02013R1291 — EN — 04.07.2015 — 001.003

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►B REGULATION (EU) No 1291/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 December 2013 establishing Horizon 2020 - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020) and repealing Decision No 1982/2006/EC (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 347 20.12.2013, p. 104)

Amended by:









▼B

REGULATION (EU) No 1291/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 11 December 2013

establishing Horizon 2020 - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020) and repealing Decision No 1982/2006/EC

(Text with EEA relevance)







TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation establishes Horizon 2020 - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020) ("Horizon 2020") and determines the framework governing Union support to research and innovation activities, thereby strengthening the European scientific and technological base and fostering benefits for society as well as better exploitation of the economic and industrial potential of policies of innovation, research and technological development.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions apply:

(1) 'research and innovation activities' mean the whole spectrum of activities of research, technological development, demonstration and innovation, including the promotion of cooperation with third countries and international organisations, the dissemination and optimisation of results and the stimulation of high quality training and mobility of researchers in the Union;

(2) 'direct actions' mean research and innovation activities undertaken by the Commission through its Joint Research Centre (JRC);

(3) 'indirect actions' mean research and innovation activities to which the Union provides financial support and which are undertaken by participants;

(4) 'public-private partnership' means a partnership where private sector partners, the Union and, where appropriate, other partners, such as public sector bodies, commit to jointly support the development and implementation of a research and innovation programme or activities;

(5) 'public-public partnership' means a partnership where public sector bodies or bodies with a public service mission at local, regional, national or international level commit with the Union to jointly support the development and implementation of a research and innovation programme or activities;

(6) 'research infrastructures' mean facilities, resources and services that are used by the research communities to conduct research and foster innovation in their fields. Where relevant, they may be used beyond research, for example for education or public services. They include major scientific equipment or sets of instruments; knowledge-based resources such as collections, archives or scientific data; e-infrastructures such as data and computing systems and communication networks; and any other infrastructure of a unique nature essential to achieving excellence in research and innovation. Such infrastructures may be 'single-sited', 'virtual' or 'distributed';

(7) 'smart specialisation strategy' has the same meaning as smart specialisation strategy as defined in point (3) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 ).

Article 3

Establishment of Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is hereby established for the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020.

Article 4

Union added value

Horizon 2020 shall maximise Union added value and impact, focusing on objectives and activities that cannot be efficiently realised by Member States acting alone. Horizon 2020 shall play a central role in the delivery of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth ("Europe 2020 strategy") by providing a common strategic framework for the Union's funding of excellent research and innovation, thus acting as a vehicle for leveraging private and public investment, creating new job opportunities and ensuring Europe's long-term sustainability, growth, economic development, social inclusion and industrial competitiveness, as well as addressing societal challenges across the Union.

Article 5

General objective, priorities and specific objectives

1. The general objective of Horizon 2020 is to contribute to building a society and an economy based on knowledge and innovation across the Union by leveraging additional research, development and innovation funding and by contributing to attaining research and development targets, including the target of 3 % of GDP for research and development across the Union by 2020. It shall thereby support the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy and other Union policies, as well as the achievement and functioning of the European Research Area (ERA). The first set of relevant performance indicators for assessing progress against the general objective is set out in the introduction of Annex I.

2. The general objective set out in paragraph 1 shall be pursued through three mutually reinforcing priorities dedicated to:

(a) Excellent science;

(b) Industrial leadership;

(c) Societal challenges.

The specific objectives corresponding to each of those three priorities are set out in Parts I to III of Annex I, together with the broad lines of activities.

3. The general objective set out in paragraph 1 shall also be pursued through the specific objectives 'Spreading excellence and widening participation' and 'Science with and for society' set out in Parts IV and V of Annex I respectively, together with the broad lines of activities.

4. The JRC shall contribute to the general objective and the priorities set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 respectively by providing scientific and technical support to Union policies in collaboration with relevant national and regional research stakeholders, where appropriate, for example on the development of smart specialisation strategies. The specific objective and the broad lines of activities are set out in Part VI of Annex I.

5. The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) shall contribute to the general objective and the priorities set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 respectively, with the specific objective of integrating the knowledge triangle of higher education, research and innovation. The relevant performance indicators for the EIT are set out in the introduction of Annex I and the specific objective together with the broad lines of activities are set out in Part VII of Annex I.

6. Within the priorities, specific objectives and broad lines of activities referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3, account may be taken of new and unforeseen needs that arise during the period of implementation of Horizon 2020. This may, if duly justified, include responses to emerging opportunities, crises and threats, as well as responses to needs relating to the development of new Union policies.

Article 6

Budget

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1. The financial envelope for the implementation of Horizon 2020 is set at EUR 74 828,3 million in current prices, of which a maximum of EUR 72 445,3 million shall be allocated to activities under Title XIX TFEU.

The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the European Parliament and by the Council within the limits of the multiannual financial framework.

2. The amount for activities under Title XIX TFEU shall be distributed among the priorities set out in Article 5(2) of this Regulation as follows:

(a) Excellent science, EUR 24 232,1 million in current prices;

(b) Industrial leadership, EUR 16 466,5 million in current prices;

(c) Societal challenges, EUR 28 629,6 million in current prices.

The maximum overall amount for the Union financial contribution from Horizon 2020 to the specific objectives set out in Article 5(3) and to the non-nuclear direct actions of the JRC shall be as follows:

(i) Spreading excellence and widening participation, EUR 816,5 million in current prices;

(ii) Science with and for society, EUR 444,9 million in current prices;

(iii) Non-nuclear direct actions of the JRC, EUR 1 855,7 million in current prices.

The indicative breakdown for the priorities and specific objectives set out in Article 5(2) and (3) is set out in Annex II.

3. The EIT shall be financed through a maximum contribution from Horizon 2020 of EUR 2 383 million in current prices as set out in Annex II.

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4. The financial envelope of Horizon 2020 may cover expenses pertaining to preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities which are required for the management of Horizon 2020 and the achievement of its objectives, in particular studies and meetings of experts, in so far as they are related to the objectives of Horizon 2020, expenses linked to information technology networks focusing on information processing and exchange, together with all other technical and administrative assistance expenses incurred by the Commission for the management of Horizon 2020.

Where necessary and duly justified, appropriations may be entered in the Horizon 2020 budget beyond 2020 to cover technical and administrative assistance expenses, in order to enable the management of actions not yet completed by 31 December 2020. Horizon 2020 shall fund neither the construction nor the operation of the Galileo programme, the Copernicus programme or the European Joint Undertaking for ITER.

5. In order to respond to unforeseen situations or to new developments and needs the Commission may, following the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 as referred to in Article 32(3) and the results of the review of the EIT referred to in Article 32(2), within the annual budgetary procedure review the amounts set out for the priorities and the specific objectives 'Spreading excellence and widening participation' and 'Science with and for society' in paragraph 2 of this Article and the indicative breakdown by specific objectives within these priorities set out in Annex II and the contribution to the EIT in paragraph 3 of this Article. The Commission may also, subject to the same conditions, transfer appropriations between the priorities and specific objectives as well as the EIT up to a maximum of 7,5 % of the total initial allocation of each priority and the specific objectives 'Spreading excellence and widening participation' and 'Science with and for society', and up to a maximum of 7,5 % of the initial indicative breakdown of each specific objective and up to a maximum of 7,5 % of the contribution to the EIT. No such transfer shall be allowed in respect of the amount set out for the direct actions of the JRC in paragraph 2 of this Article.

Article 7

Association of third countries

1. Horizon 2020 shall be open to the association of:

(a) acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates, in accordance with the general principles and general terms and conditions for the participation of those countries in Union programmes established in the respective framework agreements and decisions of association councils or similar agreements;

(b) European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members, or countries or territories covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy that fulfil all of the following criteria: (i) a good capacity in science, technology and innovation; (ii) a good track record of participation in Union research and innovation programmes; (iii) fair and equitable dealing with intellectual property rights;

(c) countries or territories associated to the Seventh Framework Programme.

2. Specific terms and conditions regarding the participation of associated countries in Horizon 2020, including the financial contribution based on the GDP of the associated country, shall be determined by international agreements between the Union and the associated countries.

The terms and conditions regarding the association of the EFTA States that are party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) shall be in accordance with the provisions of that Agreement.







TITLE II

IMPLEMENTATION







CHAPTER I

Implementation, management and forms of support

Article 8

Implementation by means of a specific programme and the contribution to the EIT

Horizon 2020 shall be implemented through the consolidated specific programme established by Council Decision 2013/743/EU ( 2 ), which shall specify the objectives and the detailed rules for implementation, and through a financial contribution to the EIT.

The specific programme shall set out one Part for each of the three priorities set out in Article 5(2), one Part for each of the specific objectives referred to in Article 5(3) and one Part for the non-nuclear direct actions of the JRC.

There shall be effective coordination between the three priorities of Horizon 2020.

Article 9

Management

1. Horizon 2020 shall be implemented by the Commission in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.

2. The Commission may also entrust part of the implementation of Horizon 2020 to the funding bodies referred to in point (c) of Article 58(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.

Article 10

Forms of Union support

1. Horizon 2020 shall support indirect actions through one or several of the forms of funding provided for by Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, in particular grants, prizes, procurement and financial instruments. Financial instruments shall be the main form of funding for activities close to market that are supported under Horizon 2020.

2. Horizon 2020 shall also support direct actions undertaken by the JRC.

3. Where the direct actions undertaken by the JRC contribute to initiatives established under Article 185 or Article 187 TFEU, this contribution shall not be considered as part of the financial contribution allocated to those initiatives.

Article 11

Rules for participation and dissemination of results

The rules for participation and dissemination of results laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 3 ) shall apply to indirect actions.







CHAPTER II

Programming







Section I

General principles

Article 12

External advice and societal engagement

1. For the implementation of Horizon 2020, account shall be taken of advice and inputs provided by independent advisory groups of high level experts set up by the Commission from a broad constituency of stakeholders, including research, industry and civil society, to provide the necessary inter-disciplinary and cross-sectoral perspectives, taking account of relevant existing initiatives at Union, national and regional level. Other inputs will be provided from dialogue structures created under international science and technology agreements; forward-looking activities; targeted public consultations, including, where appropriate, consultations of national and regional authorities or stakeholders; and transparent and interactive processes that ensure that responsible research and innovation is supported.

Advice on the identification and design of strategic priorities by the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC), other ERA-related groups and the Enterprise Policy Group (EPG) shall, where appropriate, also be taken into consideration.

2. Full account shall also be taken of relevant aspects of the research and innovation agendas established by, inter alia, the EIT, European Technology Platforms and European Innovation Partnerships, as well as of advice from scientific panels such as the Scientific Panel for Health.

Article 13

Synergies with national programmes and joint programming

1. For the implementation of Horizon 2020, account shall be taken of the need to build appropriate synergies and complementarities between national and European research and innovation programmes, for example in areas where coordination efforts are made through the Joint Programming Initiatives.

2. Union support to Joint Programming Initiatives may be considered with any support to be delivered through the instruments referred to in Article 26, subject to the conditions and criteria laid down for such instruments.

Article 14

Cross-cutting issues

1. Linkages and interfaces shall be implemented across and within the priorities of Horizon 2020. Particular attention shall be paid in this respect to:

(a) the development and application of key enabling and industrial technologies as well as future and emerging technologies;

(b) areas relating to bridging from discovery to market application;

(c) interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral research and innovation;

(d) social and economic sciences and humanities;

(e) climate change and sustainable development;

(f) fostering the functioning and achievement of the ERA and of the flagship initiative 'Innovation Union';

(g) framework conditions in support of the flagship initiative "Innovation Union";

(h) contributing to all relevant Europe 2020 flagship initiatives (including the Digital Agenda for Europe);

(i) widening participation across the Union in research and innovation and helping to close the research and innovation divide in Europe;

(j) international networks for excellent researchers and innovators such as European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST);

(k) cooperation with third countries;

(l) responsible research and innovation including gender;

(m) SME involvement in research and innovation and broader private sector participation;

(n) enhancing the attractiveness of the research profession; and

(o) facilitating cross-border and cross-sector mobility of researchers.

2. Where an indirect action is supported which is of high relevance to several of the priorities or specific objectives referred to in Article 5(2) and (3), the financial amount for that action may be combined from the amounts allocated to each priority or specific objective concerned.

Article 15

Evolving nature of science, technology, innovation, economies and society

Horizon 2020 shall be implemented in a manner ensuring that the priorities and actions supported are relevant to changing needs and take account of the evolving nature of science, technology, innovation, economies and society in a globalised world, where innovation includes business, organisational, technological, societal and environmental aspects. Proposals for changes to the priorities and actions under Horizon 2020 shall take into account the external advice referred to in Article 12 as well as the recommendations from the interim evaluation referred to in Article 32(3).

Article 16

Gender equality

Horizon 2020 shall ensure the effective promotion of gender equality and the gender dimension in research and innovation content. Particular attention shall be paid to ensuring gender balance, subject to the situation in the field of research and innovation concerned, in evaluation panels and in bodies such as advisory groups and expert groups.

The gender dimension shall be adequately integrated in research and innovation content in strategies, programmes and projects and followed through at all stages of the research cycle.

Article 17

Researchers' careers

Horizon 2020 shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013, which shall contribute to the reinforcement of a single market for researchers and attractiveness of researchers' careers across the Union in the context of the ERA, by taking into account the transnational character of the majority of the actions supported under it.

Article 18

Open access

1. Open access to scientific publications resulting from publicly funded research under Horizon 2020 shall be ensured. It shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013.

2. Open access to research data resulting from publicly funded research under Horizon 2020 shall be promoted. It shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013.

Article 19

Ethical principles

1. All the research and innovation activities carried out under Horizon 2020 shall comply with ethical principles and relevant national, Union and international legislation, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights and its Supplementary Protocols.

Particular attention shall be paid to the principle of proportionality, the right to privacy, the right to the protection of personal data, the right to the physical and mental integrity of a person, the right to non-discrimination and the need to ensure high levels of human health protection.

2. Research and innovation activities carried out under Horizon 2020 shall have an exclusive focus on civil applications.

3. The following fields of research shall not be financed:

(a) research activity aiming at human cloning for reproductive purposes;

(b) research activity intended to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable ( 4 );

(c) research activities intended to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.

4. Research on human stem cells, both adult and embryonic, may be financed, depending both on the contents of the scientific proposal and the legal framework of the Member States involved. No funding shall be granted for research activities that are prohibited in all the Member States. No activity shall be funded in a Member State where such activity is forbidden.

5. The fields of research set out in paragraph 3 of this Article may be reviewed within the context of the interim evaluation set out in Article 32(3) in the light of scientific advances.

Article 20

Complementarity with other Union programmes

Horizon 2020 shall be implemented in a way which is complementary to other Union funding programmes and policies, including the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds), the Common Agricultural Policy, the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME) (2014–2020), the Erasmus+ programme and the Life Programme.

Article 21

Synergies with the ESI Funds

In addition to Union, national and regional structural policies, Horizon 2020 shall also contribute to the closing of the research and innovation divide within the Union by promoting synergies with the ESI Funds. Where possible, cumulative funding may be used as set out in Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013.







Section II

Specific fields of action

Article 22

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises

1. Particular attention shall be paid to ensuring the adequate participation of, and research and innovation impact on, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout the implementation of Horizon 2020. Quantitative and qualitative assessments of SME participation shall be undertaken as part of the evaluation and monitoring arrangements.

2. In addition to the establishment of better conditions for SMEs to participate in all relevant opportunities in Horizon 2020, specific actions shall be undertaken. In particular, a dedicated SME instrument that is targeted at all types of SMEs with an innovation potential, in a broad sense, shall be created under a single centralised management system and implemented primarily in a bottom-up manner through a continuously open call tailored to the needs of SMEs as set out under the specific objective "Innovation in SMEs" in Point 3.3.(a) of Part II of Annex I. That instrument shall take account of the specific objective "Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies" set out in Point 1 of Part II of Annex I and each of the specific objectives under the priority "Societal challenges" set out in Points 1 to 7 of Part III of Annex I and shall be implemented in a consistent manner.

3. The integrated approach set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 and the simplification of procedures should lead to a minimum of 20 % of the total combined budget for the specific objective "Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies" and the priority "Societal challenges" going to SMEs.

4. Particular attention shall be paid to the adequate representation of SMEs in public-private partnerships referred to in Article 25.

Article 23

Collaborative projects and partnership programmes

Horizon 2020 should be implemented primarily through transnational collaborative projects, delivered through calls for proposals in the Horizon 2020 work programmes provided for in Decision 2013/743/EU. Those projects will be complemented by public-private and public-public partnerships. The partnerships will be designed with the involvement of Member States and shall develop principles for their internal management.

Article 24

Fast Track to Innovation

Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) shall be implemented in the form of a full-scale pilot in accordance with Article 54 of Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013, establishing an FTI call starting in 2015.

Article 25

Public-private partnerships

1. Horizon 2020 may be implemented through public-private partnerships where all the partners concerned commit to supporting the development and implementation of pre-competitive research and of innovation activities of strategic importance to the Union's competitiveness and industrial leadership or to addressing specific societal challenges. Public-private partnerships shall be implemented in such a way that full participation of the best European players is not impeded.

2. The involvement of the Union in public-private partnerships shall make use of the pre-existing and lean governance structures and may take one of the following forms:

(a) financial contributions from the Union to joint undertakings established pursuant to Article 187 TFEU under the Seventh Framework Programme, subject to the amendment of their basic acts; to new public-private partnerships established pursuant to Article 187 TFEU; and to other funding bodies referred to in points (iv) and (vii) of point (c) of Article 58(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012. This form of partnerships shall only be implemented where the scope of the objectives pursued and the scale of the resources required justify it taking full account of the relevant impact assessments, and where other forms of partnerships would not fulfil the objectives or would not generate the necessary leverage;

(b) contractual arrangements between the partners referred to in paragraph 1, which specify the objectives of the partnership, respective commitments of the partners, key performance indicators, and outputs to be delivered, including the identification of research and innovation activities that require support from Horizon 2020.

With a view to involving interested partners, including, as appropriate, end-users, universities, SMEs and research institutions, public-private partnerships shall make public funds accessible through transparent processes and mainly through competitive calls, governed by rules for participation in compliance with those of Horizon 2020. Exceptions to the use of competitive calls should be duly justified.

3. Public-private partnerships shall be identified and implemented in an open, transparent and efficient way. Their identification shall be based on all of the following criteria:

(a) the demonstration of the added value of the action at Union level and of the choice of the instrument to be used;

(b) the scale of impact on industrial competitiveness, job creation, sustainable growth and socio-economic issues, including societal challenges, assessed against clearly specified and measurable objectives;

(c) the long-term commitment, including a balanced contribution from all partners based on a shared vision and clearly defined objectives;

(d) the scale of the resources involved and the ability to leverage additional investments in research and innovation;

(e) a clear definition of roles for each of the partners and agreed key performance indicators over the period chosen;

(f) complementarity with other parts of Horizon 2020 and alignment with the Union research and innovation strategic priorities, in particular those of the Europe 2020 strategy.

Where appropriate, complementarity between priorities and activities and the involvement of Member States shall be ensured in public-private partnerships.

4. The research priorities covered by public-private partnerships may, where appropriate, be included in regular calls in Horizon 2020 work programmes, in order to develop new synergies with research and innovation activities of strategic importance.

Article 26

Public-public partnerships

1. Horizon 2020 shall contribute to the strengthening of public-public partnerships, as and when appropriate, where actions at regional, national or international level are jointly implemented within the Union.

Particular attention shall be paid to Joint Programming Initiatives between Member States. Joint Programming Initiatives receiving support from Horizon 2020 shall remain open to the participation of any Member State or associated country.

2. Public-public partnerships may be supported either within, or across, the priorities set out in Article 5(2), in particular through:

(a) an ERA-NET instrument using grants to support public-public partnerships in their preparation, establishment of networking structures, design, implementation and coordination of joint activities, as well as Union topping-up of no more than one joint call a year, and of actions of a transnational nature;

(b) Union participation in programmes undertaken by several Member States in accordance with Article 185 TFEU where the participation is justified by the scope of the objectives pursued and the scale of the resources required.

For the purposes of point (a) of the first subparagraph, top-up funding shall be conditional on the demonstration of the added value of the action at Union level and on prior indicative financial commitments in cash or in kind of the participating entities to the joint calls and actions. One of the objectives of the ERA-NET instrument may, where possible, be to harmonise rules and implementation modalities of the joint calls and actions. It may also be used in order to prepare for an initiative pursuant to Article 185 TFEU.

For the purposes of point (b) of the first subparagraph, such initiatives shall only be proposed in cases where there is a need for a dedicated implementation structure and where there is a high level of commitment of the participating countries to integration at scientific, management and financial levels. In addition, proposals for such initiatives shall be identified on the basis of all of the following criteria:

(a) a clear definition of the objective to be pursued and its relevance to the objectives of Horizon 2020 and broader Union policy objectives;

(b) indicative financial commitments of the participating countries, in cash or in kind, including prior commitments to align national and/or regional investments for transnational research and innovation and, where appropriate, to pool resources;

(c) the added value of the action at Union level;

(d) the critical mass, with regard to the size and the number of programmes involved, the similarity or complementarity of activities and the share of relevant research they cover;

(e) the appropriateness of Article 185 TFEU for achieving the objectives.

Article 27

International cooperation with third countries and international organisations

1. Legal entities, as defined in point 13 of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013, established in third countries and international organisations shall be eligible to participate in indirect actions of Horizon 2020 under the conditions set out in that Regulation. International cooperation with third countries and international organisations shall be promoted and integrated into Horizon 2020 to achieve, in particular, the following objectives:

(a) strengthening the Union's excellence and attractiveness in research and innovation as well as its economic and industrial competitiveness;

(b) effectively tackling common societal challenges;

(c) supporting the Union's external and development policy objectives, complementing external and development programmes including international commitments and their related goals, such as the achievement of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. Synergies with other Union policies will be sought.

2. Targeted actions with the objective of promoting cooperation with specific third countries or groups of third countries, including strategic partners of the Union, shall be implemented on the basis of a strategic approach as well as common interest, priorities, and mutual benefit, taking into account their scientific and technological capabilities and specific needs, market opportunities, and the expected impact of such actions.

Reciprocal access to third country programmes should be encouraged and, where appropriate, monitored. In order to maximise the impact of international cooperation, coordination and synergies with initiatives of Member States and associated countries shall be promoted. The nature of the cooperation may vary according to the specific partner countries.

Cooperation priorities shall take into account developments in Union policies, opportunities for cooperation with third countries, and fair and equitable dealing with intellectual property rights.

3. In addition, horizontal and cross-cutting activities to promote the strategic development of international cooperation shall be implemented under Horizon 2020.

Article 28

Information, communication, exploitation and dissemination

The Commission shall implement information and communication actions concerning Horizon 2020, including communication measures concerning supported projects and results. In particular, it shall provide timely and thorough information to Member States.

The part of the Horizon 2020 budget allocated to communication shall also cover the corporate communication of the Union's political priorities to the extent that they are related to the general objective of this Regulation.

Activities to disseminate information and carry out communication activities shall be an integral part of all actions supported by Horizon 2020. Information and communication concerning Horizon 2020, including on supported projects, shall be made available and accessible in digital form.

In addition, the following specific actions shall be supported:

(a) initiatives aimed at widening awareness and facilitating access to funding under Horizon 2020, in particular for those regions or types of participants that have a relatively low participation;

(b) targeted assistance to projects and consortia to provide them with adequate access to the necessary skills to optimise the communication, exploitation and dissemination of results;

(c) actions which bring together and disseminate results from a range of projects, including those that may be funded from other sources, to provide user-friendly databases and reports that summarise key findings, and, where relevant, communication and dissemination to the scientific community, industry and the general public;

(d) dissemination to policy makers, including standardisation bodies, to promote the use of policy-relevant results by the appropriate bodies at international, Union, national and regional level;

(e) initiatives to foster dialogue and debate on scientific, technological and innovation related issues with the public through involvement of the research and innovation community and civil society organisations, and to take advantage of social media and other innovative technologies and methodologies, especially in order to help raise public awareness of the benefits of research and innovation in meeting societal challenges.







CHAPTER III

Control

Article 29

Control and audit

1. The control system set up for the implementation of this Regulation shall be so designed as to provide reasonable assurance of achieving sufficient reduction and adequate management of the risks relating to the effectiveness and efficiency of the operations as well as the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, taking into account the multi-annual character of programmes as well as the nature of the payments concerned.

2. The control system shall ensure an appropriate balance between trust and control, taking into account administrative and other costs of controls at all levels, especially for participants, so that the objectives of Horizon 2020 can be achieved and the most excellent researchers and the most innovative enterprises are attracted to it.

3. As part of the control system, the audit strategy for expenditure on indirect actions under Horizon 2020 shall be based on the financial audit of a representative sample of expenditure across Horizon 2020 as a whole. That representative sample shall be complemented by a selection based on an assessment of the risks related to expenditure.

Audits of expenditure on indirect actions under Horizon 2020 shall be carried out in a coherent manner in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness in order to minimise the audit burden on the participants.

Article 30

Protection of the financial interests of the Union

1. The Commission shall take appropriate measures to ensure that, when actions financed under this Regulation are implemented, the financial interests of the Union are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, by the recovery of the amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, by effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative and financial penalties.

2. The Commission or its representatives and the Court of Auditors shall have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and on the spot, over all grant beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors who have received Union funds under Horizon 2020.

Without prejudice to paragraph 3, audits by the Commission may be carried out up to two years after the payment of the balance.

3. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) may carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, in accordance with the provisions and procedures laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 5 ) and Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 ( 6 ), with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union in connection with any Horizon 2020 grant agreement, grant decision or contract.

4. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, cooperation agreements with third countries and with international organisations, grant agreements, grant decisions and contracts, resulting from the implementation of this Regulation, shall contain provisions expressly empowering the Commission, the Court of Auditors and OLAF to conduct such audits and investigations, in accordance with their respective competences.







CHAPTER IV

Monitoring and evaluation

Article 31

Monitoring

1. The Commission shall monitor annually the implementation of Horizon 2020, its specific programme and the activities of the EIT. That monitoring, which shall be based on quantitative and, where appropriate, qualitative evidence, shall include information on cross-cutting topics such as social and economic sciences and humanities, sustainability and climate change, including information on the amount of climate related expenditure, SME participation, private sector participation, gender equality, widening participation and progress against performance indicators. The monitoring shall also include information on the extent of funding for public-private and public-public partnerships, including Joint Programming Initiatives. The monitoring of funding for public-private partnerships shall, where appropriate, be undertaken in close consultation with the participants.

2. The Commission shall report and make publicly available the results of that monitoring.

Article 32

Evaluation

1. Evaluations shall be carried out in a sufficiently timely manner to feed into the decision-making process.

2. By 31 December 2017, the Commission shall carry out, with the assistance of independent experts selected on the basis of a transparent process, a review of the EIT, taking into account the evaluation provided for in Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 294/2008. The KIC call in 2018 shall be launched subject to a positive outcome of that review. The review shall assess the progress of the EIT against all of the following:

(a) the level of consumption and the efficiency in the use of the funds allocated according to Article 6(3) of this Regulation, differentiating between the amount used for the development of the first wave of KICs and the effect of the seed money for the subsequent waves, and the ability of the EIT to attract funds from the partners in the KICs and especially from the private sector, as set out in Regulation (EC) No 294/2008;

(b) the contribution of the EIT and the KICs to the priority "Societal challenges" and the specific objective "Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies" and the performance assessed on the basis of the indicators defined in Annex I;

(c) the contribution of the EIT and the KICs to the integration of higher education, research and innovation;

(d) the ability of the KICs to integrate relevant new partners where they can provide added value.

3. By 31 December 2017, and taking into account the ex-post evaluation of the Seventh Framework Programme to be completed by 31 December 2015 and the review of the EIT, the Commission shall carry out, with the assistance of independent experts, selected on the basis of a transparent process, an interim evaluation of Horizon 2020, its specific programme, including the European Research Council (ERC), and the activities of the EIT.

The interim evaluation shall assess the progress of the different parts of Horizon 2020 against all of the following:

(a) the achievements (at the level of results and progress towards achieving an impact, based, where applicable, on the indicators outlined in Annex II of the specific programme) of the objectives of Horizon 2020 and continued relevance of all related measures;

(b) the efficiency and use of resources, with particular attention to cross-cutting issues and other elements referred to in Article 14(1); and

(c) Union added value.

As part of the interim evaluation both existing and new public-private partnerships, including the JTIs, shall be subject to an in-depth assessment, which shall include, inter alia, analysis of their openness, transparency and effectiveness. That assessment shall take into consideration the evaluation of the EIT as provided for in Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 294/2008 so as to allow for an assessment based on common principles.

As part of the interim evaluation, FTI shall be subject to an in-depth assessment which shall include an assessment of inter alia its contribution to innovation, industry participation, participation of new applicants, operational effectiveness and financing, and leverage of private investment. Further implementation of the FTI shall be determined on the basis of the evaluation results, and may be adjusted or expanded accordingly.

The interim evaluation shall take into consideration aspects relating to the dissemination and exploitation of research results.

The interim evaluation shall also take into consideration the scope for further simplification and aspects relating to access to funding opportunities for participants in all regions and for the private sector, notably SMEs, as well as the scope for promoting gender balance. It shall additionally take into account the contribution of the measures to the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, results as regards the long-term impact of the predecessor measures, and the degree of synergy and interaction with other Union funding programmes, including the ESI Funds.

As part of the interim evaluation, the funding model of Horizon 2020 shall be thoroughly assessed against, inter alia, the following indicators:

— the participation of participants that have at their disposal high-end research infrastructures or have a history of using full-costing in the Seventh Framework Programme;

— the simplification for participants that have at their disposal high-end research infrastructures or have a history of using full-costing in the Seventh Framework Programme;

— the acceptance of the usual accounting practices of beneficiaries;

— extent of use of the additional remuneration to personnel as referred to in Article 27 of Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013.

The interim evaluation shall also take into consideration, where appropriate, information on coordination with research and innovation activities carried out by Member States, including in areas where there are Joint Programming Initiatives.

4. By 31 December 2023, the Commission shall carry out, with the assistance of independent experts, selected on the basis of a transparent process, an ex-post evaluation of Horizon 2020, its specific programme and the activities of the EIT. That evaluation shall cover the rationale, implementation and achievements, as well as the longer-term impacts and sustainability of the measures, to feed into a decision on a possible renewal, modification or suspension of any subsequent measure. The evaluation shall take into consideration aspects relating to the dissemination and exploitation of research results.

5. The performance indicators for assessing progress against the general objective of Horizon 2020 and for the EIT, as set out in the introduction of Annex I, and for the specific objectives as established in the specific programme, including relevant baselines, shall provide the minimum basis for assessing the extent to which the objectives of Horizon 2020 have been achieved.

6. Where appropriate and available, Member States shall provide the Commission with the data and information necessary to make it possible to monitor and evaluate the measures concerned.

7. The Commission shall communicate the conclusions of the evaluations referred to in this Article, accompanied by its observations, to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.







TITLE III

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 33

Repeal and transitional provisions

1. Decision No 1982/2006/EC is repealed with effect from 1 January 2014.

2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, actions initiated under Decision No 1982/2006/EC and financial obligations related to those actions shall continue to be governed by that Decision until their completion.

3. The financial envelope referred to in Article 6 of this Regulation may also cover the technical and administrative assistance expenses necessary to ensure the transition from the measures adopted under Decision No 1982/2006/EC to Horizon 2020.

Article 34

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.









ANNEX I

Broad lines of the specific objectives and activities

The general objective of Horizon 2020 is to build a society and a world-leading economy based on knowledge and innovation across the whole Union, while contributing to sustainable development. It will support the Europe 2020 strategy and other Union policies as well as the achievement and functioning of the European Research Area (ERA).

The performance indicators for assessing progress against this general objective are:

— the research and development (R&D) target (3 % of GDP) of the Europe 2020 strategy;

— the innovation output indicator in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy ( 7 );

— the share of researchers in the active population.

This general objective shall be pursued through three distinct, yet mutually reinforcing, priorities, each containing a set of specific objectives. They will be implemented in a seamless manner in order to foster interactions between the different specific objectives, avoid any duplication of effort and reinforce their combined impact.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) shall contribute to the general objective and priorities of Horizon 2020 with the specific objective of providing customer-driven scientific and technical support to Union policies.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) shall contribute to the general objective and priorities of Horizon 2020 with the specific objective of integrating the knowledge triangle of higher education, research and innovation. The indicators for assessing the performance of the EIT are:

— organisations from universities, business and research integrated in the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs);

— collaboration inside the knowledge triangle leading to the development of innovative products, services and processes.

This Annex sets out the broad lines of the specific objectives and activities referred to in Article 5(2), (3), (4) and (5).

Cross-cutting issues and support measures in Horizon 2020

Cross-cutting issues, an indicative list of which is found in Article 14, will be promoted between specific objectives of the three priorities as necessary to develop new knowledge, key competences and major technological breakthroughs as well as translating knowledge into economic and societal value. Furthermore, in many cases, interdisciplinary solutions will have to be developed which cut across the multiple specific objectives of Horizon 2020. Horizon 2020 will provide incentives for actions dealing with such cross-cutting issues, including by the efficient bundling of budgets.

Social sciences and humanities

Social sciences and humanities research will be fully integrated into each of the priorities of Horizon 2020 and each of the specific objectives and will contribute to the evidence base for policy making at international, Union, national, regional and local level. In relation to societal challenges, social sciences and humanities will be mainstreamed as an essential element of the activities needed to tackle each of the societal challenges to enhance their impact. The specific objective of the societal challenge 'Europe in a changing world - Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies' will support social sciences and humanities research by focusing on inclusive, innovative and reflective societies.

Science and society

The relationship between science and society as well as the promotion of responsible research and innovation, science education and culture shall be deepened and public confidence in science reinforced by activities of Horizon 2020 favouring the informed engagement of citizens and civil society in research and innovation.

Gender

Promoting gender equality in science and innovation is a commitment of the Union. In Horizon 2020, gender will be addressed as a cross-cutting issue in order to rectify imbalances between women and men, and to integrate a gender dimension in research and innovation programming and content.

SMEs

Horizon 2020 will encourage and support the participation of SMEs in an integrated way across all specific objectives. In accordance with Article 22, measures set out under the specific objective 'Innovation in SMEs' (dedicated SME instrument) shall be applied in the specific objective 'Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies' and in the priority 'Societal challenges'.

Fast Track to Innovation (FTI)

FTI, as set out in Article 24, will support innovation actions under the specific objective "Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies" and under the priority 'Societal challenges', with a bottom-up-driven logic on the basis of a continuously open call, and with 'time to grant' not exceeding six months.

Widening participation

The research and innovation potential of the Member States, despite some recent convergence, remains very different, with large gaps between "innovation leaders" and "modest innovators". Activities shall help close the research and innovation divide in Europe by promoting synergies with the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) and also by specific measures to unlock excellence in low performing research, development and innovation (RDI) regions, thereby widening participation in Horizon 2020 and contributing to the realisation of the ERA.

International Cooperation

International cooperation with third countries and international, regional or global organisations is necessary to effectively address many specific objectives set out in Horizon 2020. International cooperation is essential for frontier and basic research in order to reap the benefits from emerging science and technology opportunities. Cooperation is necessary for addressing societal challenges and enhancing the competitiveness of European industry. Promoting R&I staff mobility at an international level is also crucial to enhance this global cooperation. International cooperation in research and innovation is a key aspect of the Union's global commitments. International cooperation will, therefore, be promoted in each of the three priorities of Horizon 2020. In addition, dedicated horizontal activities will be supported in order to ensure the coherent and effective development of international cooperation across Horizon 2020.

Sustainable development and climate change

Horizon 2020 will encourage and support activities towards exploiting Europe's leadership in the race to develop new processes and technologies promoting sustainable development, in a broad sense, and combating climate change. Such a horizontal approach, fully integrated in all Horizon 2020 priorities, will help the Union to prosper in a low-carbon, resource-constrained world while building a resource-efficient, sustainable and competitive economy.

Bridging from discovery to market application

Bridging actions throughout Horizon 2020 are aimed at bringing discovery to market application, leading to exploitation and commercialisation of ideas whenever appropriate. The actions should be based on a broad innovation concept and stimulate cross-sectoral innovation.

Cross-cutting support measures

The cross-cutting issues will be supported by a number of horizontal support measures, including support to: enhancing the attractiveness of the research profession, including the general principles of the European Charter for Researchers; strengthening the evidence base and the development of and support for ERA (including the five ERA initiatives) and the Innovation Union; improving framework conditions in support of the Innovation Union, including the principles of the Commission Recommendation on the management of intellectual property ( 8 ) and exploring the possibility of setting up an European Intellectual Property Rights valorisation instrument; administration and coordination of international networks for excellent researchers and innovators, such as COST.

PART I.

PRIORITY 'Excellent science'

This Part aims to reinforce and extend the excellence of the Union's science base and to consolidate the ERA in order to make the Union's research and innovation system more competitive on a global scale. It consists of four specific objectives:

(a) "The European Research Council (ERC)" shall provide attractive and flexible funding to enable talented and creative individual researchers and their teams to pursue the most promising avenues at the frontier of science, on the basis of Union-wide competition.

(b) "Future and emerging technologies (FET)" shall support collaborative research in order to extend Europe's capacity for advanced and paradigm-changing innovation. It shall foster scientific collaboration across disciplines on radically new, high-risk ideas and accelerate development of the most promising emerging areas of science and technology as well as the Union-wide structuring of the corresponding scientific communities.

(c) "Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions" shall provide excellent and innovative research training as well as attractive career and knowledge-exchange opportunities through cross-border and cross-sector mobility of researchers to best prepare them to face current and future societal challenges.

(d) "Research infrastructures" shall develop and support excellent European research infrastructures and assist them to contribute to the ERA by fostering their innovation potential, attracting world-level researchers and training human capital, and complement this with the related Union policy and international cooperation.

Each of those objectives has been proven to have high Union added value. Together, they form a powerful and balanced set of activities which, in concert with activities at national, regional and local level, span the breadth of Europe's needs regarding advanced science and technology. Bringing them together in a single programme will enable them to operate with greater coherence, in a rationalised, simplified and more focused way, while maintaining the continuity which is vital to sustain their effectiveness.

The activities are inherently forward-looking, building skills in the long term, focusing on the next generation of science, technology, researchers and innovations and providing support for emerging talent from across the Union and associated countries, as well as worldwide. In view of their science-driven nature and largely 'bottom-up', investigator-driven funding arrangements, the European scientific community will play a strong role in determining the avenues of research followed under Horizon 2020

PART II.

PRIORITY 'Industrial leadership'

This Part aims to speed up development of the technologies and innovations that will underpin tomorrow's businesses and help innovative European SMEs to grow into world-leading companies. It consists of three specific objectives:

(a) "Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies" shall provide dedicated support for research, development and demonstration and, where appropriate, for standardisation and certification, on information and communications technology (ICT), nanotechnology, advanced materials, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and processing and space. Emphasis will be placed on interactions and convergence across and between the different technologies and their relations to societal challenges. User needs shall be taken into account in all these fields.

(b) "Access to risk finance" shall aim to overcome deficits in the availability of debt and equity finance for R&D and innovation-driven companies and projects at all stages of development. Together with the equity instrument of the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME) (2014-2020) it shall support the development of Union-level venture capital.

(c) "Innovation in SMEs" shall provide SME-tailored support to stimulate all forms of innovation in SMEs, targeting those with the potential to grow and internationalise across the single market and beyond.

The activities shall follow a business-driven agenda. The budgets for the specific objectives 'Access to risk finance' and 'Innovation in SMEs' will follow a demand-driven, bottom-up logic. Those budgets shall be complemented by the use of financial instruments. A dedicated SME instrument shall be implemented primarily in a bottom-up manner, tailored to the needs of SMEs, taking account of the specific objectives of the priority 'Societal challenges' and the specific objective 'Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies'.

Horizon 2020 will take an integrated approach to the participation of SMEs, taking into account, inter alia, their knowledge and technology transfer needs, which should lead to a minimum of 20 % of the total combined budgets for all specific objectives of the priority 'Societal challenges' and the specific objective 'Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies' being devoted to SMEs.

The specific objective 'Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies' shall follow a technology-driven approach to develop enabling technologies that can be used in multiple areas, industries and services. Applications of these technologies to meet societal challenges shall be supported together with the priority 'Societal challenges'.

PART III.

PRIORITY 'Societal challenges'

This Part responds directly to the policy priorities and societal challenges that are identified in the Europe 2020 strategy and that aim to stimulate the critical mass of research and innovation efforts needed to achieve the Union's policy goals. Funding shall be focused on the following specific objectives:

(a) Health, demographic change and well-being;

(b) Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy;

(c) Secure, clean and efficient energy;

(d) Smart, green and integrated transport;

(e) Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials;

(f) Europe in a changing world - Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies;

(g) Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens.

All the activities shall take a challenge-based approach, which may include basic research, applied research, knowledge transfer or innovation, focusing on policy priorities without predetermining the precise choice of technologies or solutions that should be developed. Non-technological, organisational and systems innovation as well as public sector innovation will be given attention in addition to technology-driven solutions. The emphasis shall be on bringing together a critical mass of resources and knowledge across different fields, technologies and scientific disciplines and research infrastructures in order to address the challenges. The activities shall cover the full cycle from basic research to market, with a new focus on innovation-related activities, such as piloting, demonstration activities, test-beds, support for public procurement, design, end-user driven innovation, social innovation, knowledge transfer and market take-up of innovations and standardisation.

PART IV.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 'SPREADING EXCELLENCE AND WIDENING PARTICIPATION'

The specific objective 'Spreading excellence and widening participation' is to fully exploit the potential of Europe's talent pool and to ensure that the benefits of an innovation-led economy are both maximised and widely distributed across the Union in accordance with the principle of excellence.

PART V.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 'SCIENCE WITH AND FOR SOCIETY'

The aim of the specific objective 'Science with and for society' is to build effective cooperation between science and society, to recruit new talent for science and to pair scientific excellence with social awareness and responsibility.

PART VI.

NON-NUCLEAR DIRECT ACTIONS OF THE JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE (JRC)

The JRC's activities shall be an integral part of Horizon 2020, in order to provide robust, evidence-based support for Union policies. This shall be driven by customer needs, complemented by forward-looking activities.

PART VII.

THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY (EIT)

The EIT shall play a major role by bringing together excellent research, innovation and higher education thus integrating the knowledge triangle. The EIT shall do so primarily through the KICs. In addition it shall ensure that experiences are shared between and beyond the KICs through targeted dissemination and knowledge sharing measures, thereby promoting a faster uptake of innovation models across the Union.

PART I

EXCELLENT SCIENCE

1. European Research Council (ERC)

1.1. Specific objective

The specific objective is to reinforce the excellence, dynamism and creativity of European research.

Europe has set out its ambition to move to a new economic model based on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This type of transformation will need more than incremental improvements to current technologies and knowledge. It will require much higher capacity for basic research and science-based innovation fuelled by radical new knowledge, allowing Europe to take a leading role in creating the scientific and technological paradigm shifts which will be the key drivers of productivity growth, competitiveness, wealth, sustainable development and social progress in the future industries and sectors. Such paradigm shifts have historically tended to originate from the public-sector science base before going on to lay the foundations for whole new industries and sectors.

World-leading innovation is closely associated with excellent science. Once the undisputed leader, Europe has fallen behind in the race to produce the very best cutting-edge science and has played a secondary role to the United States in the major post-war technological advances. Although the Union remains the largest producer of scientific publications in the world, the United States produces twice as many of the most influential papers (the top 1 % by citation count). Similarly, international university rankings show that US universities dominate the top places. In addition, 70 % of the world's Nobel Prize winners are based in the United States.

One part of the challenge is that while Europe and the United States invest similar amounts in their public-sector science bases, the Union has nearly three times as many public-sector researchers, resulting in significantly lower investment per researcher. Moreover, US funding is more selective about allocating resources to the leading researchers. This helps to explain why the Union's public-sector researchers are, on average, less productive and, altogether, make less combined scientific impact than their far less numerous US counterparts.

Another major part of the challenge is that in many European countries the public and private sector still does not offer sufficiently attractive conditions for the best researchers. It can take many years before talented young researchers are able to become independent scientists in their own right. This leads to a dramatic waste of Europe's research potential by delaying and in some cases even inhibiting the emergence of the next generation of researchers, who bring new ideas and energy, and by enticing excellent researchers starting their career to seek advancement elsewhere.

Furthermore, these factors compound Europe's relative unattractiveness in the global competition for scientific talent.

1.2. Rationale and Union added value

The ERC was created to provide Europe's best researchers, both women and men, with the resources they need to allow them to compete better at global level, by funding individual teams on the basis of pan-European competition. It operates autonomously: an independent Scientific Council made up of scientists, engineers and scholars of the highest repute and expertise, of both women and men in different age groups, establishes the overall scientific strategy and has full authority over decisions on the type of research to be funded. These are essential features of the ERC, guaranteeing the effectiveness of its scientific programme, the quality of its operations and peer-review process and its credibility in the scientific community.

Operating across Europe on a competitive basis, the ERC is able to draw on a wider pool of talents and ideas than would be possible for any national scheme. The best researchers and the best ideas compete against each other. Applicants know they have to perform at the highest level, the reward being flexible funding on a level playing field, irrespective of local bottlenecks or the availability of national funding.

Frontier research funded by the ERC is thereby expected to have a substantial direct impact in the form of advances at the frontiers of knowledge, opening the way to new and often unexpected scientific and technological results and new areas for research which, ultimately, can generate the radically new ideas which will drive innovation and business inventiveness and tackle societal challenges. This combination of excellent individual scientists with innovative ideas underpins every stage of the innovation chain.

Beyond this, the ERC has a significant structural impact by generating a powerful stimulus for driving up the quality of the European research system, over and above the researchers and projects which the ERC funds directly. ERC-funded projects and researchers set a clear and inspirational target for frontier research in Europe, raise its profile and make it more attractive for the best researchers at global level. The prestige of hosting ERC grant-holders and the accompanying 'stamp of excellence' are intensifying competition between Europe's universities and other research organisations to offer the most attractive conditions for top researchers. And the ability of national systems and individual research institutions to attract and host ERC grant-winners sets a benchmark allowing them to assess their relative strengths and weaknesses and reform their policies and practices accordingly. ERC funding is therefore in addition to ongoing efforts at Union, national and regional level to reform, build capacity and unlock the full potential and attractiveness of the European research system.

1.3. Broad lines of the activities

The fundamental activity of the ERC shall be to provide attractive long-term funding to support excellent investigators and their research teams to pursue ground-breaking, high-gain/high-risk research.

ERC funding shall be awarded in accordance with the following well-established principles. Scientific excellence shall be the sole criterion on which ERC grants are awarded. The ERC shall operate on a 'bottom-up' basis without predetermined priorities. The ERC grants shall be open to individual teams of researchers of any age, gender, and from any country in the world, working in Europe. The ERC shall aim to foster healthy competition across Europe based on robust, transparent and impartial evaluation procedures which address, in particular, potential gender bias.

The ERC shall give particular priority to assisting the best starting researchers with excellent ideas to make the transition to independence by providing adequate support at the critical stage when they are setting up or consolidating their own research team or programme. The ERC will also continue to provide appropriate levels of support for established researchers.

The ERC shall also give support, as necessary, to new ways of working in the scientific world with the potential to create breakthrough results and to facilitate exploration of the commercial and social innovation potential of the research which it funds.

By 2020, the ERC shall therefore aim to demonstrate that the best researchers are participating in the ERC's competitions, that ERC funding has led to scientific publications of the highest quality and to research results with high societal and economic potential impact, and that the ERC has contributed significantly to making Europe a more attractive environment for the world's best scientists. In particular, the ERC shall target a measurable improvement in the Union's share of the world's top 1 % most highly cited publications. In addition it shall aim at a substantial increase in the number of excellent researchers from outside Europe whom it funds. The ERC shall share experience and best practices with regional and national research funding agencies in order to promote the support of excellent researchers. In addition, the ERC shall further raise the visibility of its programmes.

The ERC's Scientific Council shall continuously monitor the ERC's operations and evaluation procedures and consider how best to achieve its objectives by means of grant schemes that emphasise effectiveness, clarity, stability and simplicity, both for applicants and in their implementation and management, and, as necessary, to respond to emerging needs. It shall endeavour to sustain and further refine the ERC's world-class peer-review system which is based on fully transparent, fair and impartial treatment of proposals so that it can identify ground-breaking scientific excellence, breakthrough ideas and talent regardless of a researcher's gender, nationality, institution or age. Finally, the ERC shall continue conducting its own strategic studies to prepare for and support its activities, maintain close contacts with the scientific community, the regional and national funding agencies and other stakeholders and aim to make its activities complement research conducted at other levels.

The ERC will ensure transparency in communication about its activities and results to the scientific community and the general public and maintain updated data from funded projects.

2. Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)

2.1. Specific objective

The specific objective is to foster radically new technologies with the potential to open new fields for scientific knowledge and technologies and contribute to the European next generation industries, by exploring novel and high-risk ideas building on scientific foundations. By providing flexible support to goal-oriented and interdisciplinary collaborative research on various scales and by adopting innovative research practices, the aim is to identify and seize opportunities of long-term benefit for citizens, the economy and society. FET will bring Union added value to the frontiers of modern research.

FET shall promote research and technology beyond what is known, accepted or widely adopted and shall foster novel and visionary thinking to open promising paths towards powerful new technologies, some of which could develop into leading technological and intellectual paradigms for the decades ahead. FET shall foster efforts to pursue small-scale research opportunities across all areas, including emerging themes and grand scientific and technological challenges that require close collaboration between programmes across Europe and beyond. This approach shall be driven by excellence and extends to exploring pre-competitive ideas for shaping the future of technology, enabling society and industry to benefit from multi-disciplinary research collaboration that needs to be engaged at European level by making the link between research driven by science and research driven by societal goals and challenges or by industrial competitiveness.

2.2. Rationale and Union added value

Radical breakthroughs with a transformative impact increasingly rely on intense collaboration across disciplines in science and technology (for instance, information and communication, biology, bioengineering and robotics, chemistry, physics, mathematics, medicine modelling, Earth system sciences, material sciences, neuro- and cognitive sciences, social sciences or economics) and with the arts, behavioural sciences and humanities. This may require not only excellence in science and technology but also new attitudes and novel interactions between a broad range of players in research.

While some ideas can be developed on a small scale, others may be so challenging that they require a large collaborative effort over a substantial period of time. Major economies worldwide have recognised this, and there is growing global competition to identify and pursue emerging technological opportunities at the frontier of science which can generate a considerable impact on innovation and benefits for society. To be effective, these types of activities may need to be built up quickly to a large scale by a common European effort around common goals to build critical mass, foster synergies and obtain optimal leveraging effects.

FET shall address the entire spectrum of science-driven innovation: from bottom-up, small-scale early explorations of embryonic and fragile ideas to building new research and innovation communities around transformative emerging research areas and large collaborative research initiatives built around a research agenda aiming to achieve ambitious and visionary goals. These three levels of engagement each have their own specific value, while being complementary and synergistic. For example, small-scale explorations can reveal needs for developing new themes that can lead to large-scale action based on appropriate roadmaps. They may involve a wide range of research players, including young researchers and research-intensive SMEs, and stakeholder communities (civil society, policymakers, industry and public researchers), clustered around evolving research agendas as they take shape, mature and diversify.

2.3. Broad lines of activities

While FET aims to be visionary, transformative and unconventional, its activities shall follow different logics, from completely open to varying degrees of structuring of topics, communities and funding.

The activities shall give firmer shape to different logics for action, on the appropriate scale, identifying and seizing opportunities of long-term benefit for citizens, the economy and society:

(a) By fostering novel ideas ('FET Open'), FET shall support early stage science and technology research exploring new foundations for radically new future technologies by challenging current paradigms and venturing into unknown areas. A bottom-up selection process widely open to any research ideas shall build up a diverse portfolio of targeted projects. Early detection of promising new areas, developments and trends, along with attracting new and high-potential research and innovation players, will be key factors.

(b) By nurturing emerging themes and communities ('FET Proactive'), FET shall, in close association with the societal challenges and industrial leadership themes, address a number of promising exploratory research themes with the potential to generate a critical mass of inter-related projects that, together, make up a broad and multi-faceted exploration of the themes and build a European pool of knowledge.

(c) By pursuing grand interdisciplinary scientific and technological challenges ('FET Flagships'), FET shall, taking into full account the outcome of FET preparatory projects, support ambitious large-scale, science and technology-driven research aiming to achieve a scientific and technological breakthrough in areas identified as relevant in an open and transparent manner involving the Member States and relevant stakeholders. Such activities could benefit from the coordination between European, national and regional agendas. The scientific advance should provide a strong and broad basis for future technological innovation and economic application, plus novel benefits for society. These activities shall be realised using the existing funding instruments. 40 % of FET resources will be devoted to FET Open.

3. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

3.1. Specific objective

The specific objective is to ensure optimal development and dynamic use of Europe's intellectual capital in order to generate, develop and transfer new skills, knowledge and innovation and, thus, to realise its full potential across all sectors and regions.

Well-trained, dynamic and creative researchers are the essential element for the best science and the most productive research-based innovation.

Although Europe hosts a large and diversified pool of skilled human resources for research and innovation, this needs to be constantly replenished, improved and adapted to the rapidly evolving needs of the labour market. In 2011 only 46 % of this pool worked in the business sector, which is much lower than in Europe's main economic competitors, e.g. 69 % in China, 73 % in Japan and 80 % in the United States. In addition, demographic factors mean that a disproportionate number of researchers will reach retirement age in the next few years. This, combined with the need for many more high-quality research jobs as the research intensity of the European economy increases, will be one of the main challenges facing European research, innovation and education systems in the years ahead.

The necessary reform must start at the first stages of the researchers' careers, during their doctoral studies or comparable post-graduate training. Europe must develop state-of-the-art, innovative training schemes, consistent with the highly competitive and increasingly inter-disciplinary requirements of research and innovation. Significant involvement of businesses, including SMEs and other socio-economic actors, will be needed to equip researchers with the cross-cutting innovation and entrepreneurial skills demanded by the jobs of tomorrow and encourage them to consider their careers in industry or in the most innovative companies. It will also be important to enhance the mobility of these researchers, as it currently remains at a too modest level: in 2008, only 7 % of European doctoral candidates were trained in another Member State, whereas the target is 20 % by 2030.

This reform must continue through every stage of researchers' careers. It is vital to increase the mobility of researchers at all levels, including mid-career mobility, not only between countries but also between the public and private sectors. This creates a strong stimulus for learning and developing new skills. It is also a key factor in cooperation between academics, research centres and industry across countries. The human factor is the backbone of sustainable cooperation which is the key driver for an innovative and creative Europe able to face societal challenges, and key to overcoming fragmentation of national policies. Collaborating and sharing knowledge, through individual mobility at all stages of a career and through exchanges of highly skilled R&I staff, are essential for Europe to re-take the path to sustainable growth, to tackle societal challenges and thereby contribute to overcoming disparities in research and innovation capacities.

In this context, Horizon 2020 should also encourage career development and mobility of researchers through improved conditions to be defined for the portability of Horizon 2020 grants.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will ensure effective equal opportunities for the mobility of male and female researchers, including through specific measures to remove barriers.

If Europe is to match its competitors in research and innovation, it must entice more young women and men to embark on research careers and provide highly attractive opportunities and environments for research and innovation. The most talented individuals, from Europe and elsewhere, should see Europe as a pre-eminent place to work. Gender equality, high-quality and reliable employment and working conditions and recognition are crucial aspects that must be secured in a consistent way across the whole of Europe.

3.2. Rationale and Union added value

Neither Union funding alone nor Member States individually will be able to address this challenge. Although Member States have introduced reforms to improve their tertiary education institutions and modernise their training systems, progress is still uneven across Europe, with big differences between countries. Overall, scientific and technological cooperation between the public and private sectors generally remains weak in Europe. The same applies to gender equality and to the efforts to attract students and researchers from outside the ERA. Currently around 20 % of the doctoral candidates in the Union are citizens of third countries, whereas about 35 % in the United States come from abroad. To speed up this change, a strategic approach that goes beyond national borders is required at Union level. Union funding is crucial to create incentives for and encourage the indispensable structural reforms.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions have made remarkable progress to promote mobility, both transnational and intersectoral, and to open research careers at European and international level, with excellent employment and working conditions following the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. There is no equivalent in Member States as far as their scale and scope, funding, international character, generation and transfer of knowledge are concerned. They have strengthened the resources of those institutions able to attract researchers internationally and thereby encouraged the spread of centres of excellence around the Union. They have served as a role model with a pronounced structuring effect by spreading their best practices at national level. The bottom-up approach taken by Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions has also allowed a large majority of those institutions to train and upgrade the skills of a new generation of researchers able to tackle societal challenges.

Further development of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will make a significant contribution to development of the ERA. With their Europe-wide competitive funding structure, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will, whilst respecting the principle of subsidiarity, encourage new, creative and innovative types of training such as joint or multiple doctoral degrees and industrial doctorates, involving research, innovation and education players who will have to compete globally for a reputation of excellence. By providing Union funding for the best research and training programmes following the principles for innovative doctoral training in Europe, they will also promote wider dissemination and take-up, moving towards more structured doctoral training.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie grants will also be extended to the temporary mobility of experienced researchers and engineers from public institutions to the private sector or vice versa, thereby encouraging and supporting universities, research centres and businesses, and other socio-economic actors to cooperate with one another on a European and international scale. With the aid of their well-established, transparent and fair evaluation system, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will identify excellent talents in research and innovation in an international competition which gives prestige and therefore motivation for researchers to advance their career in Europe.

The societal challenges to be addressed by highly skilled R&I staff are not just Europe's problem. These are international challenges of colossal complexity and magnitude. The best researchers in Europe and in the world need to work together across countries, sectors and disciplines. Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will play a key role in this respect by supporting staff exchanges that will foster collaborative thinking through international and intersectoral knowledge-sharing that is so crucial for open innovation.

The co-funding mechanism of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will be crucial to expand Europe's pool of talents. The numerical and structural impact of Union action will be increased by leveraging regional, national and international funding, both public and private, to create new programmes with similar and complementary goals and to adapt existing ones to international and intersectoral training, mobility and career development. Such a mechanism will forge stronger links between research and education efforts at national and Union level.

All the activities under this challenge will contribute to creating a whole new mindset in Europe that is crucial for creativity and innovation. Marie Skłodowska-Curie funding measures will strengthen pooling of resources in Europe and thereby lead to improvements in coordination and governance of researchers' training, mobility and career development. They will contribute to the policy goals outlined in the flagship initiatives 'Innovation Union', 'Youth on the Move' and 'Agenda for New Skills and Jobs' and will be vital to turn the ERA into reality. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will therefore be developed in close synergy with other programmes supporting these policy objectives, including the Erasmus+ programme and the KICs of the EIT.

3.3. Broad lines of activities

(a) Fostering new skills by means of excellent initial training of researchers

The goal is to train a new generation of creative and innovative researchers, able to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit in the Union.

Key activities shall be to provide excellent and innovative training to early-stage researchers at post-graduate level through interdisciplinary projects, including mentoring to transfer knowledge and experience between researchers or doctoral programmes, helping researchers to develop their research career and involving universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses, SMEs and other socio-economic groups from different Member States, associated countries and/or third countries. This will improve career prospects for young post-graduate researchers in both the public and private sectors.

(b) Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility

The goal is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of experienced researchers at all career levels by creating opportunities for cross-border and cross-sector mobility.

Key activities shall be to encourage experienced researchers to broaden or deepen their skills by means of mobility by opening attractive career opportunities in universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses, SMEs and other socio-economic groups all over Europe and beyond. This should enhance the innovativeness of the private sector and promote cross-sector mobility. Opportunities to be trained and to acquire new knowledge in a third-country high-level research institution, to restart a research career after a break and to (re-)integrate researchers into a longer-term research position in Europe, including in their country of origin, after a trans-national/international mobility experience covering return and reintegration aspects, shall also be supported.

(c) Stimulating innovation by means of cross-fertilisation of knowledge

The goal is to reinforce international cross-border and cross-sector collaboration in research and innovation by means of exchanges of research and innovation personnel in order to be able to face global challenges better.

Key activities shall be to support exchanges of R&I staff among a partnership of universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses, SMEs and other socio-economic groups, both within Europe and worldwide. This will include fostering cooperation with third countries.

(d) Increasing the structural impact by co-funding the activities

The goal is, by leveraging additional funds, to increase the numerical and structural impact of Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and to foster excellence at national level in researchers' training, mobility and career development.

Key activities shall be, with the aid of a co-funding mechanism, to encourage regional, national and international organisations, both public and private, to create new programmes and to adapt existing ones to international and intersectoral training, mobility and career development. This will increase the quality of research training in Europe at all career stages, including at doctoral level, foster free circulation of researchers and scientific knowledge in Europe, promote attractive research careers by offering open recruitment and attractive working conditions, and support research and innovation cooperation between universities, research institutions and enterprises and cooperation with third countries and international organisations.

(e) Specific support and policy action

The goals are to monitor progress, identify gaps and barriers in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and to increase their impact. In this context, indicators shall be developed and data related to researchers' mobility, skills, careers and gender equality analysed, seeking synergies and close coordination with the policy support actions on researchers, their employers and funders carried out under the specific objective 'Europe in a changing world - Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies'. The activity shall further aim at raising awareness of the importance and attractiveness of a research career and at disseminating research and innovation results emanating from work supported by Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions.

4. Research Infrastructures

4.1. Specific objective

The specific objective is to endow Europe with world-class research infrastructures which are accessible to all researchers in Europe and beyond and which fully exploit their potential for scientific advance and innovation.

Research infrastructures are key determinants of Europe's competitiveness across the full breadth of scientific domains and essential to science-based innovation. In many fields research is impossible without access to supercomputers, analytical facilities, radiation sources for new materials, clean rooms and advanced metrology for nanotechnologies, specially equipped labs for biological and medical research, databases for genomics and social sciences, observatories and sensors for the Earth sciences and the environment, high-speed broadband networks for transferring data, etc. Research infrastructures are necessary to carry out the research needed to address major societal challenges. They propel collaboration across borders and disciplines and create a seamless and open European space for online research. They promote mobility of people and ideas, bring together the best scientists from across Europe and the world and enhance scientific education. They challenge researchers and innovative companies to develop state of the art technology. In this way, they strengthen Europe's high-tech innovative industry. They drive excellence within the European research and innovation communities and can be outstanding showcases of science for society at large.

Europe must establish, on the basis of commonly agreed criteria, an adequate, stable base for building, maintaining and operating research infrastructures if its research is to remain world-class. This requires substantial and effective cooperation between Union, national and regional funders for which strong links with the cohesion policy will be pursued to ensure synergies and a coherent approach.

This specific objective addresses a core commitment of the flagship initiative 'Innovation Union', which highlights the crucial role played by world-class research infrastructures in making ground-breaking research and innovation possible. The initiative stresses the need to pool resources across Europe, and in some cases globally, in order to build and operate research infrastructures. Equally, the flagship initiative 'Digital Agenda for Europe' emphasises the need to reinforce Europe's e-infrastructures and the importance of developing innovation clusters to build Europe's innovative advantage.

4.2. Rationale and Union added value

State-of-the-art research infrastructures are becoming increasingly complex and costly, often requiring integration of different equipment, services and data sources and extensive transnational collaboration. No single country has enough resources to support all the research infrastructures it needs. The European approach to research infrastructures has made remarkable progress in recent years with continuously developing and implementing the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap for infrastructures, integrating and opening national research facilities and developing e-infrastructures underpinning an open digital ERA. The networks of research infrastructures across Europe strengthen its human resource base by providing world-class training for a new generation of researchers and engineers and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration. Synergies with Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will be encouraged.

Further development and wider use of research infrastructures at European level will make a significant contribution to development of the ERA. While the role of Member States remains central in developing and financing research infrastructures, the Union plays an important part in supporting infrastructure at European level such as encouraging co-ordination of European research infrastructures, by fostering the emergence of new and integrated facilities, opening up and supporting broad access to national and European infrastructures, and making sure that regional, national, European and international policies are consistent and effective. It is necessary to avoid duplication and fragmentation of efforts, to foster coordinated and effective use of the facilities and, where appropriate, to pool resources so that Europe can also acquire and operate research infrastructures at world-class level.

ICT has transformed science by enabling remote collaboration, massive data processing, in silico experimentation and access to distant resources. Research therefore becomes increasingly transnational and interdisciplinary, requiring the use of ICT infrastructures that are as supranational as science itself.

The efficiencies of scale and scope achieved by a European approach to construction, use and management of research infrastructures, including e-infrastructures, will make a significant contribution to boosting Europe's research and innovation potential and make the Union more competitive at international level.

4.3. Broad lines of the activities

The activities shall aim at developing the European research infrastructures for 2020 and beyond, fostering their innovation potential and human resources and reinforcing European research infrastructure policy.

(a) Developing the European research infrastructures for 2020 and beyond

The aim shall be to facilitate and support actions linked to: (1) the preparation, implementation and operation of the ESFRI and other world-class research infrastructures, including the development of regional partner facilities, when a strong added value for Union intervention exists; (2) the integration of and transnational access to national and regional research infrastructures of European interest, so that European scientists can use them, irrespective of their location, to conduct top-level research; (3) the development, deployment and operation of e-infrastructures to ensure world-leading capability in networking, computing and scientific data.

(b) Fostering the innovation potential of research infrastructures and their human resources

The aims shall be to encourage research infrastructures to act as early adopters or developers of cutting-edge technology, to promote R&D partnerships with industry, to facilitate industrial use of research infrastructures and to stimulate the creation of innovation clusters. This activity shall also support training and/or exchanges of staff managing and operating research infrastructures.

(c) Reinforcing European research infrastructure policy and international cooperation

The aim shall be to support partnerships between relevant policymakers and funding bodies, mapping and monitoring tools