The second Annual Monitoring Report certifies an increase in proposals by 25% in 2015 compared to 2014.
According to the second Annual Monitoring Report that was published by the European Commission on 28 November 2016, there was an increase in proposals by 25% in 2015 compared to 2014, especially coming from businesses, whose number of applications increased by almost 27%. About 50% of participants are newcomers, among which several small and medium-sized companies.
This report covers Horizon 2020 calls closed in 2015 and compares them with the results of 2014. It analyses implementation, allocation of funding and participation per EU member state, Associated Countries to Horizon 2020 and third countries. The results of the report will feed into the ongoing interim evaluation of Horizon 2020.
In 2014 and 2015, almost €16 billion has been allocated to over 9,000 research and innovation projects that boost excellent science, create industrial leadership and tackle societal challenges. There has been a total of about 76,000 eligible proposals.
The implementation of Horizon 2020 is increasingly efficient, with the time from opening of applications to allocation of funding dropping by almost 32 days from 2014 to 2015.
However, a downside to this increase in applications for funding is a drop in the success rate of applicants from 13.2% in 2014 to 10.7% in 2015. To counteract this and to reduce the burden on unsuccessful applicants, the European Commission introduced more two-stage calls, in which short, ten-page proposals are first evaluated against a reduced set of criteria.Work programmes will have fewer, well-defined topics, with budgets capable of supporting a portfolio of projects.
The report can be found here.
