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Crossing the Bridge - May 2014

By Nilay Papila, PhD

EU Horizon 2020 Program for Researchers in the U.S.

Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation program ever with over €75 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market. In comparison to all the previous framework programs, Horizon 2020 has the following new elements:

  • It is a single program bringing together three separate programs/initiatives (Seventh Framework Program (FP7), innovation related activities of the Competitiveness, and Innovation Framework Program (CIP) and the     European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
  • It couples research to innovation – from research to retail, all forms of innovation   
  • It focuses on societal challenges EU society faces   
  • Access has been simplified (for all companies, universities, institutes     across the EU and beyond).

Three priorities of Horizon 2020 are defined as follows:

  • Excellent     science: a dedicated budget     of € 25 million aiming to provide a boost to top-level research in     Europe, including an increase in funding of 77% for the very     successful European Research Council (ERC).
  • Industrial     leadership: providing € 18     million committed to major investment in key technologies, greater     access to capital and support for SMEs.
  • Societal     challenges: € 32 million     targeting to help address major concerns shared by all Europeans     including climate change, developing sustainable transport and     mobility, making renewable energy more affordable, ensuring food     safety and security, or coping with the challenge of an ageing     population.

Horizon 2020 is not open not only to the European Union’s universities, research centers, and small and medium-sized enterprises but also to non- European entities. This program explicitly encourages participation from international partner countries (IPCs), which are countries that are neither European Union (EU) Member States nor Associated States. While entities from industrialized IPCs (such as the U.S.) are not automatically eligible for funding, they are eligible to be consortia partners and benefit accordingly with regards to IP rights, research results, etc.

Furthermore, U.S. entities may receive funding under the following conditions:

  1. Funding for such entities is provided for under a bilateral scientific and     technological agreement or any other arrangement between the     European Union and a particular country, or    
  2. The European Commission deems the entity’s participation to be essential for the purpose of the project. Because of a bilateral agreement between the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the European Commission, U.S. institutions are eligible to receive funding from any call that is in the “Health, demographic change and well-being” program area.    
  3. U.S.  entities that have a legal basis in the European Union or an Associated State, such as a branch campus, would potentially be eligible to apply for any funding.
  4. U.S. entities that are working with developing countries should note that entities in developing country IPCs are generally eligible to receive funding.    

Two other programs under “Excellent Science” priority that could be of particular interest to researchers and institutions in the U.S. are the following:

ERC (European Research Council) grants         
These are most similar to U.S. federal agencies’ investigator awards, and the topics are open to “pioneering ideas” and “investigator- driven frontier research”. At least 50% of the research must be carried out in an institution in an EU Member State or Associated State.
   
Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
These fellowships encourage researchers to engage in “transnational, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility”. Researchers in the U.S. may go to European destination if they are awarded. Similarly, European investigators often take their award to a U.S. institution.

Turkey is a part of Horizon 2020 program as an associated country and can get funding as European Member States and candidate countries. Therefore, Horizon 2020 Program offers great opportunities if you are a researcher in the U. S. and planning to collaborate with institutes and colleagues in Turkey on exciting projects that have the potential for successful results and meaningful publications.

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