Horizon 2020 State-of-play
Workshop on Horizon 2020
National Centre for Scientific
Research – DEMOKRITOS
Athens, Greece
Robert-Jan SMITS
Director-General
Directorate-General for Research
and Innovation
5th February 2013
Research and
Innovation
European Parliament – State of Play
•
•
The ITRE Committee adopted on 28 November 2012 almost unanimously three reports of the
Horizon 2020 package:
–
Regulation establishing Horizon 2020 - The Framework Programme for Research and
Innovation (2014-2020) (Rapporteur: Ms Riera Madurell)
–
Decision establishing the
(Rapporteur: Ms Carvalho)
–
Regulation laying down the rules for the participation and dissemination in Horizon
2020 (Rapporteur: Mr Ehler)
Programme
Implementing
Horizon
2020
The fourth report was adopted by a large majority:
–
•
Specific
Regulation for Euratom (Rapporteur: Mr Skinner)
The outcome of the vote gave the Parliament a strong mandate to start the interinstitutional negotiations.
Policy
Research and
Innovation
European Parliament – State of Play (cont.)
•
Main differences of ITRE Committee Reports compared to the Commission proposal:
•
Split Societal Challenge 6 between the innovative/inclusive part and security;
•
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;
•
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
Research and
Innovation
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:
•
•
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:
•
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
•
Review clause for funding model
•
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
Research and
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:
–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.
–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
Research and
Innovation
Council – State of Play (cont.)
•
Euratom Programme:
The examination of the Presidency compromise text on Euratom is ongoing in the Research
Working Party.
Main issues raised include:
•
structure and chairmanship of advisory committees;
•
organisation of fusion research;
•
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
Research and
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
Research and
Innovation
TRILOGUES ON HORIZON 2020
Main issues for the Commission
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
Research and
Innovation