Unite! H2020

The UNITE.H2020 consortium was composed by Politecnico di Torino (coordinator, Italy), TU Darmstadt (Germany), Aalto University (Finland), Grenoble Institute of Technology (France), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal) and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-Barcelona Tech (Spain).

With the Unite! H2020 project the Unite! alliance took up the challenge launched by the European Commission to develop, in synergy with its education dimension, a shared, integrated, long-term research and innovation (R&I) strategy. Funded within the Horizon 2020 programme and coordinated by the Politecnico di Torino, its aim was to develop a common R&I agenda and action plan for the Unite! alliance, emphasising the Unite! STEM nature.

The project received up to EUR 2 million from the Horizon 2020 programme for the three-year-long pilot phase. This funding, complementing the funds granted to the alliance from the Erasmus programme and the additional funds received by several Ministries such as the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, has been crucial for the identification and subsequent implementation of broad and shared strategies. 

In Unite! H2020 the Unite! universities aimed to explore new models of collaborations through several pilot initiatives promoting institutional changes in different areas:

• Develop a common R&I 2030 agenda, emphasising the common DNA and shared vocation to address major societal challenges of Unite! Universities.
• Develop policies to strengthen our R&I human capital by, e.g., new career development initiatives.
• Develop policies to share our research infrastructures (RIs) supported by, e.g., experimental tests of previously developed guidelines on a selection of Energy RIs.
• Reinforce cooperation with non-academic R&I players by, e.g., developing a network of Grant Offices & TTOs.
• Mainstream our comprehensive Open Science practices based on, e.g., a detailed experimental analysis on the approach of our R&I groups to OS.
• Involve citizens, civil society and public authorities in R&I.
• Develop relations with other alliances for joint synergies/complementarities