“Horizon 2020” is the largest European Union program created with the purpose of funding science and innovation, with a total budget of around 80 billion euros (for 2014 -2020). Ukraine became an associate member of this program in 2015, which gave Ukrainian participants equal status with their European partners, and also opened up opportunities for influencing the content of the Program. Among the main objectives of the Horizon 2020 program is to make Europe a prime location for top-notch scholars, to foster innovation and competitiveness of the European industry and business, and to address the most pressing issues of today’s European society.

The abbreviation ‘NCP’ stands for ‘National Contact Point’. These centers were created with the purpose of: providing information on the possibilities of the Horizon 2020 program, consulting of potential participants on their journey from creating an idea to the implementation of projects, and assistance in finding partners. These NCP’s exist in major universities and research centers of the participating countries and are distributed according to various thematic areas of the program “Horizon 2020”. All consultations are free of charge. Our NCP is a member of a wide network of national contact points in Ukraine, founded by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science. The NCP is located at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and focuses on two thematic areas: “Future and Emerging Technologies” and “Inclusive, Innovative and Reflective Societies”.