The ARCOE Consortium
The ARCOE consortium is composed of 13 organisations from 9 European countries, bringing together a strategic mix of actors including research-performing institutions, universities, HR experts, innovation intermediaries, and organisations supporting institutional transformation and researcher mobility.
Partners come from both Widening countries, with moderate or emerging innovation ecosystems, and from stronger research environments, creating a balanced and complementary consortium capable of addressing regional disparities and strengthening the European Research Area.
The consortium has been carefully selected to cover all key areas of expertise required to implement the project’s mission: from conducting institutional gap analyses to supporting the adoption of the HR Excellence in Research Award (HRS4R), and from developing training on deep tech and the Green Deal to enabling cross-sectoral collaboration through the Virtual Talent Innovation Hub.
All partners are highly experienced professionals in their respective domains, with proven track records in research support, policy alignment, human resources management, and digital transformation. The consortium also embraces a strong commitment to gender balance, diversity, and inclusiveness, principles that are reflected in its leadership, work packages, and community engagement strategies.
E. Amaldi Foundation (FEA) is the coordinator of the ARCOE project. FEA is the new Italian model for applied research, technology transfer and the promotion and support of the national scientific heritage. The primary objective of FEA is to promote and support scientific research aimed at technology transfer, starting from the space sector, as a fundamental driver for the economic development of Italy and as a source of innovation to improve competitiveness, productivity and employment.
AB Corporation specialises in enhancing project and programme environments, crafting bespoke corporate strategies to achieve organizational goals. Renowned for their exceptional success in writing EU-funded projects, AB Corporation offer comprehensive services in EU Project Writing and Management, EU Affairs & Advocacy, Training in EU Funds & European Affairs.
Consorzio Italbiotec Consortium is the coordinator of the DRIVE project. Italbiotec is the leading Italian non-profit organization in industrial biotechnology. Founded in 1998, Italbiotec operates through five hubs and research centres of excellence, engaging over 180 innovators across the Life Sciences, Bioeconomy, and Agri-Food sectors. Its community includes 30 Italian universities, research centres, and more than 150 SMEs and large enterprises.
Cleantech Bulgaria is a business network for sustainable development connecting key ecosystem stakeholders in working jointly on mutual complex challenges. Cleantech supports and focuses on the future of clean technologies and sustainable growth, while connecting businesses in support of the development of innovation and the formation of strategic partnerships in the fields of green business, the environment, science and education.
The Technical University of Sofia, established in 1945 and granted its current university status in 1995, stands as Bulgaria’s largest and most prestigious technological institution, with 17 faculties across campuses in Sofia, Plovdiv, and Sliven, and offering undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programmes taught in Bulgarian as well as in English, German, and French. With over 11 000 students—including around 1 000 international students from more than 45 , TU‐Sofia ranks #2 nationally and #523 across Europe in Engineering.
Center for Social Innovation (CSI) is a Research and Development organization, which focuses on fostering social innovation that can bring about a positive change to local, national, regional, and global entities. These entities include but are not limited to governments, local administrative agencies, non-for-profit agencies, commercial entities, and educational institutions. The CSI team is composed of open-minded, fully equipped researchers, entrepreneurs, project managers, trainers, and Information Technology specialists.
Educational Excellence Corporation Limited — commonly known as the University of Nicosia (UNIC) — is Cyprus’s largest private university and a leading English-language institution in Southeastern Europe. Founded in 1980 as Intercollege and granted university status in 2007, UNIC now operates modern campuses in Nicosia, Limassol, and Larnaca, serving over 14,000 students from more than 100 countries, supported by around 550 academic and administrative staff across eight Schools.
SkillLab B.V. is an Amsterdam‑based impact technology company empowering labour market professionals and job seekers alike to navigate skills, careers, and education through one unified platform. It enables users, especially marginalised individuals, to build a comprehensive skill profile via an AI-guided interview grounded in the ESCO framework (13,485 skills mapping to 2,942 occupations). The platform translates these profiles into personalised career pathways, training recommendations, and tailored application materials, helping advisers and users to make informed choices.
Corallia, founded in 2005 as a Unit of Athena Research Center, is an incubator, accelerator and multi-cluster facilitator that has played a key role in the development of the Greek startup ecosystem and considered as one of the main pillars of the European innovation ecosystem. Its activities cover the entire entrepreneurial trip, from its very beginnings to its acceleration, growth, internationalisation and integration with the ecosystem. In addition to the coordination of two innovation clusters in the fields of space technologies and gaming/creative industries, Corallia implements multiple business-support initiatives to strengthen innovation, youth entrepreneurship and regional development and cultivates European and international partnerships with the aim of networking and internationalising Greek businesses in their main markets but also creating new value chains between different sectors of the Greek economy, promoting innovation throughout Europe.
ROHEALTH – Clusterul pentru Sănătate și Bioeconomie is a Romanian non‑profit innovation hub founded in 2015, uniting over 80 organizations, including SMEs, startups/spin‑offs, universities, hospitals and public authorities, with a shared mission to elevate Romania’s health and bioeconomy sectors through research-driven collaboration and competitive excellence LinkedIn. Supported by seven thematic working groups, the cluster provides structured access to funding programmes, operating brokerage events, expert training, start‑up mentoring, IP and regulatory support, and strategic policy advocacy for its members.
Universitatea Babeș‑Bolyai (UBB), based in Cluj‑Napoca, is Romania’s oldest (with roots dating to 1581 as Latin‑language Academia Claudiopolitana and officially re‑formed in 1959 through a merger honoring Victor Babeș and János Bolyai) and largest public research-intensive university. With more than 42 000 students enrolled across 21 faculties, offering over 300 programmes in more than 120 fields, it stands out as a truly multilingual and multicultural institution, delivering full-degree tracks in multiple languages at masters and doctoral levels.
Konnekt Able Technologies Limited is a software research & development company founded in 2013. They engineer AI‑powered, data‑driven platforms leveraging machine learning, IoT, Big Data and advanced analytics to help clients enhance business optimisation, compliance, resilience, and decision‑making capabilities. Their culture is centred on trust, collaboration, and open innovation, delivering solutions that support sustainable growth through strong R&D foundations and commercial impact.
AcrossLimits Ltd is a technology and consultancy company based in Malta, with over 24 years of experience supporting European research and innovation initiatives, beginning under the Fifth RTD Framework Programme in 1998. Through more than 90 successfully executed EU-funded projects, the company has established itself as a trusted partner for academia, SMEs, public institutions, and NGOs across the EU and beyond.
