H2020: Les oportunitats per les universitats i com hi hem intervingut en la seva definició Dra Lídia Borrell Damián Directora de Recerca i Innovació European University Association (EUA) Universitat Rovira i Virgili Campus Sescelades Tarragona, 24-04-2014
Introduction to EUA Who are we and how we work Strategic objectives Outline Horizon 2020 and the voice of the university sector What's new in Horizon 2020 Summary of EUA positions as the voice of the university sector Budget breakdown; Seven societal challenges Work Programmes: new features and work programme cycle Engaging international partners Implementation principles and modalities; Proposal Assessment EUA Member Memos Rules of Participation October 2013 General Model Grant Agreement (MGA) December 2013 Follow-up Two examples of new developments in EUA Open Access to Scientific Publications European Platform of Universities Engaged in Energy (EPUE) and new FP7 action called UNI-SET (Universities in the SET-Plan) 3
Introduction to EUA EUA acts as an independent stakeholder for Europe s Universities. Based in Brussels as a non-governmental membership organisation. EUA membership represents 34 European Rectors Conferences and over 850 individual research based higher education institutions across 46 countries. Dual-fold role: I. providing a forum for debate and mutual-learning though conferences and workshops, projects and specific services for the membership, and II. bringing empirical evidence from universities experiences and activities across their missions to inform the policy-making process in developing new instruments that help their strategic development and enhance their performance in addressing social, economic and civil society needs and goals. 4
Universities are essential stakeholders in building an European Research Area (ERA) Embedded in cities and regions, they enable social and economic development Implement diverse missions in education and research Educate knowledge workers and researchers Able to foster interdisciplinary research skills and expertise Are focal points for dialogue and knowledge exchange with society Build international cooperation upon institutional historical and cultural links, strengths and capacities 5 5
Strategic objectives of EUA for universities in ERA Maintain and further develop the position of universities as a key stakeholder providing input to European R&I policy developments at the highest policy and political EU level Encourage university engagement in the next steps of the implementation of the European Research Area through follow-up action on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Consolidate the European Platform of Universities Engaged in Energy Research, Education and Training (EPUE) as the main stakeholder representing the university sector in the SET-Plan Continue to develop and promote good practice guidelines in universitybusiness cooperation to foster EU competitiveness in the long-term Continue to promote structural reform and building critical mass in doctoral education in Europe, strengthening international cooperation and addressing the improvement of researcher careers and wider employment opportunities 6 6
What is Horizon 2020? The new EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, 2014-2020 A budget of 77 billion for 7 years (current prices) A core part of Europe 2020, Innovation Union and the European Research Area: Investing in future jobs & growth to overcome the economic crisis Addressing people's concerns about their livelihoods, safety, environment Strengthening the EU's global position in research, technology & innovation 7
EUA as the Voice of European Universities - Statements to ERA and Horizon 2020 policy development Developed in wide consultation with its members: Smart People for Smart Growth: Statement by the European University Association on the EU Flagship Initiative Innovation Union of the Europe 2020 European Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, 3 rd February 2011 EUA position on the EC Green Paper on a Common Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation Funding; 10 th May 2011 EUA position on the EC consultation document on the ERA Framework, 30 th November 2011 EUA Input to the Debate on the Rules for Participation in Horizon 2020, 10 th May 2012 Memorandum of Understanding between EUA and the European Commission, 17 th July 2012 Statement addressed to Heads of State and Government attending the EU Budget Summit, 8 th November 2012 Statement sent to EU Irish Presidency Chair of trilogue negotiations between Council, European Parliament and European commission, February 2013 8
Summary of main points on EUA s statements Excellence, simplification, open competition, European addedvalue, cost model flexibility, transparent evaluation processes Bottom-up funding instruments must be strengthened to support basic science (European Research Council, Marie Curie Actions and Future Enabling Technologies Programme) Essential contribution of the social sciences, arts and humanities should be retained and strengthened Greater synergy between Competition policy (Horizon 2020) and Cohesion Policy (ERDF & ESF) could be achieved by changing the regulations to allow universities to be initiators of ERDF funding applications in research, training and innovation activities (Smart Specialisation Strategy). 9
What's new Coupling research to innovation from research to deployment Focus on societal challenges facing EU society, e.g. health, clean energy, transport Simplified access, for participants A single programme bringing together three previously separate programmes/activities* (the 7 th Research Framework Programme (FP7), innovation aspects of Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), EU contribution to the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). 10
Three main priorities European Commission 11
Coverage of the full innovation chain European Commission 12
Horizon 2020 Budget breakdown EUR 77.028 million (in current prices) 13
Seven societal challenges 14
Work Programmes: new features Challenge-based approach: broad latitude for applicants to devise innovative solutions Broader topics, less prescription & focus on impact Biennial WP, annual calls (in most cases) 1 topic = various projects (in most cases) No 'ringfencing' of topic budget/ranking (in most cases) Simplified type of actions & funding rates 2-stage evaluation for most topics Facilitated access through keywords & tags 15
Work programme cycle in H2020 1 st 2014 2015 * 2 nd 3 rd 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Calls: annual, biennial or open Single stage or two-stage evaluations * possible revision 16
TOP-DOWN BOTTOM-UP Engaging international partners: Openness + selective targeting Anybody can participate, submit proposals, join consortia Participants from developing countries can get funding Participants from industrialised & emerging countries can get funding only exceptionally Some topics in the Work Programme may target cooperation with specific countries in given areas Basis: agreed common interest, co-funding if possible Reinforce collaboration with key partners; integration with candidate countries, proximity & partnership with neighbours; and/or multilateral cooperation 17
Implementation principles Multi-partner transnational consortia (in most cases) Public calls for proposals Competitive selection Evaluation by independent experts Evaluation criteria: Excellence Impact Implementation quality Funding rates: Direct costs = 100% or 70% Indirect costs = 25% of direct costs 18
FORMS OF FUNDING Grants Implementation modalities TYPES OF ACTIONS - Research and Innovation actions/ria - Innovation Actions/IA - Coordination and Support Actions/CSA - Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions/MSCA - European Research Council/ERC grants Funding rate 100% 70%/100%* 100% 100% 100% Min n partners 3 3 1 1 1 Programme co-fund - ERA-Net co-fund - PCP/PPI co-fund 33% (top-up) PCP 70% PPI 20% 3 Prizes - Inducement prizes, award prices Lump sum (result based) 1 Procurement - Tenders 100% 1 Financial instruments - Loan instrument - Equity instrument - - 1 1 Specific Procedures - SME Instrument - Fast Track to Innovation (pilot) * 100% 19 for non-profit 19 1. Lump sum 2. 70% 70% 1 1 1
Two-stage evaluation Stage 1 proposal submission - max. 15 pages - focus on content and results proposal evaluation - 2 criteria: excellence and impact - outcome: 'GO' or 'NO GO' Stage 2 proposal submission - only stage 1 'GO' proposals admitted proposal evaluation - 3 criteria: excellence, impact, implementation 20
Time-to-grant process Call deadline (single stage/ Second stage) EVALUATION Max 5 months Evaluation Summary Report (ESR) to proposers Max 3 months GRANT PREPARATION Grant signature M 0 M 5 M 8 21
EUA Member Memo On the Rules for Participation and Dissemination in HORIZON 2020 (October 2013) Main points of the political agreement Project consortia Forms of funding Reimbursement of costs Personal costs and time recording Time-to-grant Certificate on the Financial Statements (CFS) Necessary for claims on final payments when the amount of the EU financial contribution to the project is equal to or superior to 325,000 euros. Open access Mandatory for all scientific publications produced with funding from Horizon 2020 Contributions to the costs will be eligible for reimbursement. In open access publications, gold or green will be left to the discretion of the grant recipient. 22
EUA Member Memo On the general Model Grant Agreement (MGA) (December 2013) All provisions, general and specific, in one document (new) Terms defined in the Financial Regulation (except H2020 specific terms) Annotated MGA (included in H2020 Grants Manual) Replaces FP7 s guidance documents and explains the provisions by providing examples Complete version expected in March 2014 23
General Model Grant Agreement (MGA) Structure C1: general conditions C2: action, duration and budget C3: details of the grant (amount, reimbursement rates, eligible costs) C4: rights and obligations including consequences of noncompliance C5: division of roles C6: rejection, reduction, penalties and termination C7: final provisions including entry into force, amendments, applicable law 24
Important elements for universities C3: details of the grant (I) 1. Calculation of personnel costs hourly rate (calculated on the basis of actual costs or unit costs) * number of actual hours worked on the action Non-profit organisations: up to 8 000/year additional remuneration for personnel working on the action Researchers who work exclusively on a project will not be required to record their time. 2. Costing of large infrastructure Reimbursement as direct costs under the general reimbursement model (100% total eligible direct costs + a flat rate of 25% of the total eligible direct costs to cover indirect costs). Guidelines will be included in the annotated MGA. 25
Reimbursement option seems to be unusable and unattractive for most universities. 26 Important elements for universities C3: details of the grant (II) 2. Costing of large infrastructure Conditions that have to be fulfilled for the reimbursement are unclear in the current guidelines. At the present we can say that: 1. large research infrastructure 2. at least 75% of the total fixed assets 3. methodology for declaring costs accepted by the EC in an ex-ante assessment 4. portion of costs corresponds to the duration of the H2020 action and the rate of actual use for the purpose of that action Implications for universities: difficulty in discriminating infrastructures used for research vs. teaching and learning purposes.
Horizon 2020 EUA will follow implementation of H2020 Find out more: www.ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020 www.ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/home 27
EC and Open Access (OA): OA policy for Horizon 2020 The EC made OA to scientific publications a general principle of H2020. All articles produced with H2020 funding will have to be or immediately accessible online ( gold and hybrid OA) - costs can be eligible for reimbursement. available through an OA repository no later than 6 months (12 for SSH) after publication ( green OA). dissemination, transfer and use of research results, including through OA to publications and data from publicly funded research", singled out as one of the action points to achieve a well-functioning ERA. EC COM (October, 2010): http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/docs/en/ec-understanding-era-14.pdf 28
Report on OA Strategies in the ERA Commissioned by the EC to Science-Metrix OA funding models OA journals that are free for authors and readers. OA journals that are free for authors and readers of the online version, with subscription payment for the paper version. ~ 28% of OA journals; model favoured more by not-for-profit publishers. 'Author pays' OA journals /Gold OA (publication fees vary greatly). E.g., PLoS ONE, a peer-reviewed, high impact factor OA journal that has achieved financial stability through high-volume publishing. Hybrid systems/'open choice' publishing. Criticised by funders as unsustainable since publishers charge authors for publication while maintaining high subscription prices ('double dipping ). Journals with free access to certain content. Journals with free access to the contents after a period of embargo/'delayed OA /Green OA. Science-Metrix (August, 2013): http://www.science-metrix.com/pdf/sm_ec_oa_policies.pdf 29 Science Europe (December, 2013): http://www.scienceeurope.org/uploads/publicdocumentsandspeeches/scienceeurope_roadmap.pdf
The role of EUA in the OA policy dialogue? Initial list of main issues on OA with relevance for dialogue at the European level: Business models/costs of OA. Requirement for self-archiving of research publications in institutional (or shared) repositories. Peer-review and quality assessment in OA (emphasis particularly on the issues of journals impact factor and existence of incentives, or lack of, towards OA for researchers). Difficulty in assessing the progress of OA and its impact in the advancement of research due to limited data available on OA. OA implications for key players, such as researchers, institutions, policy-makers, funders, teachers. 30 30
UNI-SET Support action from the EU Commission under establishment EUA-EPUE and KU Leuven (representing the universities in EIT KIC InnoEnergy) are preparing an action for the mobilisation of the research, education and innovation capacities of Europe s universities WP1 Project management and steering and project administration WP2 Mapping of Masters and Research Activity/Doctorate Programmes and information systems EPUE WP4 Clustering Activities WP3 Identification of professional/student profiles WP5 Links with SET Plan, EERA, other relevant organisations and Dissemination 31
Thank you for your attention! Contact: Lidia.borrell-damian@eua.be www.eua.be
I. Excellent science Proposed funding: 24.441 million 1. European Research Council (ERC) Frontier research by the best individual teams 2. Future & Emerging Technologies (FET) Collaborative research to open new fields of innovation 3. Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions Opportunities for training & career development 4. Research infrastructures Ensuring access to world-class facilities 13.095 2.696 6.162 2.488
II. Industrial leadership Proposed funding: 17.015 million 1. Leadership in enabling & industrial technologies (ICT, nanotechnologies, materials, biotechnology, manufacturing, space) 2. Access to risk finance Leveraging private finance & venture capital for research & innovation 3. Innovation in SMEs* Fostering all forms of innovation in all types of SMEs 13.557 2.842 616 (*) Within the target of allocating a minimum of 20% of the total combined budgets for priorities II.1 and III, and 'Access to risk finance' with strong SME focus
III. Societal challenges Proposed funding: 29.679 million 1. Health, demographic change & wellbeing 7.472 2. Food security, sustainable agriculture & forestry, marine, maritime & inland water research & the bio-economy 3.851 3. Secure, clean & efficient energy* 5.931 4. Smart, green & integrated transport 6.339 5. Climate action, environment, resource efficiency & raw materials 3.081 6. Europe in a changing world Inclusive, innovative & reflective societies 7. Secure societies Protecting freedom & security of Europe & its citizens 1.310 1.695
Other priorities Proposed funding: 5.893 million IV. Spreading excellence & widening participation 816 V. Science with and for society 462 VI. Non-nuclear direct actions of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) 1.903 2.711