4 sections from the Description of Action (Part B)
consortium as a whole brings together the necessary expertise
Infrastructure. The consortium has access to ten cutting-edge research laboratories and five industry-leading
research environments with 450 interdisciplinary Finance researchers. All consortium members and DCs have access
to the entire financial infrastructure (Bloomberg, Refinitiv, cloud computing, etc.), as well as world-class computing,
standard and specialised software. The overall operational capacity, scientific and non-scientific staff resources
by far exceeds all proposal requirements.
Support functions. In addition, we can collectively use the joint resources of 15 dedicated national
communication and marketing teams and 10 specialised teams that provide all the necessary support for
commercial exploitation of the results, including legal offices for potential patent applications, dedicated spin-off
divisions, and the necessary support for entrepreneurial exploitation. All partners provide free training facilities,
which exceeds our consortium's needs. Each partner has a career centre, data management team, and HR resources,
along with all the necessary administrative offices meant to support the researcher, including accommodating spaces
like students’ dormitories. The consortium will unify infrastructure and support functions.
Experience and Capacity for doctoral training. The consortium partners have the experience and resources to host
up to five two-week long doctoral schools with 100 participants in each country and train over 200 PhD candidates
collectively. Each consortium partner is a national leader in their field, and participating departments enrol over 850
PhD students.62 The consortium has a long history of administering 25 different doctoral degree programs and more
than 14 doctoral training schools annually, being leading members of five different European research consortia and
training networks.63 More than 700 PhD students per year are trained in research and transferable skills at each
university's specialised doctoral training facilities.
Hosting and mobility arrangements. EURAXESS local points at each academic partner and national EURAXESS
service points that will serve as contact points for non-academic hosting arrangements will ensure standardised and
seamless hosting arrangements for doctoral students across all partners. Each partner hosts more than 500
researchers annually as a result of international collaborations and has international support teams/offices
that facilitate the adaptation of new DCs to the department. Each host institution, including non-academic ones,
will provide the same access and benefits as for regular employees, including office space, computing resources,
software packages, data licences, and libraries.
Excellence and Code of Conduct. All academic consortium partners have signed the European Charter for
Researchers, the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, and obtained the HR Excellence in
62 as of November 1, 2022
63 COST CA19130, European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry, Expert Team Regulatory Sandbox Austrian Ministry of Finance, ECIU - The European
Consortium of Innovative Universities
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Project: 101119635 — DIGITAL — HORIZON-MSCA-DN-2022
Research logo.64 All non-academic partners have signed up and adhere to best practices in their respective countries
as it relates to professional conduct and industry standards. All partners have committed to Open Science,65
Responsible Research and Innovation, and the MSCA Green Charter's guiding principles. 66
Scientific Domain Expertise and Creating Impact. Each academic partner is carefully chosen to represent a
complementary field of expertise (finance, computer science, economics, statistics, business). Non-academic
partners (ECB, banks, government, consulting, Fintech firms) have extensive research experience and the required
expertise in a) defining relevant research topics, b) guiding research towards products, and c) exploiting
research to create new and improved products and services. Our academic partners have experience developing
research-based prototypes, while our non-academic partners can access policymakers and government
institutions, investment capital, and develop research-based industrial applications.
Synergies in Training. Each academic partner has substantial training and supervision experience with doctoral
students. Our companies will open their extensive in-house training programs for all of our PhD students. These
programs will include both industry-leading courses on transferable skills and industry-relevant courses. Each partner
has complementary training topics.67 The ECB provides premier training on all EU-related topics.
Joint experience with cooperation in research and training. This consortium has collaborated on more than
thirty research and training projects with European industry partners. 90% of the partners are members of
COST Action CA1930 and have more than 50 joint publications, contributed to 100 research conferences,
dissemination, and exploitation events with over 6000 participants.68 50% of the members participated in the EU
H2020 Fintech project, which provided research training to all 28 EU supervisory and regulatory authorities.
Several of our academic partners have been running European-wide study groups with industry for six years, laying
the groundwork for cross-sectoral doctoral schools.69 This inter-sectoral (academia, industry, government) research
and training output is complemented by bilateral research projects and joint training efforts.
This inter-sectoral (academia, industry, government) research and training output is complemented by bilateral
research projects and joint training efforts.
Joint PhD training. In addition to operating over twenty-five doctoral training schools in the past, this consortium
has committed to running an additional six doctoral training schools in Europe in 2023, funded by EU COST.
Collectively, they have supervised over 200 DCs, with many being joint academia-industry graduates. In addition,
80% of the consortium is already engaged in collaborative industry-academia research and PhD supervision.
Expertise in SSH, Open Science and Gender Aspects of R&I. Members of the Consortium have extensive prior
experience with SSH, open science and gender topics. They have been in charge of the COST Action CA19130's
open science initiatives and diversity team. 40% of our members are leaders in their respective institutions'
diversity initiatives. 100% of partners have committed to adhere to all open science gender practices, and 30%
of academic partners are responsible for that topic at their universities. Not only do all academic partners include
gender aspects of R&I in their research, but 15% of our members actively conduct research in this area.
Commitment beyond requirements. Each consortium member has committed to providing substantial resources in
excess of the requirements for this network, and agreed to significantly augment these resources if needed.
Supervisory Board. Each partner has agreed to serve on the supervisory board, including one alternate member.
Resources, Infrastructure and Benefits Commitments. Three to six research-related employees have been
assigned to this project by each partner. Each partner provides full access to all infrastructure and all regular employee
benefits. They will provide all necessary resources, and increase these significantly over the course of the
project, if required. Each and every partner has signed all applicable EU charters, codes, and regulations. Additional
Commitment of beneficiaries. DCs will be given comprehensive access to doctoral programs and standard
employment contracts. Non-academia partners have committed to being beneficiaries, demonstrating the
dedication of our industrial network.
Additional Commitment of associated partners. Each associated partner has agreed to host at least three more
DCs if needed. Each industrial partner will make their internal training and career support available to the entire
64 HR Excellence in Research https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/hrs4r
65 https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/strategy/strategy-2020-2024/our-digital-future/open-science_en
66 EC, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, MSCA Actions Green Charter, 2021, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/720690
67 The relevant in-house courses, available to all DCs, are in excess of the equivalence of 150 ECTS.
68 https://www.meetup.com/Fintech_AI_in_Finance/
69 EU H2020 Nr. 825215, https://ecmiindmath.org/, https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19130/
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Project: 101119635 — DIGITAL — HORIZON-MSCA-DN-2022
network and contribute substantial additional resources to network-wide training activities, providing all of their
transferable skills training to our entire network and contributing to new European curricula.