The Association of Innovation Consultants invites all stakeholders to sign the Manifesto for the recognition of professional project management in Horizon Europe. This initiative is supported by associations and consulting firms all across Europe.

A plea for expertise in project management 

As Horizon Europe is being designed, the Association of Innovation Consultants (ACI) wants to highlight the role of consultants in project management. Thus, the ACI, of which Euronovia is a member, has launched a Manifesto for a real recognition of professional management. This initiative responds to a significant challenge in the current Horizon 2020 rules for participation.

According to Virginie Robin, Euronovia CEO-Founder and co-coordinator of the ACI Collaborative Projects Commission: “European research and innovation collaborative projects are complex: they involve different types of organisations, from several disciplines, coming from different countries with different cultures and background. The management and implementation of these projects is a challenge that requires a range of professional skills and tools (contractual, financial and knowledge management, activity follow-up, monitoring, communication and impact assessment…). Unfortunately, the requirement of professional management is not appropriately considered in the current Framework Programme.”

Among the measures proposed in the manifesto (for the full text: click here):

• allowing the participation of other partners, not just the coordinator, in Project Management activities;
• enabling the subcontracting of management tasks to professional experts with proven track records, including consultants;
• promoting good project management practices.

Towards the creation of a European working group

About fifteen consultants from six European countries met to discuss the launch of the Manifesto on 24 September 2019 in Brussels, on the context of the R&I Days. During this informal lunch organised upon the ACI initiative, everyone agreed on the need for real recognition of management by the European Commission. In fact, the consultants present unanimously approved and signed the Manifesto. Finally, to make their voice heard by the EU institutions, they proposed the creation of the European Working Group of Innovation Consultants.

You can sign the online Manifesto here. And for more information, you can consult the ACI press release.