HORIZON 2020 HORIZON 2020 LESSONS LEARNED FROM ITS LAUNCH, PERSPECTIVES FOR 2016 AND BEYOND THIRD GIURI ANNUAL EVENT, 14 JULY 2015 Wolfgang Burtscher DG Research & Innovation European Commission
Recent data Some Key Data as of 8/7 2015 # of proposals received: 63,536 (Requesting EUR 146.8 billion) # of retained proposals: 5,298 (Requesting EUR 8.55 billion) # of contracts signed: 4,507
Administrative success (1) Participant Portal: single gateway where external beneficiaries of the whole Research family can find in an easy way all relevant information Guidance (H2020 online manual, helpdesk, etc.) Funding opportunities Proposal submission Results of evaluation Grants lifecycle Electronic submission of invoices, deliverables, activity reports
Administrative success (2) According to an external study: "To try and benchmark the Portal, an initial task for the project was to see if there were comparator systems around the world that could provide benchmarks in terms of functionality, design, or performance. However, we could not find equivalent systems of the functional complexity, working seamlessly across the full functions of government. There are many grant application and funding systems, but not with the ability to manage sophisticated online evaluation and project monitoring. The Participant Portal is unique."
Administrative success (3) Quick information on evaluation outcome Time-to-inform of 5 months respected 100% Quick signature of grant agreement Time-togrant of 8 months respected 95% (no negotiation) Only possible thanks to: Robust IT-systems Coherent set of business processes covering complete grant cycle and all actors implementing H2020 Continued focus on simplification
Assessment of the state of play (1) Programming: OK Inclusive (H2020 Advisory Groups) Strategic ('Strategic Programming') Predictable (2-year Work Programmes) Respectful of scientific autonomy (Challenge-based approach broadly appreciated) Focus on impact: So far, so good (time-lag) Drafting of Work Programmes and Calls for Proposals (Focus on dissemination and exploitation, inclusion of end-users, etc.) 'Impact' as one of the evaluation criteria (Heavier weighting in the case of innovation actions) Experts with expertise in the field of innovation in proposal evaluation
Assessment of the state of play (2) Interdisciplinarity: Generally to be strengthened further E.g. further embedding of SSH E.g. cross-cutting calls (between societal challenges ('focus areas') or between societal challenges and LEIT) International cooperation: Generally further embedding needed
Data analysis Period covered: 1 January 2014 to 30 April 2015 Calls closed by 1 December 2014 Number* of call deadlines or cut-off dates: 100 All patterns and trends are preliminary - likely to still evolve substantially in future Therefore all comparisons with FP7 (whole programme) are preliminary * Single-stage Calls and second stage in Two-stage Calls; 490 calls in FP7 7/15/2015 8
Main data (1/3) Submitted eligible full proposals: - a full proposal is submitted: (i) in single-stage calls and (ii) in the second phase of two-stage calls; Number: 31,105 (total FP7: 135,514) Requested EU financial contribution: 53,4 billion (total FP7: 217,1 billion) Participations in these proposals: 123,129 (total FP7: 598,080) - one proposal may include participations by several organisations that cooperate in the proposed project; - participations are analysed to distinguish between countries, organisation types and to compare mono-beneficiary actions to multiple beneficiary actions Number of unique experts to evaluate these proposals: 11,000 7/15/2015 9
Main data (2/3) Overall success rates for full proposals: - percentages: "retained for funding" versus "eligible proposals" - for: (i) number of proposals, (ii) EU financial contribution to proposals, (iii) number of applications, (iv) EU financial contribution to applications Number of proposals: 13.9% (total FP7: 18,5%) EU fin'l contribution (proposals): 14.4% (total FP7: 15,3%) Number of participations: 16,1% (total FP7: 21,6%) EU fin'l contribution (participations): 14.4% (total FP7: 19.9%) 7/15/2015 10
Main data (3/3) Number of H2020 grants signed at 30 April 2015: 3,236 a project is implemented by one grant; a project often has several organisations that cooperate that are called "participants" or "beneficiaries" Total Number of FP7 grants signed: 25,164 Total costs of these grants (projects): 6.5 bln EU financial contribution: 5.4 bln The 20% budget target for SME has been achieved Time-to-grant (excl. ERC): 95% of grants have been signed within 8 months 7/15/2015 11
EU CONTRIBUTION BY TYPE OF ACTION IN HORIZON 2020 GRANTS Research and Innovation Actions 42% Innovation Actions 16% Coordination and Support Actions 7% European Research Council 16% Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions 10% Small Medium Enterprises 3% COFUND 6% * Horizon 2020 Grants signed and under preparation; To note: different data cut-off as for other slides 12 7/15/2015
Participation by type of organisation (in number of participations) 50% 45% Participation by type of organisation (in EU financial contribution) 40% 35% 30% H2020 FP7 40% 35% 30% 25% 25% 20% 20% 15% 15% 10% 10% 5% 5% 0% HES PRC PUB REC OTH 0% HES PRC PUB REC OTH The private sector (PRC), public bodies (PUB), and 'other' have increased their shares of both participations and EU financial contribution Universities (HES) and research organisations (REC) have both decreased their shares of participations, but research organisations (REC) have increased their share of the EU financial contribution 7/15/2015 13
30,0% 25,0% 20,0% 15,0% 10,0% 5,0% Share of SME Participations H2020 LEIT & Soc. Challenges v. FP7- Cooperation (in number of participations) H2020 (LEIT + Societal Challenges) FP7 (Cooperation) 25,0% 20,0% 15,0% 10,0% 5,0% Share of SME Participations H2020 LEIT & Soc. Challenges v. FP7- cooperation (in EU financial contribution) H2020 (LEIT + Societal Challenges) 0,0% 1 0,0% 1 SMEs increase share in H2020 compared to FP7 (almost 25% of participations in LEITs and SCs) The 20% budget target for SMEs has been achieved About 5% out of that 20% is due to the SMEinstrument 7/15/2015 14
Known and New H2020 Participants (in numbers) Known and New H2020 Participants (in requested EU financial contribution) 669.712.0 76 12% 2.735 19% New comers New comers 11.975 81% 4.818.645.387 88% One in five H2020 participants are organisations that have not participated in FP7 (newcomers) The newcomers receive 12% of the EU financial contribution FP7 had 12.9% newcomers (new validated PICs) in the year 2013 7/15/2015 15
OTH-NON-SME 357 13% PUB-SME 1 0% PUB-NON-SME 202 7% OTH-SME 50 2% HES-NON-SME 67 3% HES-SME 4 0% REC-NON-SME 120 4% H2020 Newcomers per organisation type (in number of participations) REC-SME 14 1% HES-NON- SME HES-SME REC-NON- SME REC-SME PRC-NON- SME PRC-SME PRC-SME 1.097 40% PRC-NON-SME 823 30% PUB-NON- SME 1,100 newcomers are SMEs with legal status of privatecommercial organisation (PRC-SME) Of 1,600 others, half are private-commercial organisations but are not SMEs (PRC-NON-SME), which reflects the larger pool of potential applicants compared to the noncommercial sector 7/15/2015 16
Key figures on the participation of Italy in Horizon 2020 so far As of 1 July 2015: o 1,240 projects involving Italian participants retained for funding o 2,281 Italian organisations (enterprises, universities, research organisations) and individuals involved in those projects o Represents an EU financial contribution to Italian participants of EUR 770 million
Expert evaluators Overview (1) 11.000 evaluators contracted (some of these experts were contracted more than once) 75.000 other experts in database Successful campaign to increase registration in database Large pool of un-used experts still available to call upon 7/15/2015 18
Expert evaluators Overview (2) 51 % Old experts 4,5 % Newcomers = Experts not contracted as evaluators in H2020/FP7 for the three preceding years 44,5 % Brand new experts = Experts never contracted under H2020/FP7 Target of 25% new experts has been effective All services are using brand new experts NB: FP7 experts not in the database used by RTD are automatically considered as brand new (for instance ICT experts). 7/15/2015 19
Main conclusions (1) Horizon 2020 is an attractive programme with more applications than in previous programmes, consequently lower success rates and higher oversubscription; With more focus on innovation, indications are that industry participation is up; research organisations also doing well in relative share of received EU funding; In line with H2020 objectives, newcomers attracted, mainly from industry; SME participation increased overall and 20% target for LEITs/SC reached 7/15/2015 20
Main conclusions (2) Recommendations/Follow-up measures: Over-subscription requires continuous monitoring; measures already undertaken: Clearer topic descriptions in draft WP 2016-2017, notably impact statements have been sharpened; New rules for two stage calls ensuring better success rates in stage two (i.e. dynamic threshold taking into account budget available); Further briefings of National Contact Points (NCP) and Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) to better direct potential applicants to most appropriate call/activity; also improved information on Participant Portal. 7/15/2015 21
European Fund for Strategic Investments Commission proposal to address current low level of EU investment - removing obstacles, providing technical assistance - smarter use of new and existing financial resources o o o mobilising investments of at least 315 billion in three years supporting investment in the real economy creating an investment friendly environment Trilogue between EU co-legislators saw agreement for redeployment of 2.2 bn. from Horizon 2020; no impact on ERC, MSCA and Widening budgets Opportunity for R&I investment to projects from Horizon 2020 and previous programmes e.g. high risk, high reward 22
Work Programme 2016-2017 (1) Based on strategic programming approach Contribution to the Jobs, Growth and Investment Package Support to other European policy areas, notably Energy Union; Digital Single Market; Strengthening the industrial base (key enabling technologies) 23
Work Programme 2016-2017 (2) 15 bn. investment Challenge-based o Non-prescriptive language of topics and calls o Support across the innovation cycle o Emphasis on exploitation and impacts Incorporating lessons learned from WP 2014-15 First calls by early October (ERC in July) 24
Next steps - evaluation Independent assessment providing vital contribution to effective programme implementation and future policy Addressing all aspects of programme implementation including instruments, results and impacts o Quantitative and qualitative analysis including indicators Ex post evaluation of FP7 by end of 2015 Interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 by end of 2017 o Will contribute ideas to what might follow H2020 25
Next steps - Consultations on simplification Further simplification in the context of the Commission agenda for Better Regulation Building on H2020 simplifications (single set of participation rules; simplified funding rates; time-to-grant of 8 months ;) feedback exercises to gather evidence: o o online survey of applicants to 2014-15 calls taking stock of their experiences with rules, processes and systems etc. workshops with national research and innovation funders for identifying and exchanging best practice 26