Horizon Europe Hackathons: Practical and creative problem solving sessions in exploiting successfully Horizon Europe programme
Developing strategies for dealing successfully with Horizon Europe proposal development challenges.
Duration and Structure
The whole session can be from half day to a full day. It consists of Hackathon sessions and a Wrap-up session. In the Hackathon sessions each group with 2-5 participants will deal with a specific challenge in Horizon Europe. These challenges are pre-defined (see list below) but also new challenges can be introduced by participants. Participants that bring challenges as new themes to the event have an opportunity to briefly (5 minute max) explain what they are working on at the very start of the event so that other participants can decide to join that theme. All groups will work in parallel and if they achieve their expectations earlier, then they can continue with another thematic. Each group will be assigned a group leader to ensure that everyone shares their views and knowledge in the group and/or have a specific task to do.
The instructor/coach will be moving from group to group to ensure that everything runs smoothly and everyone is aware of what is expected by them and has something to do. Also the instructor/coach will keep people on the overall schedule. At the end of the event, a wrap-up session gives each group a chance to demonstrate their strategy & accomplishments and share their approach with the other participants. Further suggestions can be made to each group by the other participants and the instructor/coach.
The instructor/coach will be moving from group to group to ensure that everything runs smoothly and everyone is aware of what is expected by them and has something to do. Also the instructor/coach will keep people on the overall schedule. At the end of the event, a wrap-up session gives each group a chance to demonstrate their strategy & accomplishments and share their approach with the other participants. Further suggestions can be made to each group by the other participants and the instructor/coach.
Number of participants
Groups of 2-5 participants will be formulated with a desired number of 3 to 4 participants per group. Overall, we can have around up to 60 participants. More than one group with the same theme can run in parallel.
Pre-requisites
It is recommended that participants have participated in our course on Horizon Europe since it will assist them to do better their tasks during the Hackathon sessions. However, this is not an absolute pre-requirement.
Hackathon Themes
In the Hackathon sessions each group with 2-5 participants will deal with a specific challenge in Horizon Europe that are pre-defined (see below) but also new challenges can be introduced by participants. Participants that bring challenges as new themes to the event have an opportunity to briefly (5 minute max) explain what they are working on at the very start of the event so that other participants can decide to join that theme. All groups will work in parallel and if they achieve their expectations earlier, then they can continue with another theme. There are initially 5 related themes that groups in the Hackathon issues will deal with. More specifically:
- Hackathon theme 1: Resources and strategies for formulating and assessing my idea for an Horizon Europe call topic
- Hackathon theme 2: Resources and strategies for involving my research group as partner in highly Horizon Europe competitive proposals and how to attract the best potential partners for my own proposal
- Hackathon theme 3: Resources and strategies for dealing successfully with the Excellence and Implementation sections in an Horizon Europe proposal
- Hackathon theme 4: Resources and strategies for dealing successfully with the Impact section in an Horizon Europe proposal
- Hackathon theme 5: Resources and strategies for motivating researchers to exploit Horizon Europe programme
Important Note
Initially, the word Hackathon comes from the word Marathon (a long or difficult activity in a short period) and Hack, here meant as exploratory proposal writing. Well, during a Hackathon, you spend a short period of time, usually between 4-8h (can go up to a week), building, creating and delivering an Horizon Europe proposal or dealing with a specific challenge in Horizon Europe. The idea is to collaboratively develop an HEU grant application in an extreme manner, to start from scratch and end with a full draft. It’s often a sort of competition, where teams of proposal leaders, writers, support staff and evaluators project come together to design & build a great Horizon Europe proposal or at least contribute to something tangible in the proposal development cycle.
Available Unique Resources
In addition, we will make available to all participants the following:
- The HEU Hackathon step-by-step guide for each group to know exactly what they have to do according to their theme.
Training fee
We offer the best learning experience at the most economical price. Please contact us at [email protected] to provide you more details on the fee for delivering this distinct event at your premises.
Hackathon logistics
• Seating is suggested in a banquet-style setup with tables that members of each group can sit around.
• One power strip per table
• Laptops and wifi. Each participant is expected to have their own laptop connected to a wifi.
• A flipchart with markers
• A microphone
• Projector
• One power strip per table
• Laptops and wifi. Each participant is expected to have their own laptop connected to a wifi.
• A flipchart with markers
• A microphone
• Projector
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
We are the only training organization that our approach is based on results and not on effort. We are so confident of the high value of our training that we personally guarantee on its quality, effectiveness and distinct value. In case, you are not satisfied with our training, then we will not get paid anything. Even if some of the participants have already participated in another similar training session, we are committed to deliver an eye-opening session for all participants from novices to senior experts in European Research.
About the Hackathon Facilitator - Nikolaos Floratos

Nikolaos is ranked by Google and Linkedin in the top three positions as funding expert. His passion is education and training and his mission is to transform the life of individuals and make them better persons with his training. He is also a Phd researcher in student engagement and eLearning. He is a lifelong learner with B.Eng and M.Sc in Electrical Engineering and Communications from Imperial College, London, an MBA from National Technical University & Athens University of Economics and Business and recently completed his Bachelor of Arts in history of civilizations as a hobby. The last 10 years, he has transformed thousands of individuals from more than forty countries into successful grant application developers through outstanding training and coaching practices. He is the author also of the ebook "Who are the champions in Horizon 2020 and what you can learn from them" and he is also the host and organiser of the Horizon 2020 Virtual Summit (www.horizon2020summit.eu) the largest annual virtual training event with more than 35 top experts in Horizon 2020 as trainers and more than 2500 participants. He is an expert on behalf of the European Commission on evaluating and reviewing projects and proposals since 2003 and currently, through his research, he focuses on student engagement and he has proved that anyone can master even complicated subjects very fast by receiving training and support in an engaging way and with the proper instruction strategy. He delivers all his courses and seminars based on continuous interactions with his audience and based on “recipes” and practical steps that allow them to absorb easily what they should master and achieve extraordinary results very quickly. He has trained hundreds of organisations, universities and research institutions from all over Europe on how to exploit successfully Horizon 2020 and has received more than 100 recommendations at his linkedin profile as a funding expert, coach and trainer. Recently, he has founded the Funding Expert Academy for transforming individuals into great grant application developers. A list of indicative universities and other european or international organisations that Nikolaos has supported researchers and individuals on Horizon 2020 follow below:
- Open University of Catalonia (Spain)
- Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain)
- Sabanci University (Turkey),
- University of Bergen (Norway),
- Seinajoki University (Finland)
- Satakunta Univesity (Finland)
- Cergy Pontoise University (France)
- European Academy (Ireland)
- Center for Research and Technology (Greece)
- National Center for Scientific Research "DEMOKRITOS" (Greece)
- Technical University of Cyprus (Cyprus)
- University of Malta (Malta)
- KU Leuven (Belgium)
- Louvain University (Belgium)
- University of Perugia (Italy)
- Hogeschool van Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands)
- European Academy for Education and Social Research (Ireland)
- Olympic Committee of Serbia (Serbia)
- European Regions Research and Innovation Network (European)
- European Platform for Rehabilitation (European)
- South Africa Research and Innovation Management Association (South Africa)
- Western Africa Research and Innovation Management Association.