REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Report on Research and Technological Development Activities of the European Union in 2015
Date: 2016-09-02
Institutions: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, activity report, applied research, financing method, innovation, research and development, scientific cooperation, technical cooperation

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 2.9.2016  COM(2016) 522 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Report on Research and Technological Development Activities of the European Union in 2015  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Annual Report on Research and Technological Development Activities of the 
European Union in 2015 

1. 

BACKGROUND TO THE ANNUAL REPORT ON RTD ACTIVITIES 

The  Annual  Report  on  research  and  technological  development  activities  of  the  European 
Union  (EU)  is  prepared  pursuant  to  Article  190  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the 
European  Union  (TFEU).  The  purpose  of  this  report  is  to  provide  a  concise  and  non-
exhaustive overview of key measures undertaken in the reporting year.  

2. 

THE BROADER POLITICAL CONTEXT IN 2015 

The year 2015 marked the first year of Jean-Claude Juncker's Commission. At the beginning 
of his mandate, President Juncker said this would be a new start for Europe and introduced 
his  Agenda  for  Jobs,  Growth,  Fairness  and  Democratic  Change,  focused  on  ten  political 
priorities, the key challenges that face both the economy and society. This Agenda shaped 
the  trend  of  the  new  political  approach,  concentrated  on  the  "big  things"  where  citizens 
expected Europe to make a difference1, and where Research and Innovation (R&I) is called 
to play a key role. 

The  defining  events  of  the  year  –  from  the  slower  than  expected  recovery  of  European 
economies,  to  the  migratory  pressure  on  its  external  borders,  the  unprecedented  terrorist 
attacks on European soil – have reinforced the need to maintain focus on these priorities. 

In fact the moderate economic recovery in the euro area and the EU as a whole continued in 
2015 for its third year. Growth was largely backed by temporary factors including declining 
oil prices, accommodative monetary policy and a relatively weak external value of the euro. 
Although  the  economic  recovery  was  resilient  and  widespread  across  Member  States,  it 
remained slow and uneven, calling for determined policy responses in 2016 in the shape of 
investments and structural reforms.  

The Commission's €315 billion Investment Plan for Europe, with a new European Fund for 
Strategic  Investments  (EFSI),  was  brought  to  life  and  is  up  and  running.  The  Fund  is 
operational and delivering high quality investments to further boost the European economy, 
including in research and innovation and for innovative SMEs and small mid-caps.  

At  the  same  time,  throughout  the  year  and  underpinned  by  the  Commission's  new  Better 
Regulation Agenda, proposals were made that put in place the building blocks of the Energy 
Union,  the  Digital  Single  Market,  the  Capital  Markets  Union,  the  European  Agenda  on 
Security,  the  European  Agenda  on  Migration,  the  Action  Plan  for  Fair  and  Efficient 
Corporate Taxation, the new Trade Strategy and last but not least proposals to deepen and 
strengthen the Economic and Monetary Union. 

The  Five  Presidents'  Report  presented  an  ambitious  and  yet  pragmatic  roadmap  for 
deepening the Economic and Monetary Union followed by a set of legislative measures.  

The Refugee crisis, one of the most pressing challenges Europe is currently facing, required 
a  determined  concerted  action  by  the  European  Union  and  there  was  a  continuous  work 
towards a coordinated European response on the refugees and migration front. 

1  http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/state-union-2015_en 

2 

 
                                                            
The EU has also mobilised substantial political, financial and scientific resources to help the 
people affected by the Ebola virus and to contain, control, treat and ultimately defeat it. The 
EU's  total  financial  contribution  to  fight  the  epidemic  is  over  €1.2billion.  This  includes 
funding from Member States and the European Commission. 

At the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015, 195 countries adopted the first-
ever universal, legally binding global climate deal. The agreement, due to enter into force in 
2020,  sets  out  a  global  action  plan  to  put  the  world  on  track  to  avoid  dangerous  climate 
change  by  limiting  global  warming  to  well  below  2°C.  The  EU  was  a  lead  player  and  the 
European  Commission  announced  a  new  Research,  Innovation  and  Competitiveness 
Strategy  of  the  Energy  Union  in  order  to  galvanise  research  and  innovation  for  achieving 
global climate goals. 

3. 

POLICY FRAMEWORK 

Creating  and  supporting  an  Open  Innovation  ecosystem  encourages  dynamic  knowledge 
circulation  and  facilitates  the  translation  of  that  knowledge  into  socio-economic  value. 
During this reporting year the foundation was laid for the development of a Pan-European 
Venture Capital Fund(s)-of-Funds initiative to be launched in 2016; the 'seal of excellence'2 
was  announced;  and  the  discussion  around  the  creation  of  a  European  Innovation  Council 
was kick-started. The Commission established a new Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM)3, 
so  that  a  diverse  group  of  leading  European  experts  can  be  called  upon  to  inform  EU 
policymaking with independent scientific advice. 
In the context of the new EU agenda on better regulation4, launched in May 2015, work has 
started to evaluate the impact of existing or proposed EU regulation on innovation in order 
to  maximize  its  support  to  innovation  (InnovRefit)5.  A  further  approach  to  be  explored 
within  InnovRefit  is  that  of  Innovation  Deals6.  They  will  address  regulatory  uncertainties 
identified by innovators, which can hinder innovation within the existing legal framework. 
As a first step, a pilot action in the Circular Economy is foreseen for 2016 to help innovators 
facing  regulatory  obstacles  by  setting  up  agreements  with  stakeholders  and  public 
authorities7.  

Open  Science  describes  the  on-going  transitions  in  the  way  research  is  performed, 
researchers  collaborate,  knowledge  is  shared,  and  science  is  organised.  It  is  enabled  by 
digital  technologies,  and  driven  by  the  enormous  growth  of  data,  the  globalisation  and 
enlargement of the scientific community including new actors (e.g. citizen science). In the 
short  term,  Open  Science  may  offer  more  transparency,  openness,  inclusiveness  and 
networked collaboration. In the long term, it may make science more efficient, reliable and 
responsive  to  the  grand  challenges  of  our  times  as  well  as  foster  co-creation  and  Open 
Innovation.  It  will  also  foster  research  integrity,  which,  as  stressed  by  the  Council  in  its 
conclusions  of  1  December  20158,  is  the  foundation  of  high  quality  research.  As  one 
concrete  follow-up  measure  the  Horizon  2020  Model  Grant  Agreement  was  updated  to 
reflect  the  importance  of  research  integrity.  Discussions  on  improving  open  access  to 

2  https://ec.europa.eu/research/regions/index.cfm?pg=soe 
3  https://ec.europa.eu/research/sam/index.cfm 
4  COM (2015) 215 final "Better regulation for better results – An EU agenda" 
5  SWD (2015)   298 of 15.12.2015  Commission Staff Working Document Better regulations for innovation-

driven investment at EU level 

6  https://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-deals/index.cfm 
7http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/jobs-growth-investment/circular-economy/docs/communication-action-plan-

forcircular-economy_en.pdf.  

8 http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-14853-2015-INIT/en/pdf 

3 

 
                                                            
 
research  results  and  the  underlying  data  also  progressed  substantially,  as  well  as  the 
development of a European Science Cloud.  

During  2015  the  Commission  strengthened  its  international  research  and  innovation 
cooperation with national and regional partners on the basis of common interest and mutual 
benefit. Openness to the World will help leverage Europe's strengths to make it a stronger 
global  actor  and  increase  the  excellence  of  European  research,  the  competitiveness  of 
European  companies  and  more  effectively  address  societal  challenges.  The  Commission 
continued  focusing  on  enhancing  synergies  with  external  policies,  coordinating  Horizon 
2020  actions  with  those  carried  out  through  other  instruments,  as  well  as  with  the  EU 
Member States particularly via the SFIC9. Relations with international organisations, such as 
UNESCO, have been strengthened and initiatives to contribute to the overall objectives set 
by the Communication 'A European agenda on migration' were initiated. 

As  a  founding  member  of  the  Group  on  Earth  Observation  (GEO),  the  Commission  has 
subscribed to the 2015-2025 implementation  plan of the Global  Earth Observation System 
of Systems (GEOSS), that will provide open access to earth observation data from anywhere 
in  the world to  decision  makers, researchers and innovators. The Atlantic Ocean Research 
Alliance launched its first trans-Atlantic mapping. The EU supported the SESAME research 
and technology Centre in Jordan that uses science to foster a culture of peace as well as S&T 
excellence in the broader Middle East.  

The  European  Commission  launched  the  ‘science4refugees’  initiative  for  asylum-seeking 
and refugee scientists and researchers, to enable a match-making process between refugees 
and  asylum  seekers  with  a  scientific  background  and  the  scientific  institutions  that 
voluntarily declare themselves as "refugee-welcoming organisations". 

In  2015,  a  set  of  country-specific  recommendations  addressing  research  and  innovation 
(R&I)  issues  were  adopted  in  the  context  of  the  European  Semester  of  economic  policy 
coordination. All the European Semester Country Reports integrated substantial analyses of 
the  Member  States'  R&I  systems,  with  a  clear  identification  of  the  main  R&I  challenge(s) 
and an assessment of the policy responses to the challenge(s)10. This permitted a subsequent 
in-depth dialogue with the Member States on the basis of the R&I chapters in the Country 
Reports.  The  European  Research  Area  (ERA)  Roadmap 2015-2020  has been  developed  to 
serve  the  purpose  of  facilitating  and  reinforcing  the  efforts  undertaken  by  the  Member 
States.  

The  Horizon  2020  Policy  Support  Facility  (PSF)  was  launched  in  March  2015  as  a  new 
instrument  that  gives  Member  States  and  countries  associated  to  Horizon  2020  practical 
support  to  design,  implement  and  evaluate  reforms  that  enhance  the  quality  of  their  R&I 
investments,  policies  and  systems.  Such  reforms  concern,  for  example,  the  stimulation  of 
stronger and closer links between science and business or the introduction of performance-
based funding of public research institutes.  

The PSF provides Member States and countries associated to Horizon 2020 with access to 
independent high-level expertise and analyses through a broad range of services such as Peer 
Reviews  of  the  national  R&I  systems,  support  to  specific  reforms  or  project-based  mutual 
learning  exercises.  In  addition,  the  PSF  offers  a  Knowledge  Centre  via  its  website: 
https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en.  

The  Horizon  2020  PSF  is  a  demand-driven  facility  that  responds  to  requests  made  by 
national  authorities  on  a  voluntary  basis.  Three  pilot  PSF  activities  were  successfully 

9  Strategic Forum for International Science and Technology Cooperation 
10  See sections on the European Semester at https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/country-analysis.    

4 

 
                                                            
undertaken in 2015: a Peer Review of the Bulgarian R&I system11, a pre-Peer Review of the 
Hungarian R&I system12 and a mutual learning exercise on policies to foster business R&I 
investments. Several other activities were launched in 2015 i.e. Peer Reviews of the national 
R&I systems of Hungary and Moldova; specific support to Malta for the monitoring of the 
country's  R&I  strategy;  mutual  learning  exercises  on  ex-post  evaluation  of  business  R&D 
grants, R&I tax incentives  and evaluation of complex PPP programmes. The outcomes of 
those  activities  are  expected  in  April-September  2016.  In  addition,  a  rich  pipeline  of  PSF 
activities is foreseen to be launched in 2016, covering all PSF services.  

Finally,  work  was  undertaken  to  strengthen  evaluation  methods  to  measure  the  impact  of 
R&I  investments  at  EU  and  national  level,  including  through  the  improvement  of  current 
macro-economic  models  so  that  they  can  account  more  realistically  for  how  research  and 
innovation funding translate into economic growth and societal progress.  

4. 

IMPLEMENTATION OF HORIZON 2020 

Horizon 2020 has been aligned to the Commission's agenda through its work programmes. 
In  a  difficult  political  and  economic  context,  it  is  all  the  more  important  to  maximise  the 
Framework  Programme's  contribution  to  deliver  on  President  Juncker's  priorities,  notably 
the Digital Single Market, the Energy Union, the Circular Economy, the European Fund for 
Strategic Investments (EFSI) and reinforcing Europe's place in the world. Equally Horizon 
2020's implementation will contribute to enhancing the delivery of Commissioner Moedas' 
agenda. 

Lessons learned from the first calls were essential for the preparation of Work Programme 
2016-2017, launched in October 2015, with a total investment of €16 billion. 

On 25 September 2015, the Commission launched an online survey to gather opinions from 
stakeholders on the impact of the simplification measures introduced in Horizon 2020, and 
to  ask  for  new  ideas  on  future  simplification.  The  survey  confirmed  that  a  significant 
proportion  of  users  are  satisfied  with  the  simplification  measures  introduced  in  Horizon 
2020. 

While the Horizon 2020 Work Programme covers the large majority of the funding available 
under  the  Programme,  it  is  complemented  by  the  separate  Work  Programmes  for  the 
European  Research  Council,  Euratom,  the  Joint  Research  Centre,  as  well  as  the  Strategic 
Innovation Agenda for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). 

The EIT budget for the 2014 to 2020 period is EUR 2.38 billion as set out in the Horizon 
2020 Framework Programme. In 2015, the first wave of EIT’s Knowledge and Innovation 
Communities (KICs), namely EIT Digital, Climate-KIC and KIC InnoEnergy, have steadily 
grown  in  terms  of  budget,  activities,  and  results,  while  the  second  wave  of  KICs,  namely 
EIT Health and EIT Raw Materials, were in their start-up phase.  

Synergies with European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) continued to be promoted. 
Under  the  Work  Programme  2016-2017  applicants  are  invited  to  identify  the  smart 
specialisation  fields  of  their  EU  Member  State  or  region  and  explore  the  potential  for 
synergies with the relevant Managing Authorities in charge of the ESIF in their territory13. A 
‘seal  of  excellence’  will  be  provided  as  of  2016  to  above-threshold,  not-funded  proposals 
under  the  SME  instrument.  The  'seal  of  excellence'  will  allow  countries  /  regions  to 
recognise  the  quality  label  awarded  to  promising  proposals  submitted  under  Horizon  2020 

11 https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/library/horizon-2020-policy-support-facility-peer-review-bulgarian-research-

and-innovation-system  

12https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/library/horizon-2020-policy-support-facility-pre-peer-review-hungarian-

research-and-innovation  

13  http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/indexes/in_your_country_en.cfm  

5 

 
                                                            
and  promote  their  access  to  different  funding  sources  like  the  ESIF  and  other  national  or 
regional  investment  programmes.  This  action  will  be  complemented  by  a  ‘mobilisation’ 
campaign towards regions/countries to include SME-instrument friendly funding schemes in 
the context of implementation of their ESIF Operational Programmes. 

The first steps for the strategic programing for the last Work Programme cycle were taken 
with the renewal of Horizon 2020 Advisory Groups and foresight exercises.  

4.1 Response to calls 

By the end of 2015, nearly 200 Horizon 2020 calls were concluded, with 84 793 proposals 
submitted. The number of retained proposals was 7 121 and the requested EU contribution 
to retained proposals was €14.18 billion. Just in 2015 a total of 5 234 grant agreements were 
signed with an EU financial contribution of €9.2 billion.  

The share of private sector participation in the calls since the beginning of the programme 
and  until  the  end  of  the  reporting  year  amount  to  32.2%.  In  pillars  2  and  3,  excluding 
"Access  to  risk  finance"  42.17%  of  all  beneficiaries  in  the  signed  grant  agreements  are 
coming from industry. 

Furthermore,  in  January  2015  the  new  €200  million  Fast  Track  to  Innovation  (FTI)  pilot 
initiative was launched, with the underlying objective to promote innovation by reducing the 
time it takes to bring innovative ideas to market. Out of a total of 498 proposals received, 31 
received more than €68 million in funding. Almost half the project participants were SMEs.  

4.2 Key features in Horizon 2020:  

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 

23% (EUR 1.7 billion) of the 2014-2015 combined budgets for Leadership in Enabling and 
Industrial Technologies (LEIT) and Societal Challenges was allocated to SMEs.  

Thanks to EFSI frontloading on InnovFin SME Guarantee product, almost 45% of the target 
set regarding access to debt financing for innovative SMEs and small midcaps have already 
been achieved by the end of 2015, with no less than €4 billion of loans volume available on 
the market. 

Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) 

In 2015 efforts were stepped-up to strengthen the interdisciplinary relevance of the calls for 
proposals,  with  particular  attention  given  to  SSH  research.  There  were  81  topics  in  2015 
with  SSH  relevance  and  they  are  framed  with  the  SSH  as  an  integral  part  of  the  research 
question. Moreover SSH experts took part in the respective evaluation panels - and targeted 
guidelines were given to experts and moderators. 

In  addition,  SSH  played  a  major  role  in  the  Societal  Challenge  6  ‘Europe  in  a  changing 
world  -  Inclusive,  Innovative  and  Reflective  Societies’  where  topics  with  SSH  relevance 
reached 80%.  

Gender dimension 

Work  progressed  for a better integration  of the gender  domension in  Horizon  2020  and  in 
the  Work  Programme  2016-2017  the  visibility  of  gender  has  been  improved,  not  only  in 
quantitative terms but also in quality. Gender equality has now its own page on the Horizon 

6 

 
2020 website14 and greater efforts have been made so that gender is taken into account. In 
addition, almost 40% of the Horizon 2020 expert evaluators contracted in 2015 were female. 

Climate Action and Sustainable Development 

The monitoring of climate action and sustainable development expenditure across Horizon 
2020  against  the  respective  35%  and  60%  spending  targets  set  out  in  the  Horizon  2020 
Regulation is ongoing.  

The  final  figures  for  2014  show  that  these  targets  are  not  being  met  in  the  first  year  of 
Horizon 2020. The DGs responsible for Horizon 2020 implementation have therefore agreed 
on a set of actions to promote mainstreaming of climate action and sustainable development, 
to improve the tracking method and to increase Horizon 2020 investment in support of these 
objectives  in  future  years.  These  figures  for  Horizon  2020  expenditure  tracked  in  2014 
(corresponding to €8,317 million) are 24% for climate action and 46% regarding sustainable 
development. 

Widening Participation 

Alongside the already mentioned Policy Support Facility (PSF) or the 'seal of excellence', in 
2015  31  projects  were  selected  under  the  Teaming  instrument,  to  help  improve  research 
performance and increase investment in countries with lower research excellence rankings. 
The  projects  received  up  to  €500,000  each  (€14.2  million  in  total)  to  prepare  operational 
plans for new Centres of Excellence or for upgrading existing ones.  Fourteen  universities, 
technical institutes and private organisations in those parts of Europe that have not done as 
well as they could in research and innovation were awarded up to €2.5 million each in EU 
funding to boost their research capacity through the appointment of "ERA Chairs". A call on 
Twinning  was  launched  with  €66.24  million  which  resulted  in  66  funded  projects.  In 
addition, support continued to be provided for COST (European Cooperation in Science and 
Technology). 

International Cooperation 

Due  partly  to  the  discontinuation  of  some  dedicated  international  cooperation  instruments, 
the  change  of  the  funding  conditions  of  BRIC-M  countries15,  as  well  as  to  the  socio-
economic turmoil in Southern Neighbourhood countries, the share of participations of non-
associated  third  countries  halved  in  Horizon  2020  with  respect  to  FP7.  In  response,  more 
topics  in  the  Work  Programme  will  be  identified  as  particularly  relevant  for  international 
cooperation.  As  a  first  step,  the  Work  Programme  2016-2017  contains  around  10%  more 
flagged  topics  than  those  of  the  Work  Programme  2014-2015.  In  addition,  co-funding 
mechanisms  have  been  set-up  by  China,  Japan,  Korea,  Mexico,  Russia,  Taiwan,  Australia 
and regions of Canada and Brazil, to fund participation of their researchers in Horizon 2020 
projects.  Further  measures  will  be  required  to  reverse  this  dramatic  decline,  e.g.  in  our 
Neighbourhood. 

Communication  activities  and  targeted  partnering  events  were  strengthened  in  particular 
through the "Horizon 2020 – Open to the World" campaign, focusing on the promotion of 
the Excellence of the EU's Research and Innovation landscape, 'Destination Europe' events 
promoting  research  career  opportunities  in  Europe;  and  contributing  to  the  corporate 
campaign of the "European Year of Development". 

14  https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/promoting-gender-equality-research-and-

innovation 

15  Brazil, Russia, India, China and Mexico 

7 

 
                                                            
In  the  course  of  2015  Ukraine  became  associated  to  Horizon  2020  and  the  agreement 
associating Tunisia, applicable as from 1 January 2016, was signed. 

5. 

SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME  

In November 2015 the report of the independent High Level Expert Group (HLEG) that has 
evaluated  the  EU's  Seventh  Framework  Programme  for  Research  and  Technological 
Development (FP7)16 was made public.  

The High Level Group looked at the achievements and impacts of the full range of actions 
financed  by  FP7  between  2007  and  2013.  While  the  central  focus  of  the  report  is  on 
evaluating FP7, it also contains recommendations regarding Horizon 2020.  

The Commission issued a Communication on the response to the High Level Expert Group 
Report  in  19  January  201617  where  it  welcomed  the  HLEG  recommendations.  Many  were 
already  taken  up  into  the  2016-2017  Horizon  2020  Work  Programme  and  will  serve  as  a 
bridge to the Horizon 2020 interim evaluation which is due by the end of 2017.  

6.   

  JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE (JRC)  

In 2015, the JRC's work programme was fully in line with, and supported the Commission's 
priorities. Key JRC activities contributed to such priorities as: a new boost for jobs, growth 
and investment; a resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking climate change policy and 
resilience to disaster; a deeper and fairer Internal Market with a strengthened industrial base; 
a deeper and fairer Economic and Monetary Union; the European Agenda on Migration and 
Nuclear  Safety  and  Security  (Euratom  programme).  Support  has  been  provided  to  the 
Commission's  efforts  on  the  Better  Regulation  Agenda  and  to  the  Impact  Assessment 
activities,  by  providing  tools  for  the  Better  Regulation  Toolbox  and  by  supporting  policy 
DGs  in  impact  assessments,  evaluation  and  fitness  checks.  The  JRC  also  continued  to 
deliver on its existing longer term obligations such as the development of standards, whilst 
also  developing  its  competences  in  areas  such  as  anticipation,  foresight  and  behavioural 
sciences.  In  order  to  meet  its  objectives,  the  JRC  worked  in  close  cooperation  with  the 
Member  States18,  academia  and  the  research  community,  as  well  as  various  international 
partners19.  

7. 

DISSEMINATION, EXPLOITATION AND COMMUNICATION 

Activities  to  disseminate  and  exploit  results  from  research  and  innovation  projects,  and  to 
evaluate the performance of EU funding as well as carry out communication activities, are 
an important and integral part of Horizon 2020. In 2015 around €7.45 million were devoted 
to  these  activities,  including  the  provision  of  CORDIS  services,  which  is  the  European 
Commission's  primary  public  repository  and  portal  to  disseminate  information  on  all  EU-
funded research projects and their results. The Commission implements activities by means 
of specific calls for proposals, coordination and support actions, and public procurement to 
provide  targeted  assistance  to  projects  and  consortia  to  optimise  the  exploitation  and 
dissemination of results.  

The supported actions must develop and implement a comprehensive dissemination plan to 
ensure  the  maximum  impact  of  results.  Secondly,  following  Horizon  2020's  open  access 
policy,  beneficiaries  must  ensure  that  peer-reviewed  scientific  publications  resulting  from 
Horizon 2020 funding are deposited in repositories and made open access i.e. free of charge 

16  https://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/pdf/fp7_final_evaluation_expert_group_report.pdf  
17  Communication COM (2016) 5 final, 19.01.2016. 
18  https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/working-with-us/collaboration-member-states 
19  https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/working-with-us/international-cooperation 

8 

 
  
                                                            
online  access  for  the  user.  Beneficiaries  must  also  aim  to  deposit  at  the  same  time  the 
research data needed to validate the results presented in scientific publications. Thirdly, the 
Open Research Data Pilot, launched with the Work Programme 2014-2015, aims to improve 
and  maximise  access  to  and  re-use  of  research  data  generated  by  projects.  Based  on  the 
signed  grant  agreements,  by  the  end  of  2015  around  64.4%  of  projects  in  the  core  areas 
participate  in  the  Pilot.  While  this  Pilot  concerns  selected  areas  of  Horizon  2020  progress 
was made  to  further strengthen  open access to research  publications and data so that open 
access to data becomes the default rule in the Work Programmes as of 2017. 

The importance of monitoring and evaluation in the strategic programming and policy cycle 
has been strengthened with the adoption of the Better Regulation Package.  

8. 

OUTLOOK FOR 2016 

The  outlook  for  2016  reflects  the  continued  response  to  the  political  priorities  and  to  the 
pressing challenges Europe is currently facing. 

In alignment with the new Commission’s agenda, the Work Programme for 2016-2017 will 
contribute  to  the  Jobs,  Growth  and  Investment  Package  helping  to  strengthen  Europe’s 
global competitiveness, create new and sustainable jobs and promote growth.  

The  budget  dedicated  to  the  SME  Instrument  will  be  increased  by  50%,  reaching  almost 
€750  million  for  the  period  2016-2017.  Further  investments  through  InnovFin  financial 
instruments,  targeted  in  particular  to  small  and  medium-sized  enterprises  (SMEs),  will 
contribute  to  the  availability  of  a  wider  range  of  debt  and  equity  financing  products  and 
facilities  to  support  research  and  innovation;  a  stronger  venture  capital  and  wider  equity 
industry;  the  increased  involvement  of  business  angels,  crowd-funding  platforms  and 
philanthropic  foundations  in  funding  research  and  innovation;  and  more  investment  in 
technology transfer. Synergies with the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) will 
continue to be promoted, as well as with European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF).  

The strategic programming for the Horizon 2020 last Work Programme cycle was initiated 
paving the way to encompass, alongside the areas identified in the Specific Programme that 
still need to be covered, new emerging priorities and challenges resulting from the evolving 
nature of research and innovation trends or the arising challenges and political drivers such 
as  migration  issues,  security,  physical  meets  digital,  the  energy  challenge  and  fighting 
against  climate  change,  health  threats,  e.g.  the  Zika  virus,  and  the  overall  priority  of 
delivering innovation.  

The  interim  evaluation  of  Horizon  2020  is  due  to  be  completed  after  summer  2017.  The 
Commission  expects,  on the basis of the priorities identified through various consultations 
and  on  the  basis  of  the  recommendations  in  the  interim  evaluation  of  Horizon  2020,  to 
develop  the  content  of  the  2018-2020  work  programme  in  the  first  three  quarters  of  2017 
with the adoption and publication of the calls for proposals not earlier than autumn 2017.  

Following  the  FP7  ex  post  evaluation  report,  the  Commission  already  committed  to: 
implement a new strategic focus for Horizon 2020 in order to maximise its contribution to 
'open  innovation,  'open  science'  and  'open  to  the  world';  maximise  the  synergies  between 
R&I in thematic priorities of societal challenge areas and new and emerging digital and key 
enabling  technologies  and  infrastructures;  explore  the  need  for,  and  the  feasibility  of,  a 
European  Innovation  Council  as  a  means  to  boost  innovation  and  streamline  existing 
instruments;  evaluate  the  JTIs  in  terms  of  inter  alia  their  openness,  transparency  and 
effectiveness; facilitate the elaboration of important projects of common European interest, 
which can foster vast deployment of research into mature technologies. 

2016  marks  the  roll-out  of  many  policy  actions  within  the  Commission's  three  strategic 
priorities on Research and Innovation. As part of the 'Open Innovation' goal and with the 

9 

 
primary  objective  to  raise  Europe's  capacity  to  generate  and  scale  up  breakthrough 
innovations, a Call for Ideas on the setting up of a European Innovation Council was open 
from 16 February to 29 April 2016.  

The Commission is committed to capitalise fully on the means at its disposal to report and 
communicate more effectively on the results and impact of Research and Innovation and has 
set  as  priorities  to  deliver  on  the  European  Open  Science  Cloud,  as  well  as  on  improving 
open access to research results and the underlying data, thus delivering on 'Open Science'.  

Last but not least, being 'Open to the World' will remain high on the agenda. The agreements 
associating Georgia and  Armenia  to Horizon  2020  were  signed  in  April  and  May  2016 
respectively.  The  second  report  on  the  implementation  of  the  Strategy  for  International 
Cooperation in Research and Innovation will be issued in September. A Service Facility in 
Support  of  the  Strategic  Development  of  International  Cooperation  in  Research  and 
Innovation  will  be  set  up  by  the  end  of  2016.  International  cooperation  in  research  and 
innovation is an instrument of soft power and a mechanism for improving relations with key 
countries and regions20, building bridges in time of conflict, preventing crises, understanding 
better complex issues and developing shared strategies for good stewardship of our planet. 
The relevance of international cooperation in research and innovation has been exemplified 
by success stories, such as the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), which 
also provided a blueprint for regions with similar ambitions, such as the Middle East, where 
the  Synchrotron-light  for  Experimental  Science  and  Applications  in  the  Middle  East 
(SESAME)  is  currently  under  construction  in  Jordan  following  a  forward-looking  fruitful 
cooperation between the EU and UNESCO. The association of now five neighbour countries 
to Horizon 2020 supports the European Neighbourhood Policy.  

20 Communication COM(2012)497 "Enhancing and focusing EU international cooperation in 
research and innovation: A strategic approach"  

10