First-time applicants should receive clearer information and the evaluation process for Horizon 2020 proposals should be more rigourous, say MEPs.

As researchers and companies continue to report issues with the programme’s administration, particularly as regards the complex rules and the amount of time wasted on failed applications, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) has examined some of H2020’s main funding schemes and has looked further into these more common complaints.

A plea for the commission to improve promotional details on its websites is currently in effect. The committee has likewise compiled a report stating that not enough information is available for SMEs and start-ups on how they can participate in the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s (EIT) competitions.

MEP Philippe De Backer of Belgium’s Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats Party said: “Horizon 2020 is a big step forward compared to the last research programme (FP7). Nevertheless, I still see rules that are too complex for small businesses, gaps in the quality of feedback from evaluators, and proposal re-submissions which further depress the low success rate.”

Nuno Nunes, associate professor in informatics engineering and recent awardee of a €2.6m grant, agreed: “All of these grants which are for institutional development require a huge amount of effort that hardly compensates in terms of the career of researchers. We had several proposals very well evaluated under Horizon 2020, but trying to get them funded with regional structural funds is a different challenge.”

For some, ITRE’s investigations fall short when it comes to information on researchers’ abilities to co-finance their own products and/or projects using Horizon 2020. MEPs state that interviewing applicants for SME Instrument funding should become standard practice, and that success rate statistics should be more visible.

Read the full report here.

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