If you have not been involved in a Horizon 2020 project before, one of the best ways to get involved is to find organisations submitting bids and ask to join them as partners. UKRO has made a factsheet giving ideas of how to find partners for horizon 2020 projects.
It includes suggestions such as joining European Technology Platforms or linking in with the European Enterprise Network. UKRO Factsheet on Consortium Building, to see this document you need to use your UKRO username and password, or set up an UKRO account if you don’t already have one.
Joining a Horizon 2020 research project could provide you with a direct path to generate a 3 or 4 star rated REF output.