Introduction
The network of National Contact Points (NCPs) is the main structure to provide guidance, practical information and assistance on all aspects of participation in the Horizon Europe programme. NCPs are also established in many non-EU and non-associated countries ("third countries").
What is the NCPs network?
NCPs are national structures established and financed by governments of the 27 EU member states and the states associated to the framework programme. NCPs give personalised support on the spot and in the applicants' own languages.
The NCP systems can vary from one country to another, from highly centralised to decentralised networks, and a number of very different actors, from ministries to universities, research centres and special agencies to private consulting companies.
NCPs services
In general, the following basic services are available in accordance with the NCP Guiding Principles agreed by all countries:
- Guidance on choosing relevant Horizon Europe topics and types of action.
- Advice on administrative procedures and contractual issues.
- Training and assistance on proposal writing.
- Distribution of documentation (forms, guidelines, manuals etc.).
- Assistance in partner search.
As the NCPs are national structures, the type and level of services offered may differ from country to country.
NCPs in the Funding & Tenders Portal
Some of the information about NCP in the Funding & Tenders Portal is accessible without logging in, and the rest is accessible only after logging in.
Without logging in, select Guidance & documents from the top menu, then click on Helpdesk & Support. After selecting the programme from the drop-down list Filter by programme, a link to the list of NCPs for the programme will be displayed (currently available for the Horizon programme):
The NCPs information accessible after logging in is described in the next section below.
Manage NCPs
NCP Register is one of the sections under the left-side navigation menu in the Funding & Tenders Portal.
This section is only accessible once you have logged in and you have been assigned to the corresponding role:
The landing page of NCP Register is Manage NCPs, where all the existing NCPs are listed.
EC Admin* and EC Viewer* have no filters pre-selected when they enter the screen.
*EC Admin – can assign/edit/revoke MCP (Main Contact Point) role. It can also see all assigned roles in all countries.
*EC Viewer – cannot assign/edit/revoke anything. It can see all assigned roles in all countries.
If you are an MCP (Main Contact Point) assigned to a Country, then the Country is pre-selected for you when you enter the screen.
You can make a search through them using the filters Search, Programme, Country and/or Role. Click on Clear filters if you want to remove any of these filters:
NCP Roles
The role(s) that are currently assigned to you appear under the filters and above the results list:
The possible roles for HORIZON programme are:
- Person of Contact
- Assistant Main Contact Point for National Contact Point management
- National Contact Point Correspondent
- National Contact Point AGM Correspondent
- Main Contact Point for National Contact Point Management
If you click on Download, you obtain an Excel file containing the data displayed on the results list of the Manage NCPs page.
Regarding the NCPs in the list, you can Edit or Revoke them depending on your access rights:
Depending on your access rights, you can click on Edit to modify the active fields indicating the details of NCP member (programme, country, role):
If you click on Revoke, a pop-up message appears asking you for confirmation on this action:
Add an NCP
To add a new NCP, click on Add:
You are presented with the following page:
In the Add NCP members page, you can assign a role to a specific person. To do so, fill in all the mandatory fields. Once you have finished, click on Save and return. If you want to go back to the previous page without saving the entered information, click on Cancel.
Person of Contact role
If you have a Person of Contact role, in the My Person Profile section of the left-side navigation menu, the NCP tab is displayed. If you have multiple roles assigned, other roles are mentioned here in addition:
More information about this in My Person Profile.