With a seven-year duration, since 2014 to 2020, Horizon 2020 is the largest research and innovation investment project in the European Union. Compared to the former research programme (FP7), Horizon 2020 has a bigger budget of EUR 77 billion compared to EUR 55 billion. Research and innovation is the key to a competitive European Union and stimulate growth, sustainable development and a better quality of life. One of the Horizon 2020 objectives focus on transport as a prerequisite for European prosperity, ensuring better trade relations between the EU and the rest of the world and providing access in the European market and beyond. Transport innovation is a defining element for its development and Shift2Rail becomes a vital component for the technological innovation of rail transport contributing to the creation of the single European railway area.
Since the launch of the programme, in the first 100 calls, the 28 member countries have submitted 111,579 applications. Compared to the previous programme, in the seven years of FP7, 598,080 applications were submitted, each member state increasing their share of eligible applications compared to FP7. “The average of eligible costs for each state is 293 and countries such as Cyprus, Luxembourg, Slovenia, are quite active proving the attractiveness of Horizon 2020”, says the European Commission. Apart from the EU countries, the programme also includes 122 third countries which submitted 2,950 applications and 12 associate countries, such as Serbia, Macedonia or Island, these three increasing their participation share compared to the previous FP7 programme.
Regarding the percentage of received proposals, of 31,115 (of which 29,794 full proposals in single-stage calls and 1,321 full proposals in the second stage of the two-stage calls), 14% of the full proposals have been selected for financing, “a successful rate which reflects a very large number of achieved proposals in the first 100 calls. The success rate of eligible proposals over the full seven-year duration of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7) was around 20%,” Horizon 2020 – first results explains.
In the segment of applicant organisation type, universities rank first, regarding the number of eligible applications, followed by the private sector, research organisations or public entities.
Also, compared to FP7 (over the full seven-year duration), the share of SMEs’ participation has increased within Horizon 2020, figures comparing the “Cooperation” theme of FP7 with participants in Leading and Emerging Industrial Technology (LEIT) and the Societal Challenge a Horizon 2020.
For these two themes, EU’s financial contribution to SMEs shows that the budget target of 20% has been reached and around 5% of this contribution is delivered by the SME instrument of Horizon 2020 for which most applications have been submitted by five countries: the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.
The Council
In October, the European Commission presented the Work Programme for Horizon 2020 for 2018 – 2020 with an investment of EUR 30 billion, of which EUR 3.3 billion will be granted to the priority regarding a future with CO2 low emissions, resilient to climate changes, EUR 1 billion to circular economy, EUR 1.7 billion to digitalisation, transformation of services and the European industry, EUR 1 billion to EU security and EUR 200 million to migration.
From the budget for the next years, EUR 7.1 billion is not included in the work programme being managed through different public-private partnerships (EUR 3.6 billion), public-public partnerships (EUR 900 million), European Institute of Technology (EUR 1.4 billion and Joint Research Centre (EUR 100 million).
Most of the financing is allocated based on the open competitive calls of researchers, the private segment or other interested organisations from any member state or associated state of Horizon 2020, while for third countries, participation relies on meeting specific criteria. The new characteristics of this programme round include measures of supporting a market-creating innovation, activities that are much more integrated on specific interest segments and stressing a better spread of results and of open data access. Moreover, the work programme includes measures of supporting the development of innovation by launching the European Innovation Council (EIC) which will determine the stimulation of revolutionary innovation in any technology or any sector. In November, the High-Level Group of Innovators published EIC recommendations underlining the role of the council in supporting innovation, meeting the needs of EU innovators from start-ups to big companies. “Europe must set up a European Innovation Council as a key pillar of the next EU Framework programme, to focus on excellence even where there is high risk, to empower innovators, to provide them with simple, yet powerful tailor-made financial support from start-up to scale-up, and reinforce the EU innovation eco-systems,” Herman Hauser, Chair of the Group of Innovators said.
The first phase of the EIC (now considered to be a pilot project) will support companies and entrepreneurs wishing to intensify the European and global business segment and will contribute to a better absorption of innovative ideas that have potential to create new markets and consolidate the industrial base. The budget of this phase is EUR 2.7 billion and cumulates existing instruments.
By the end of this year, High Level Group of Innovators would present the recommendations for setting up the EIC and, in the first part of 2018, EC will consult all interested parties about their opinions on the next research and innovation programme framework starting 2021 (FP7).
Regarding political priorities, WP will approach the European Commission by defining targeted research and innovation actions with significant impact, “interest areas” being projected around four political priorities: a low-carbon, climate resilient future; circular economy, digitising and transforming European industry and services, circular economy and security union.
The budget for creating a low-carbon, climate resilient future is EUR 3.3 billion and includes research and innovation projects based on the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate changes and the Sustainable Development Objectives of the United Nations and will support the implementation of the Energy Union strategy.
EUR 941 million will be allocated within the Circular Economy package, an amount dedicated to R&I projects that will contribute to meeting sustainable development objectives.
The budget for digitising and transforming European industry and services amounts to EUR 1.7 billion and supports the combination of digital technologies (such as 5G, Internet of Things, big data), this area representing the growth opportunities of industrial competitiveness.
EUR 1 billion will be allocated for making European security effective for the implementation of priorities set for this sector, while migration, the fourth political priority, will receive EUR 200 million to develop migration management solutions and to integrate migrants. >
> Moreover, EUR 1 billion will be allocated for consolidation of international cooperation in emblematic areas of mutual interest and referring to countries such as Canada, Japan, India, Russia, South Korea, Singapore, Africa and Australia.
Shift2Rail shapes the future of rail mobility
The priorities identified in the work programme will continue to meet the objectives of the Societal Challenge pillar on the establishment of an integrated, efficient, environmentally friendly and safe European system. According to the temporary evaluation of Horizon 2020, the Societal Challenge pillar (which supports seven “challenges” of which the Smart, green and integrated transport-SC4, received 36.3% of Horizon 2020 financing worth EUR 7.4 billion. the largest share was directed to the energy sector (8.6%), followed by health (7.6%), transport (7%) and security (2.3%).
The key performance indicators for Smart, green and integrated transport (SC4) focused on 11 patented and 4 approved applications there were 30 prototypes and testing activities and 13 new products, processes and methods were launched in the market.
Within the Transport Challenge, EUR 6.2 billion is granted to transport from 2014 to 2020 which will help meet four objectives. The work programme (2018-2020) will be implemented within three calls for proposals: Call Mobility for Growth (included in the section Building a low-carbon, climate resilient future), Call ‘Digitising and transforming European industry and services: Automated Road Transport’ and Call ‘Building a low-carbon, climate resilient future: Green Vehicles’. Apart from these proposals, the Transport Challenge contributes to the Blue Growth within the work programme for “Energy”, while other actions will be implemented through public procurement and/or other instruments, as part of the Transport Challenge.
For Smart, green and integrated transport, the total estimated budget is EUR 945 million.
Shift2Rail (S2R JU) is the first European initiative dedicated exclusively to rail transport, while research and innovation activities are implemented within Horizon 2020, its objectives consisting in doubling the capacity of the European rail system and increasing the reliability and quality of services by 50% while reducing lifecycle costs by 50%.
As a result of the call for projects launched at the end of 2015, in 2016, S2R JU allocated 27 grants which permitted the initiation of the first projects starting with September 2016. The cost of research and innovation activities within the 2015 and 2016 calls was of EUR 167.3 million with a S2R co-financing of over EUR 79.1 million. Financed projects will develop innovative solutions to increase the reliability, quality and punctuality of rail services, while also contributing to reducing costs and facilitating cross-border journeys.
Also, at the end of 2016, S2R JU published the 2017 round of calls for projects for the progress of the ongoing activities within the S2R R&I Programme. This call is divided into two parts, one of the open calls of the other S2R JU members which has to achieve activities worth around EUR 93 million and Open Calls worth EUR 19.5 million, an amount fully financed by 2R JU.
Two years after the establishment of S2R JU (in 2014), 2016 was a crucial year when major objectives were met leading to the implementation of the activities targeted in the research and innovation programme. Thus, the budget autonomy objective was met last year, the first project calls of the R&I Programme were completed, Grant Agreements were signed to intensify the research and innovation activities, the 2017 Call for proposals was launched and the JU structure was consolidated. In December 2017, S2R JU will announce its open call for proposals.
Shift2Rail JU has recently adopted the Multiannual Action Plan which identifies an associated set of new innovation capabilities, solutions that will launch in the market the most sustainable, efficient, effective and competitive products. The plan describes the S2R Programme and focuses on several steps which will contribute to the radical optimisation of the rail system. The programme has also been presented to the European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, who expressed her support for the implementation of activities.
Also, according to the Annual Work Plan, published in October, 2018 includes three operational activities concerning the launch of calls for proposals and calls for tenders estimated at EUR 157.8 million, call for tenders with a maximum value of EUR 2.3 million and other activities which include the monitoring and review of research and innovation activities. For the next year, S2R JU intends to launch calls for proposals and/or call for tenders only for its members, with a budget estimated at EUR 59.6 million. This sum will be co-financed by the S2R JU against R&I activities for EUR 134.1 million (the difference, EUR 74.5 million, corresponds to the indicative minimum value of the net in-kind contributions of the Other Members).
Innovation is the key to meeting the European Union objectives in all economic and social segments. The deployment of actions through PPPs stimulates economic growth and life quality. These are the main instruments of implementing Horizon 2020, a programme in which those involved commit to support industrial research and innovation activities helping to boost the European Union’s competitiveness. Shift2Rail JU plays a major role in innovation, with the end purpose of creating an efficient and performing transport system to meet mobility, but also environmental, requirements and to create a sustainable economy. Shift2Rail JU’s contribution to development and innovation is also underlined by the Research and Innovation Commission which, considering the outcome of the provisory evaluation of PPPs, announced that Shift2Rail JU is one of the most successful research partnerships in the EU. The report stipulates that one of the positive effects of Shift2Rail has been that it brought together several interested parties and companies to collaborate for maintaining the competitiveness of the European rail sector in developing rail technologies and consolidating European technology as global leader.
The report analysed seven PPPs that activate in research and innovation with total investments of EUR 19.5 billion of which EU’s share is EUR 7.3 billion and estimates an investment of EUR 12.2 billion would be unlocked from the public sector and member states.
“The evaluations show that our partnerships with industry and Member States already strengthen our economy and improve our quality of life. They enable us to tackle issues that no single company or country can deal with alone. We will use the evaluation results to further improve these initiatives and to increase their impact”, Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation said.
The Shift2Rail JU evaluation analysis considers the five main criteria concerning relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, coherence and added value in Europe. The report also presents a series of recommendations referring to the transfer of knowledge between joint undertakings in transport, the optimisation of balance of the eco-system, innovation and efficiency and approaching societal challenges.
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