Introduction
HSbooster.eu II offers a Mentoring Service to research and innovation projects seeking guidance on standardisation-related aspects of their work. Our aim is to assist projects in effectively navigating the standardisation landscape, ensuring their work aligns with relevant standards and maximising their impact in the market. This webpage provides detailed information and instructions for projects interested in applying for the Mentoring Service or that have already applied and are waiting to start.
The application
If you seek support for your project’s standardisation activities, the first step is to submit an application for our Open Call.
The application is open to ongoing and completed EU and nationally funded research and innovation projects, including Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, EUREKA. The Mentoring Service provides practical guidance to assess the standardisation readiness of your project results and matches you with a standardisation expert who can guide you on how these results can feed into standardisation working groups or technical committees.
To apply, you should provide information on the project, its standardisation-related objectives and what you hope to gain from the service. This information is used by HSbooster.eu II beneficiaries to understand the project's needs and to identify the most appropriate expert to mentor you.
The application is open to ongoing and completed EU and nationally funded research and innovation projects, including Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, EUREKA. The Mentoring Service provides practical guidance to assess the standardisation readiness of your project results and matches you with a standardisation expert who can guide you on how these results can feed into standardisation working groups or technical committees.
To apply, you should provide information on the project, its standardisation-related objectives and what you hope to gain from the service. This information is used by HSbooster.eu II beneficiaries to understand the project's needs and to identify the most appropriate expert to mentor you.
After the application
After the application, an eligibility check is done to make sure that the applicant is a valid representative of an eligible project. Once eligibility is confirmed, the project representative (i.e. the person who submitted the application on behalf of the project consortium) will receive an automatic confirmation from HSbooster.eu II. In the meantime, an appropriate expert is identified and matched with the project as soon as possible, based on the project's topic and standardisation context.
On average, you can expect to start the service around 1 month after the submission of the application. This time is needed for checks and administrative procedures for HSbooster.eu to sign a contract with the selected experts.
Mentoring Service
The Mentoring Service offers strategic-level mentoring to increase your project's understanding of the standardisation landscape, how to contribute to standardisation, and how to prepare for deeper engagement. It is the main entry point to the HSbooster.eu II ecosystem, and aims to enhance the project's understanding and engagement with standardisation processes to achieve effective results.
Types of Consultancy Offered
- Standardisation Mapping: Identification and assessment of relevant standards applicable to the project.
- Suggestions on Standardisation Deliverables or Future Strategy: Recommendations for standardisation deliverables and strategic planning for future standardisation activities.
- Understanding Standardisation Processes: Clarification on how standardisation works, including the development and adoption of standards.
- Training Materials: Provision of training resources and materials related to standardisation processes.
- Engaging with Standardisation Development Organizations (SDOs) or Technical Committees/Working Groups (TCs/WGs): Guidance on interacting with appropriate SDOs, TCs, or WGs relevant to the project's objectives.
- Facilitating access to standards or TCs/WGs: The expert can help you access standards via HSbooster.eu. Indeed HSbooster.eu can reimburse the fees for a maximum of 3 selected standards. Once the coordinator or another beneficiary of a project that has applied to HSbooster.eu purchases the standard via their national standard body, the project representative can ask HSbooster.eu for reimbursement. Similarly, if the project is interested in accessing Technical Committees (TCs), Subcommittees (SCs), and Working Groups (WGs), HSbooster.eu offers reimbursement for the fee of one person per R&I project to gain access to a national mirror committee. This access enables participation in the work at TC, SC, and WG levels for a period of one year. Please note that we do not however, provide funding for the hours that the R&I project invests in their participation.
You will be able to indicate your preferences and needs in the application form. If you request different types of support, the feasibility of your request can be discussed in advance with the expert, considering the effort constraints detailed below.
Effort Expected from Projects
To ensure a successful consultancy experience, projects are expected to:
- Interact promptly with the expert assigned to them.
- Attend scheduled meetings arranged by the expert.
- Inform the HSbooster.eu II team promptly if any struggles or challenges arise during the consultancy process.
- Act upon the suggestions and recommendations provided by the expert and share their own perspectives.
- Complete a compulsory survey at the end of the service on the HSbooster Standard Operating Platform (SOP).
Effort from Expert and Expected Duration of Service
The Mentoring Service is designed to be efficient and strategic, with an expert dedicating 3 person days to the project. This effort is spread over a maximum timeframe of 3 months, delivered through up to 4 calls of approximately 1 hour between the project and the expert. If required, longer durations can be agreed upon based on specific needs, always considering an equivalent effort of 3 person days per service.
Possibility to request additional services
The Mentoring Service is modular, allowing projects to apply for up to 3 mentoring services (with the same or different experts). Customised requests can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis; each additional mentoring service follows the same structure in terms of meetings, duration and effort as detailed above.
Projects that have completed the Mentoring Service and show strong standardisation potential may in addition, be recommended for the Standards Accelerator Service (SAS).
The Standards Accelerator Service (SAS) is a new type of support designed to increase the standardisation contributions of research projects, turning promising research outcomes into concrete standardisation deliverables. It provides practical, hands-on guidance to projects that are ready to engage directly with standardisation processes, delivered over an extended period of up to six months by a subset of HSbooster.eu II experts.
Examples of support include:
- Support for registration and participation in Technical Committees (TCs).
- Guidance on drafting new work item proposals.
- Preparation for working group meetings and deliverables.
- Strategic advice on influencing standardisation deliverables.
There is no separate application process for the SAS. The entry point is the Mentoring Service: beneficiary projects are identified through a dedicated methodology for assessing standardisation readiness, rather than through an open call.
Output
By the end of the service, the project will receive a summary report compiled by the expert, describing the meetings, activities performed and suggestions made. The report is available to the project on the HSbooster.eu II platform. A feedback survey must be completed on the platform by the project at service completion.
Confidentiality of the Output
The report is confidential to the expert and the project. However, it may be accessed upon need by HSbooster II team members, EC representatives, and the External Advisory Group members for quality check reasons. These individuals will not disseminate the report.
Accessing the Platform
To access the HSbooster Consultancy Service platform, please follow these steps:
- Go to https://hsbooster.eu/project/register
- Insert the email used for the application and your password to login to the website.
- Go to www.sop.hsbooster.eu where you can submit application(s), track the progress of your assigned expert, read the activity report, and complete intermediate and final feedback surveys.
Promotion and Success Stories
After the completion of the service, projects have the opportunity to be featured as a success story on the HSbooster.eu website. This includes promotion of their experience with HSbooster.eu and the assigned expert. Additionally, a dedicated flyer can be prepared to share the project's journey with HSbooster.eu that the projects can use for their own promotion as well.
Please feel free to contact the HSbooster.eu team for further assistance or if you have any questions. We are excited to collaborate with you and support your project's standardisation goals.
Additional Interview Opportunity
Selected applicant projects may be given the chance to engage in a further interview and discussion with expert members from our External Advisory Group. This provides projects with an avenue to delve deeper into their experiences and interact with a broader range of experts.
Enhancing synergies among projects
For projects interested in enhancing standardisation-driven synergies with other projects in their field, HSbooster.eu II can organise a dedicated webinar focusing on standards mapping, tailored to a selected topic of common interest among the group. Once a group has been identified, projects are invited to send us an email with information about their project, the other projects working in their field, and their common area of activity. Our team will carefully evaluate the feasibility of organising a standards-focused event that will benefit all participants.