REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Report on Research and Technological Development Activities of the European Union and Monitoring of Horizon 2020 in 2016
Date: 2017-12-13
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, 13.12.2017  COM(2017) 762 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Report on Research and Technological Development Activities of the European Union and Monitoring of Horizon 2020 in 2016  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Annual Report on Research and Technological Development Activities of the 
European Union and Monitoring of Horizon 2020 in 2016 

1. 

BACKGROUND TO THE ANNUAL REPORT ON RTD ACTIVITIES 

The  Annual  Report  on  the  European  Union's  (EU)  Research  and  Technological 
Development Activities, and on the dissemination of results, 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. 

Following  a  call  from  the  Council  on  30  May  2017  to  the  Commission  to  streamline  its 
reporting strategy, this report includes annual monitoring data of Horizon 2020 in relation to 
Horizon 2020 calls closed in 2016. Since 9 November 2017, further detailed monitoring data 
for Horizon 2020 is made publicly available at the Horizon 2020 Dashboard.1 

2. 

THE BROADER POLITICAL CONTEXT IN 2016 

The year 2016 marked the second year of the Commission's work under President Juncker's 
leadership.  At  the  beginning  of  his  mandate,  President  Juncker  announced  a  new  start  for 
Europe  and  introduced  his  Agenda  for  Jobs,  Growth,  Fairness  and  Democratic  Change, 
focused on ten political priorities.  

The  Commission's  €315  billion  Investment  Plan  for  Europe,  with  the  European  Fund  for 
Strategic  Investments  (EFSI),  brought  further  results.  The  Fund  was  operational  and 
delivered high quality investments to further boost the European economy, including in R&I 
and for innovative SMEs and small mid-caps.  

Throughout the year, some of the crucial initiatives of the Commission, such as the Energy 
Union,  the  Digital  Single  Market,  the  Capital  Markets  Union,  the  European  Agenda  on 
Security, the European Agenda on Migration, reached new stages. The EU needs more than 
ever  to  be  both  relevant  and  connected  to  its  citizens.  According  to  President  Juncker  we 
need a stronger connection between policies, decisions and strategies. 

As a follow-up to the Paris Climate Conference (COP21), the European Commission started 
implementing the EU's energy and climate commitments by adopting the ambitious "Clean 
Energy  for  all  Europeans"  package  including  a  Communication  on  "Accelerating  Clean 
Energy Innovation" (ACEI). The latter outlines wide-reaching policy measures to accelerate 
Europe's  transition  to  a  competitive  low-carbon  economy  by  boosting  investment  in  clean 
energy  research  and  innovation  (R&I)  and  mobilising  actors  at  all  levels  to  facilitate  the 
market  uptake  of  innovative  clean  energy  technologies  and  services.  It  also  adhered,  on 
behalf of the EU as a whole, to the Mission Innovation, launched at COP21, an international 
initiative  that  endeavours  to  accelerate  public  and  private  clean  energy  innovation  and 
spending to address climate change. 

1 http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/projectresults/index.html. 

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3. 

POLICY FRAMEWORK  

During  this  reporting  year,  the  strategic  priorities  of  Commissioner  for  Research,  Science 
and  Innovation  Carlos  Moedas  'Open  Innovation,  Open  Science  and  Open  to  the  World' 
were further developed. 

One of the main components of 'Open Science' is the establishment of a European Science 
Cloud. In 2016, the European Commission launched different components of this initiative 
to  capitalise  on  the  data  revolution.  The  science  cloud  will  provide  European  science, 
industry and public authorities with world-class digital infrastructure that brings state-of-the-
art computing and data storage capacity to the fingertips of any scientist and engineer in the 
European Union.  

During 2016, the Scientific Advice Mechanism’s High Level Group of Scientific Advisors 
adopted  their  scientific  opinion  on  “Closing  the  gap  between  light-duty  vehicle  real-world 
CO2 emissions and laboratory testing”; made significant progress on the development of a 
scientific  opinion  on  “Cybersecurity  in  the  European  Digital  Single  Market”;  and  on  an 
Explanatory  Note  on  “New  techniques  in  Agricultural  Biotechnology”;  the  group  also 
started  work  on  a  scientific  opinion  on  “Food  from  the  Oceans”.  Over  2016,  the  HLG 
worked  increasingly  closely  with  the  newly  established  “Science  Advice  for  Policy  by 
European  Academies”  consortium  (SAPEA  –  funded  through  Horizon 2020)  which  brings 
together the outstanding knowledge and expertise of fellows from over 100 Academies and 
Learned Societies in over 40 countries across Europe. 

In  order  to  increase  Europe's  capacity  to  generate  and  scale  up  breakthrough,  market-
creating innovations, a Call for Ideas on the possible establishment of a European Innovation 
Council  was  run  from  16  February  to  29  April  2016.  The  Commission  also  launched  a 
Special  announcement  for  the  setting-up  of  a  High  Level  Group  of  Innovators  to  provide 
expert  advice  to  the  European  Commission  in  designing  and  developing  a  European 
Innovation  Council  (EIC),  to  boost  the  capacity  of  the  EU  in  the  field  of  breakthrough, 
market-creating  innovation.  Following  the  announcement,  a  group  of  15  members  were 
selected out of almost 500 submissions, forming a group that started operating on 1 January 
2017.  The  European  Innovation  Council  is  a  key  measure  in  the  Start-up  and  Scale-up 
Initiative  launched  by  the  Commission  to  give  Europe's  many  innovative  entrepreneurs 
every  opportunity  to  become  world  leading  companies.  The  pilot  measures  taking  effect 
under  Horizon  2020  were  developed  already  over  the  course  of  2016  with  engagement  of 
external stakeholders and relevant Commission services.  

In  2016,  the  European  Institute  of  Innovation  and  Technology  (EIT)  designated  a  new 
Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), the EIT Food, which supports innovative and 
economically sustainable initiatives with the aim to transform European food system, drive 
consumer confidence and improve global health.  

A pilot action on the Circular Economy started in 2016 to help different kinds of innovators 
facing  regulatory  obstacles  by  setting  up  agreements  with  stakeholders  and  public 
authorities2.  Innovation  Deals  were  launched  as  a  new  pilot  scheme  by  the  European 
Commission to help innovators with promising solutions to environmental issues to navigate 
regulatory challenges to bringing their ideas to market. 

In February 2016, the Commission launched a public consultation on a new R&I initiative 
for sustainable food production and improved water management in the Mediterranean area, 
to be called PRIMA, the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area. 

2http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/jobs-growth-investment/circular-economy/docs/communication-action-plan-

forcircular-economy_en.pdf.  

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In October 2016, the Commission adopted the legislative proposal for the PRIMA Initiative 
based on Article 185 of the Treaty (TFEU), which was approved by the legislator in 2017. 
This was an important milestone as well in view of recent events in this neighbouring area of 
the EU.  

In June 2016, the Commission joined, on behalf of the EU, the global 'Mission Innovation' 
initiative that was initiated during the COP21 conference. This initiative unites major global 
economies  with  the  aim  of  stepping  up  coordination  on  R&I  projects  in  the  area  of  clean 
energy technologies. All members pledged to double government investment in clean energy 
R&I  over  the  next  five  years.  In  November  2016  the  Strategic  Energy  Technology  Plan 
released its' 2016 progress report3 in the margins of the SET Plan Conference in Bratislava. 
The report presented the targets for key technologies that are prepared in cooperation with 
and endorsed by all Member States and other EU countries involved in the SET Plan, as well 
as  the  R&I  stakeholder  community.  The  targets  focus  on  reducing  the  cost  and  improving 
the  performance  of  key  low  carbon  technologies.  The  way  forward  is  the  compilation  of 
Implementation  Plans  for  the  respective  technology  areas,  which  will  identify  concrete 
activities/projects  contributing  to  the  realisation  of  the  targets  for  the  interested  SET  Plan 
actors to take forward, under preparation in the course of 2017.   

The European Commission continued its 'science4refugees' initiative for asylum-seeking and 
refugee scientists and researchers, which entails a match-making process between refugees 
and  asylum  seekers  with  a  scientific  background  and  scientific  institutions  that  voluntarily 
declare themselves to be "refugee-welcoming organisations". 

In  2016,  one  more  ERC  Grantee  received  a  Nobel  Prize. Professor  Ben  Ferringa from  the 
University  of  Groningen  in  the  Netherlands  was  awarded  the  2016  Nobel  Prize  in 
Chemistry,  together  with  Sir  J.  Fraser  Stoddart  and  Jean-Pierre  Sauvage,  who  supervised 
two  individual  MSCA  fellowships  "for  the  design  and  synthesis  of  molecular  machines". 
Professor Ferringa received his first ERC Advanced Grant in 2008 and a second one in 2015 
to push forward the frontiers of the field of molecular motors. He is the 6th ERC Grantee to 
receive  a  Nobel  Prize.  He  was  also  formerly  a  scientist  in  charge  of  an  MSCA  COFUND 
project.  In  addition,  7  grantees  were  already  Nobel  laureates  at  the  moment  that  they 
received an ERC grant,  bringing to 13 the total number of  Nobel Laureates funded by the 
ERC since its beginning 10 years ago.  

In October 2016, the Commission proposed a new Space Strategy for Europe. This initiative 
was  among  10  main  initiatives  of  the  recent  Commission.  This  strategy  will  be  closely 
connected with the Horizon 2020 programme via different calls. 

4In 2016, a set of country-specific recommendations4 addressing R&I issues was adopted in 
the  context  of  the  European  Semester  of  economic  policy  coordination.  The  ERAC 
(European  Research  and  Innovation  Committee),  the  SFIC  (The  Strategic  Forum  for 
International Scientific and Technological Cooperation) and the GPC (the High Level Group 
on Joint Programming) were preparing their positions on the Interim Evaluation of Horizon 
2020 and the next R&I Framework Programme. 

The  Horizon  2020  Policy  Support  Facility  (PSF),  which  was  launched  in  March  2015, 
successfully  continued  as  a  new  instrument  that  gives  Member  states  and  countries 
associated to Horizon 2020 practical support to design, implement and evaluate reforms that 

3 https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/set-plan_progress_2016.pdf  
4https://ec.europa.eu/info/european-semester/european-semester-timeline/eu-country-specific-
recommendations/2016-european_en 

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enhance  the  quality  of  their  R&I  investments.  Finally,  work  was  undertaken  to  strengthen 
evaluation methods to measure the impact of R&I investments, especially in view of the new 
R&I Framework Programme.  

4. 

IMPLEMENTATION OF HORIZON 2020 

Through its second biennial work programme covering 2016-2017, Horizon 2020 is aligned 
with the Commission's policy agenda and in particular such priorities as the Digital Single 
Market,  the  Energy  Union,  the  Circular  Economy  and  the  European  Fund  for  Strategic 
Investments (EFSI). During the year, calls for proposals were launched worth € 7.7 billion. 

The  second  wave  of  Simplification  of  Horizon  2020  was  delivered  in  2016,  including  the 
preparation  of  the  “lump  sum  pilot”.  The  pilot  will  test  lump  sum  funding  of  large 
collaborative projects as part of the Horizon 2020 work programme 2018-2020, in view of 
drawing lessons for FP9.  

The other  major  priority in  implementation terms for 2016  was the strategic programming 
exercise to prepare the final work programme under Horizon 2020, in this case three years 
and covering 2018-20.  This major exercise brought together a wide range of different types 
of information coming from stakeholders across the board and open consultations, as well as 
the  work  of  expert  groups  from  all  the  research  and  innovation  and  policy  areas  under 
Horizon  2020.    Supporting  this  were  many  studies  and  evaluations  of  progress  with  the 
programme so far.    

While the Horizon 2020 work programmes cover the large majority of the funding available 
under  the  Programme,  they  are  complemented  by  the  separate  work  programmes  for  the 
European Research Council, the Euratom Research  and Training Programme (2014-2018), 
and  the  Joint  Research  Centre,  as  well  as  by  the  Strategic  Innovation  Agenda  for  the 
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).   

Also  in  2016,  synergies  (like  CleanSky  2  JU,  ECSEL  JU)  with  European  Structural  and 
Investment Funds (ESIF) and preparatory action like Stairway to Excellence continued to be 
promoted. As part of this,  Commissioner Carlos Moedas  announced a further extension of 
the  Seal  of  Excellence  under  Horizon  2020.  Applicants  were  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 territory5. A 
‘Seal of Excellence’ is provided to proposals meeting evaluation thresholds but not funded 
due to  budget constraints under the SME instrument (and possibly other mono-beneficiary 
instruments).  The  'Seal  of  Excellence'  allows  countries  /  regions  to  recognise  the  quality 
label  awarded  to  promising  proposals  submitted  under  Horizon  2020  and  promote  their 
access to different funding sources like the ESIF and other national or regional investment 
programmes.  This  action  has  been  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. 

4.1 Key monitoring data – Horizon 2020 three years on 

By the end of 2016, 329 Horizon 2020 calls were concluded, with 115 235 eligible proposals 
submitted, requesting a total EU financial contribution of €182.4 billion. Of these, only 14 
549  proposals  were  retained  for  funding,  bringing  the  overall  success  rate  of  eligible  full 
proposals in the first three years to 12.6%. A total of 13 903 grant agreements were signed 
by 1 September 2017, with a budget allocation of €24.8 billion in EU funding. Just in 2016, 

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

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a  total  of  4  594  grant  agreements  were  signed  with  an  EU  financial  contribution  of  €8.3 
billion.6 

A  total  of  399  927  eligible  applications  were  received  over  the  three  years.  In  2016,  the 
number  of  retained  applications  and  the  financial  contribution  allocated  to  them  increased 
significantly  (respectively  by  23.8%  and  17.1%  compared  to  2015).  Since  Horizon  2020 
began, 38.4% of all applications came from universities, 36.1% from the private sector and 
18.2% from research organisations. Although public bodies had the lowest application rate 
(3.5%), they had the highest success rate.  

In 2016, Germany has the highest share of participations in signed grants per EU Member 
State, followed by the United Kingdom and Spain. Twelve EU Member States experienced 
an  increase  in  participation,  with  Sweden  and  Spain  experiencing  the  largest  increase. 
Member States received a total of 92.8% of funding in the first three years of Horizon 2020. 
The remaining funding went to Associated7 and Third Countries.  

Third Countries had a 1.94% share of participations in signed grants across the three years, 
with  signed  grant  agreements  of  participants  from  94  different  countries.  The  top  five 
participating  countries  (United  States,  China,  South  Africa,  Canada  and  Brazil)  accounted 
for more than 40% of the overall Third Country participation. 

Universities remain in first place in terms of funding received, whereas the private sector has 
almost overtaken them in terms of participation.  

The share of private sector participation in the calls since the beginning of the programme 
and  until  the  end  of  the  reporting  year  amounts  to  32.8%.  In  pillars  2  and  3,  excluding 
"Access to risk finance", 63.9% of all beneficiaries in the signed grant agreements are from 
the private sector. 

Both public bodies and other entities have increased their share of participation and financial 
contribution.  

There were almost 35 000 applications to the SME Instrument across the three years, with 
an  increase  from  year  to  year  (9  061  in  2014,  12  713  in  2015  and  13  186  in  2016).  The 
average  success  rate  of  full  proposals  in  the  SME  instrument  in  the  first  three  years  was 
7.5% (9.1% in 2014, 6.4% in 2015 and 7.4% in 2016), which is lower than the Horizon 2020 
average of 14.8% in terms of overall applications. In 2016, 23.6% (EUR 1.17 billion) of the 
combined  budgets  for  Leadership  in  Enabling  and  Industrial  Technologies  (LEIT)  and 
Societal Challenges was allocated to SMEs, surpassing the 20% budget target. 

Around  54%  of  the  total  participants  in  Horizon  2020  are  newcomers,  while  the  rest  also 
participated in  FP7.  In  the  first  three  years  of  Horizon  2020,  73%  of  the  newcomers  were 
from the private sector, showing the attractiveness of Horizon 2020 for private companies. 
Out of these, 48.9% were SMEs.  

On average over the three years, 90.5% of all grant agreements were signed within the legal 
target (which does not cover the ERC) of eight months, increasing from 90.9% in 2015 to 
93.7% in 2016. In the first three years of Horizon 2020, the average  time-to-grant period 
was 192.5 days (208.4 in 2014, decreasing to 189.7 in 2015 and to 180.9 in 2016).  

6 This dataset includes calls closed on 31st December 2016, therefore it does not include calls launched in 2016 

but closed in 2017, which will be in the scope of the next Horizon 2020 annual monitoring report 

7  The  countries  associated  to  Horizon  2020  are:  Albania,  Armenia,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Faroe  Islands, 
Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, 
Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine. 

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Furthermore,  2016  saw  a  continuation  of  the  Fast  Track  to  Innovation  (FTI)  pilot 
initiative,  with  the  underlying  objective  of  promoting  innovation  by  reducing  the  time  it 
takes to bring innovative ideas to market. Out of 1 096 proposals received, 48 received more 
than €100.9 million in funding in 2016, with 51.7% of the project participants being SMEs. 

During  this  period  the  expert  evaluators  of  eligible  proposals  came  from  107  different 
countries8. The majority of evaluators was affiliated to a university or research organisation 
(combined  figure  of  68%),  whereas  17%  came  from  the  private  sector.  Public  bodies  and 
other entities accounted for about 15% of the evaluators. 71% came from the EU-15, 16% 
from the EU-13, 6% from Third Countries and 6% from Associated Countries. 

In 2016, efforts were stepped up to strengthen the interdisciplinary relevance of the calls for 
proposals,  with  particular  attention  being  paid  to  social  sciences  and  humanities  (SSH) 
research. There were 183 topics in 2016 with SSH relevance. 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  Societal  Challenge  6  ‘Europe  in  a 
changing  world  -  Inclusive,  Innovative  and  Reflective  Societies’,  where  topics  with  SSH 
relevance reached 94%.  

Work progressed for a better integration of the gender dimension in Horizon 2020 and in 
the  work  programme  2016-2017  the  visibility of  gender  has  again  been  improved.  Gender 
equality now has its own page on the Horizon 2020 website9 and greater efforts have been 
made to ensure that gender is taken into account. In addition, the share of contracts signed 
with  women  experts  participating  in  evaluation  panels  for  Horizon  2020  was  41%,  an 
increase from the previous year's figure of 37%. 

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  figures  for  2016  show  that  the  target  for  sustainable 
development is well on track, while the one for climate action is not yet met. The figures for 
Horizon  2020  expenditure  tracked  in  2016  (corresponding  to  €8.3  billion)  are  28%  for 
climate action and 65 % for sustainable development. Still, in comparison to the preceding 
years, both contributions have increased. Additional efforts by the whole of the Commission 
are  needed  to  ensure  that  the  climate  action  mainstreaming  target  will  be  met  in  Horizon 
2020. The constant mainstreaming of climate action within the DGs responsible for Horizon 
2020 implementation will be further supported. 

The Euratom Programme continued to support nuclear safety and energy development. In 
fission research, 48 projects involving 1200 researchers were addressing the three key areas: 
nuclear  safety,  waste  management  and  radiation  protection.  In  fusion  research,  the 
programme achieved, by the end of 2016, 47% of the research milestones set for 2014-2018 
and  is  delivering  key  information  and  data  for  the  future  operation  of  ITER,  the  ground-
breaking global research facility under construction in France. 

On the issue of widening participation, alongside the Policy Support Facility (PSF) and the 
Seal of excellence, 10 projects were selected in 2016 under the second phase of the Teaming 
instrument to help improve research performance and increase investment in countries with 
lower research excellence rankings. The projects received between 10 and 14 million Euro 

8 Assessment made using available data 
9  https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/promoting-gender-equality-research-and-

innovation 

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each, amounting to almost €140 million in total. In 2016, a Teaming phase one call was also 
launched with almost €14 million of EU financial contribution, which resulted in 30 funded 
projects. In addition, support continued to be provided for COST (European Cooperation in 
Science and Technology). 

International  participation  in  Horizon  2020  in  2016  has  improved  compared  to  the 
beginning of the programme but still remains well below the FP7 level. Corrective actions 
have been taken to improve the international dimension of Horizon 2020. In particular, the 
number  of  topics  in  the  work  programme  2016-17  that  are  specifically  relevant  for 
international  cooperation  has  increased  compared  to  the  work  programme  2014-15. 
Moreover,  the  Commission  has  continued  to  encourage  and  assist  industrialised  countries 
and  emerging  economies  in  setting  up  mechanisms  to  fund  the  participation  of  their 
researchers  in  Horizon  2020  actions  and  efforts  have  continued  in  2016  to  broaden  their 
scope  of  application.  Communication  activities  and  targeted  partnering  events  were 
strengthened in particular through the "Horizon 2020 – Open to the World" campaign. The 
European Commission has adopted in October 2016 the Progress Report on the Strategy for 
EU International Cooperation in Research and Innovation.  Science diplomacy is becoming 
an  increasingly  important  part  of  the  EU  strategy  for  international  R&I  cooperation.  For 
example, the Joint Communication on 'An integrated EU policy for the Arctic', published in 
April  2016,  emphasises  the  key  role  of  R&I  in  developing  international  cooperation  on 
Arctic  issues.  The  EU  has  also  mobilised  substantial  political,  financial  and  scientific 
resources  to  help  the  people  affected  by  the  Zika  virus  and  to  contain,  control,  treat  and 
ultimately  defeat  it  (with  a  specific  call  for  30  million  euro).  That  included  funding  from 
Member States and the European Commission.  

In  2016,  Tunisia,  Georgia  and  Armenia  became  associated  to  Horizon  2020,  raising  the 
number of associated countries to 16. 

5.   

  JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE (JRC)  

In  2016,  the  JRC  continued  to  provide  scientific  support  to  key  policy  initiatives  such  as 
regional  development,  digital 
single  market,  energy  union,  circular  economy, 
standardisation, Economic and Monetary Union and migration. 

A new JRC  Strategy 2030 was approved in  April 2016 by Commissioner  Navracsics. The 
strategy prepares the JRC to better serve current and future priorities of the Commission. It 
focusses i.a. on knowledge management and cooperation with leading partners. JRC actively 
contributed to the implementation of the Commission's new corporate data, information and 
knowledge  management  policy.  The  Modelling  Inventory  and  Knowledge  Management 
System  has  been  scaled  up  from  a  JRC  tool  to  a  Commission-wide  tool.  A  collaborative 
online  space  was  launched  in  October  2016,  with  the  objective  of  enhancing  collaborative 
working,  using  the  'Connected'  platform  for  the  27  European  Semester  country  teams. 
Moreover, new knowledge centres (for migration & demography and for territorial policies) 
and  competence  centres  (on  composite  indicators  &  scoreboards  and  on  micro-economic 
evaluation) were launched. By bringing together experts, competences, tools, skills, data and 
knowledge  and  working  with  DGs  across  the  Commission,  these  centres  can  tailor  the 
supply of sound scientific advice and knowledge, by better addressing the political needs. 

By sharing knowledge, competences and facilities with over 1 000 partners worldwide, the 
JRC maintains a high level of expertise, and informs policy-making with the best scientific 
evidence. In 2016, the JRC concluded arrangements with strategic organisations such as the 
Central  European  University,  the  EIT,  Ukraine’s  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  US 
Department of Energy (DoE) and the US Geological Survey. The JRC also strengthened its 

7 

 
 
 
relations  with  African  countries,  notably  through  a  capacity-building  event  addressing 
evidence-based policymaking challenges. Other successful events co-organised by the JRC 
included  the  ‘Science  meets  regions’  and  ‘Science  meets  parliaments’  events  and  the  5th 
annual  forum  of  the  EU  strategy  for  the  Danube  region  as  well  as  the  technology-transfer 
support to the Western Balkan countries. 

6. 

DISSEMINATION, EXPLOITATION AND COMMUNICATION 

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,  with  a 
budget  in  2016  of  around  €  6.6  million.  A  Framework  contract  'Common  Exploitation 
Booster'  (€  1.6  million)  supports  239  projects,  with  40  services  completed  by  the  end  of 
2016.  For  external  stakeholders,  CORDIS,  the  European  Commission's  primary  public 
repository  and  portal  to  disseminate  information  on  all  EU-funded  research  projects  and 
their results, has been supported with € 5 million. CORDIS has been extended and improved 
with new initiatives. Exploitable research results for targeted audiences are made available, 
via    ‘Results  Packs’  and  a.  new  enhanced  'Results  in  Brief'  service  presents  the  result  and 
impact  of  projects  to  a  broader  public.  This  was  complemented  by  sustained  effort  to 
showcase  the  successes  of  EU  funded  R&I  with  a  focus  on  Horizon  2020.  A  new 
communication  action  was  launched  to  highlight  the  longer  term  impact  of  sustained  EU 
support for R&I in key areas.  

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.  involving  free  of  charge  online  access  for  the  user.  Based  on  the 
signed  grant  agreements,  by  the  end  of  2016,  around  68%  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 fully in line with the Better Regulation Package.  

7. 

OUTLOOK   

The outlook was shaped by both the coming half-way point of Horizon 2020, including the 
Interim evaluation exercise, as well as early efforts to lay the ground work for the successor 
framework programme.   

The  interim  evaluations  of  Horizon  2020  and  the  Euratom  programme  were  completed  in  
201710.    The  results  of  these  exercises  fed  through  into  improvements  for  the  2018-2020 
work programme, such as attention to improving success rates for applicants.  

A High Level Group, chaired by Pascal Lamy, was set up in September 2016 to formulate a 
vision for future EU R&I and to draw strategic recommendations on maximising the impact 
of EU R&I programmes in the future. It delivered its final report in July 201711. The High 
Level  Group’s  report,  together  with  the  lessons  learnt  in  the  Horizon  2020  interim 
evaluation,  an  on-going  foresight  exercise  and  the  economic  rationale  for  public  R&I 
funding  and  its  impact  will  be  building  blocks  that  pave  the  way  for  the  successor 
Framework Programme, which will be proposed by the Commission in 2018. 

10 http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/index_en.cfm?pg=h2020evaluation 
11 http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/index_en.cfm?pg=hlg 

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