:2015 quality management certification shows our dedication to continuously improving our services by maintaining a robust Quality Management System (QMS). In this blog post, we would like to share three examples of how we apply good quality management practices in our ongoing Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects.
1 – Preparation is key!
Timely submission of high-quality deliverables is crucial for successful Horizon Europe project management. These documents serve as key performance indicators for the European Commission (EC) and are a contractual obligation. In large consortia, where not all partners are involved in every work package (WP) or task, a systematic approach is essential to ensure that deliverables are submitted on time and meet the required quality standards.
At accelopment, we have implemented a robust internal deliverable review process to minimise the risk of late or low-quality submissions. This process involves the following steps:
- Early Reminders: We send reminders to involved partners 8-6 weeks before the due date to ensure adequate time for preparation.
- Lead Partner Involvement: We require the lead partner to finalise the deliverable at least 2 weeks before the due date, allowing for sufficient time for review.
- Internal Quality Reviewers: We appoint internal reviewers with expertise in the relevant topic area to conduct a thorough final assessment of the deliverable before submission.
By following this process, we significantly reduce the risk of deliverables being rejected by the EC due to quality or formal issues, saving our project partners valuable time and resources.
2 – Overseeing the work progress with accelMONITOR
To facilitate progress monitoring across the project’s WPs, at accelopment, we created the so-called accelMONITOR tool. It is used for internal progress monitoring of the work carried out within each WP. The partners focus on filling in progress per each deliverable, task and milestone, as well as on assessing risks based on the activities within that WP. The accelMONITOR is usually updated every month or two months, depending on project-specific needs, to have an up-to-date overview of the progress on the project level. The process works as follows:
- Before each consortium or board meeting, a clean progress report file is provided to all WP leaders.
- Each WP lead is responsible for completing the respective WP sheet online on the online file-sharing platform before the meeting so it can serve as a basis for updates and discussion.
- The file is reviewed and discussed during the meeting in real
–time to ensure timely action and to discuss delays arising.
The regular updates and discussions facilitated by accelMONITOR allow for timely adjustments to the project plan, ensuring that the research and innovation outcomes meet high-quality standards and contribute effectively to the project’s overall goals.
3 – Supporting innovation management through accelINNO®
One of our latest tools is accelINNO®, a sophisticated interactive tool designed to support innovation management in EU-funded research projects. Based on the ISO 56002:2019 innovation management standard, accelINNO® supports project teams in identifying planned exploitable results, assessing competing technologies and market potential and exploring IP protection options.
The rationale for developing this tool is that through our many years of experience in publicly funded R&I projects, we realised that results with the potential to be developed into products or services (commercial exploitation), or contribute valuable knowledge for further research, new standards, or policies (non-commercial exploitation), often end up being unused. Therefore, we decided to establish a suite of smart tools and services designed for the structured, systematic, and continuous management of innovations emerging from its EU R&D projects. The proposed suite, the accelINNO®, aims to guide both academic and industry partners throughout the project lifecycle and it is divided into three distinct phases:
- Finally, in the Exploitation Phase, the suite will facilitate post-project exploitation by providing links to funding and relevant networks.
- During the Establishment Phase, the suite will aid in planning exploitation activities and deliverables, mapping the exploitation ecosystem, while also defining mechanisms for monitoring the projects’ emerging results.
- In the Exploration Phase, it will assist in monitoring the progress of innovations and the implementation of planned activities, while ensuring the achievement of project deliverables.
By providing project partners with continuous access to these relevant resources, accelINNO® aims to strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity and support the potential future commercialisation of research outcomes.
accelINNO® dashboards
Initially developed for the H2020 AI-Mind project, accelINNO® has since been applied in several other EU-funded projects such as CLASSY. accelINNO®’s structured approach to innovation management and knowledge sharing among project participants fosters the development of high-quality research outputs that have a lasting impact on society and the economy, ensuring a strong focus on quality assurance throughout the project lifecycle. We are committed to further developing and validating accelINNO® through its application in our ongoing EU-funded projects. Our goal is to expand and continuously improve the tool’s functionalities, ultimately maximising the impact of exploitable outcomes of Horizon Europe projects.
Make your project benefit from our expertise!
We at accelopment are continuously looking to improve our tools and services. Interested in learning more about how our tools can benefit your Horizon Europe project? Don’t hesitate to contact us!
Robin Vanneste
Business & Finance Associate
