Horizon 2020 State-of-play

Robert-Jan SMITS

Director-General Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

Workshop on Horizon 2020 National Centre for Scientific Research – DEMOKRITOS Athens, Greece 5th February 2013

Research and Innovation

European Parliament – State of Play

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The ITRE Committee adopted on 28 November 2012 almost unanimously three reports of the Horizon 2020 package:

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Regulation establishing Horizon 2020 - The Framework Programme for Research and

Innovation (2014-2020) (Rapporteur: Ms Riera Madurell)

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Decision establishing

(Rapporteur: Ms Carvalho)

the Specific Programme Implementing Horizon 2020

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Regulation laying down the rules for the participation and dissemination in Horizon

2020 (Rapporteur: Mr Ehler) The fourth report was adopted by a large majority:

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Regulation for Euratom (Rapporteur: Mr Skinner)

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The outcome of the vote gave the Parliament a strong mandate to start the inter institutional negotiations.

Policy Innovation

European Parliament – State of Play (cont.)

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Main differences of ITRE Committee Reports compared to the Commission proposal:

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Split Societal Challenge 6 between the innovative/inclusive part and security;

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Addition of objective "spreading excellence and widening participation in 'Excellent Science' Pillar; 20% of total combined budget for Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies and Societal Challenges should go to SMEs;

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Introduction of Fast-track to innovation funding instrument; Recipients of grants should have option to be reimbursed on the basis of real indirect costs instead of single flat rate; Differentiation between types of participants when fixing the funding rate; No derogation from the Rules for public-private and public-public partnerships Reduction of the average time to grant from nine to six months Policy Innovation

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Council – State of Play

Framework Programme Regulation: Partial General Approach reached on 31 May 2012.

Main differences in the Partial General Approach compared to the Commission proposal:

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Structural changes, with the split of Challenge 6 and the addition of a new activity on Cultural Heritage

Rules for Participation and Dissemination: Partial General Approach reached on 10 October 2012.

Main differences in the Partial General Approach compared to the Commission proposal:

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Flat rate for indirect costs at 25% instead of 20% Additional payments for personnel ("bonus") with a cap at 8000 EUR per year and per person

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Review clause for funding model

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100% reimbursement for non-profit organisations in close-to-market actions

Currently, the Council Research Working Party is examining the amendments of the EP ITRE committee on the Framework Programme Regulation and on the Rules for Participation.

Policy Innovation

Council – State of Play (cont.)

Specific Programme: Partial General Approach reached on 11 December 2012.

Main differences in the Partial General Approach compared to the Commission proposal:

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The issue of Comitology with two important aspects from the Member States point of view: 1) configurations of the Programme Committee, 2) opinion of the Programme Committee on individual projects.

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Widening participation Reaching the Partial General Approaches gives a strong signal to the European Parliament.

They are "Partial" as the agreements do not include budgets.

The budgets for Horizon 2020 will be finalised following agreement by the European Council on the Multi-Annual Framework.

Policy Innovation

Council – State of Play (cont.)

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Euratom Programme:

The examination of the Presidency compromise text on Euratom is ongoing in the Research Working Party.

Main issues raised include:

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structure and chairmanship of advisory committees; organisation of fusion research;

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budget increase of JRC; administrative costs.

It was decided that there will be no Partial General Approach in the February Council. Progress on Euratom depends on the progress of negotiations in the Research Working Party, and on the funding for ITER.

Policy Innovation

TRILOGUES ON HORIZON 2020

Following the ITRE vote on the H2020 package and the three Partial General Approaches reached by Council, the inter-institutional negotiations on Horizon 2020 have started.

10 January: Kick-off meeting at political level (EP, Council, EC).

The inter-institutional discussion process on the Framework Programme, the Rules for Participation and the Specific Programme has been launched; The meeting allowed the three institutions to highlight the main topics to be addressed on Horizon 2020 and to clarify the future steps.

11 & 18 & 25 January: First technical meetings

The three institutions have started the discussions of the Articles of the Framework Programme Regulation and of the Rules of Participation on the basis of the four columns document.

31 January: First trilogue 19 February: Second trilogue (tbc) March: Further trilogues

Policy Innovation

TRILOGUES ON HORIZON 2020 Main issues for the Commission

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These include, in particular:

- Simplification: this includes the amendments related to the funding model, time to grant, and comitology (EP/Council).

The simplification proposed by the Commission will bring real benefits as it has been recently recognised by the Court of Auditors, which stated that

"radically simplified cost-funding model will improve the reliability of the model, decrease the risk of irregularities in beneficiaries cost claims, make project accounting less complex, eliminate some of the verification steps required under the current FP7 funding model, thereby facilitating and accelerating the application process".

- Structural issues: the split of Challenge 6, new action lines, or the inclusion of widening participation under Excellent Science will have an impact on the budget distribution (EP/Council).

Policy Innovation