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1. The joint undertakings shall adhere to the following operational objectives in accordance with the criteria set out in Annex III to the Horizon Europe Regulation, and contribute to the operational objectives of Horizon Europe set out in the Specific Programme implementing Horizon Europe:

(a) reinforce and spread excellence, including by fostering wider participation and boosting collaborative links throughout the Union;

(b) strengthen scientific excellence, including by considering, where relevant, state-of-the-art basic and frontier research findings in the implementation of their activities;

(c) stimulate research and innovation activities in SMEs and contribute to the creation and scaling-up of innovative companies, in particular start-ups, SMEs and, in exceptional cases, small mid-caps;

(d) reinforce the link between research, innovation and, where appropriate, education, training and other policies, including complementarities with national, regional and Union research and innovation policies and activities;

(e) strengthening gender mainstreaming, including the integration of gender dimension in the research and innovation content;

(f) increase collaboration links in European research and innovation and across sectors and disciplines, including social sciences and humanities;

(g) strengthen international cooperation in support of Union policy objectives and international commitments;

(h) increase public awareness and acceptance, respond to demand and encourage the diffusion and uptake of new solutions by involving, where appropriate, citizens and end-users in co-design and co-creation processes;

(i) encourage exploitation of research and innovation results and actively disseminate and exploit results, in particular for leveraging private investments and for policy development;

(j) accelerate industrial transformation and resilience across the value chains, including through improving skills for innovation and advancing digital technology;

(k) support the scientific evidence-based implementation of related Union policies, as well as regulatory, standardisation and sustainable investment activities at national, European and global levels.

2. The joint undertakings shall carry out the following tasks by adopting a systemic approach in achieving the objectives:

(a) provide financial support, mainly in the form of grants, to research and innovation indirect actions, selected following open, transparent and competitive calls except in duly justified cases specified in their work programme in order to set additional conditions requiring the participation of members of the joint undertaking or their constituent or affiliated entities;

(b) develop close cooperation and ensure coordination with other European partnerships, including by dedicating, where appropriate, a part of the joint undertaking’s budget to joint calls;

(c) seek and maximise synergies with and, where appropriate, possibilities for further funding from relevant activities and programmes at Union, national and regional level, in particular with those supporting the deployment and uptake of innovative solutions, training, education and regional development, such as Cohesion Policy Funds, or the national Recovery and Resilience Plans;

(d) ensure their operations contribute towards the strategic multiannual planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation and other requirements of Horizon Europe set out in Articles 50 and 52 of the Horizon Europe Regulation, such as the implementation of the common policy feedback framework;

(e) promote the involvement of SMEs and start-ups in their activities and ensure the provision of timely information to them, in line with the objectives of Horizon Europe;

(f) develop a targeted approach within their Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda to implement measures for attracting newcomers, in particular SMEs, higher education institutions and research organisations, for expanding collaborative networks;

(g) mobilise the public and private sector resources needed to achieve the objectives set out in this Regulation;

(h) monitor progress towards the achievement of the objectives set out in this Regulation, as well as in accordance with the provisions set out in Article 50 of and Annexes III and V to the Horizon Europe Regulation;

(i) define and implement their work programme;

(j) liaise with the most extensive range of stakeholders including, but not limited to, decentralised agencies, research organisations and higher education institutions, end users and public authorities, in particular for the purpose of defining the priorities and activities of each joint undertaking as well as to ensure transparency, openness and inclusiveness, and benefits to society;

(k) engage in information, communication, publicity and dissemination and exploitation activities by applying mutatis mutandis Article 51 of the Horizon Europe Regulation, including by making the detailed and coherent information on results from funded research and innovation activities available and accessible in a common Horizon Europe e-database, in a timely manner;

(l) provide the Commission with the necessary technical, scientific and administrative support to carry out its tasks for the purposes of ensuring the proper functioning and development in the Union of the specific areas addressed by the joint undertaking;

(m) contribute to developing a more effective science-policy interface, to fostering open science by ensuring better use of results and to addressing policy needs, as well as to promoting faster exploitation, dissemination and uptake of results in accordance with Articles 14 and 39 of the Horizon Europe Regulation;

(n) identify and report, in line with the common policy feedback framework and with strategies and actions to support the European Green Deal objectives, the relevant knowledge acquired from the management of research and innovation projects and their results to the Commission to serve as input for monitoring, evaluating and rectifying, where necessary, existing policy measures or shaping new policy initiatives and decisions;

(o) support the Commission in the development and implementation of robust science-based technical screening criteria pursuant to Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 on sustainable investments, by monitoring and assessing their implementation within the economic sector in which they operate, in order to provide ad hoc feedback to policy-making, when needed;

(p) consider the ‘do no significant harm’ principle pursuant to Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 for activities of the joint undertakings falling within the scope of that Regulation and take into account the provisions of that Regulation to improve access to sustainable finance, where relevant;

(q) perform any other task necessary to achieve the objectives set out in this Regulation.

3. In addition to the tasks set out in this Article and in Part Two, the joint undertakings may be entrusted with the implementation of additional tasks requiring cumulative, complementary or combined funding between Union programmes.