EDUC counts among the pioneer University Alliances supported by 2019 Erasmus+ call. During recent years, EDUC established a truly trans-institutional EDUC community of students and academic staff. However, performance gaps between EDUC members from Widening and non-Widening countries persist, especially in R&I and adoption of ERA policies. In EDUC-WIDE, we will reinforce the Alliance via 4 main aims: 1. Ensure that the principles of Open Science are becoming an integral part of the research process and infrastructure of EDUC Universities. 2. Introduce responsible research assessment as standard practice in EDUC and reach out to policy makers to make institutional and national environments supportive for reformed research assessment. 3. Prepare EDUC researchers for diverse career tracks outside of academia and promote the development and implementation of the Gender Equality Plans in Widening countries. 4. Initiate and scale-up R&I collaboration of EDUC Universities and their ecosystems and contribute to tackling of major societal challenges: the Green and Digital Transition, EU Missions, and UN SDGs. To achieve aims 1-3, we will establish expert groups on the topics of Open Science, Research Assessment, and Career Diversity and engage them in strategy building, knowledge transfer, staff exchange, training and the introduction of advanced R&I practice across the EDUC Alliance. To achieve aim 4, we will extend our interactions with ecosystem and global partners and develop R&I funding component with two bottom-up programmes: (1) Seed Projects, small scale projects preparing grounds for long-term R&I collaboration and (2) Access to Research Infrastructures, mutual use of R&I facilities within EDUC. Thus, we will empower the EDUC to claim a central role in regional transitions to knowledge-driven economy and society. While embedded in regional ecosystems, EDUC-WIDE has a robust European dimension and will contribute to 15 out of the 20 Actions of the ERA Policy Agenda.

The overarching objective of the SECURE-NET project is to improve the research and innovation capabilities in cybersecurity of four widening countries: Estonia, Czechia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. This objective will be achieved via enhanced cross-sectoral collaboration and the better training of R&I talents. To this end, SECURE-NET brings together 11 partners: eight organizations from widening countries (four academic, three businesses, and one governmental organization) which will be supported by three partners from the Netherlands (two academic and one business entity). SECURE-NET will: i) develop a comprehensive framework for cross-sectoral staff secondments and R&I talents’ skill development; ii) provide 31 R&I talents from partner organizations with domain-specific knowledge and transferable skills in IP and technology transfer (with 27 secondees coming from widening countries and 22 secondees being early-career researchers or in junior positions); iii) strengthen cross-sectoral and cross-border collaboration between partners; and iv) enhance the international profile and visibility of the widening partners. As a result, SECURE-NET will contribute to better employability and career prospects for R&I talents and help overcome a lack of translation of scientific results into innovations. The latter is crucial to ensure that the EU catches up with other regions in terms of innovation output. Moreover, given the significant increase in both the variety and quantity of cyberattacks and their consequences in the European Union as whole, but in Eastern and Eastern Central Europe in particular, SECURE-NET is as timely as ever and will help safeguard the smooth operation of our highly digitized societies.