New LERU advice paper on the EU 9th Framework Programme

Entitled “Beyond the Horizon: LERUʼs views on the 9th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation”, LERU claims that research and innovation should lead the list of future investments of the EU in the future. LERU believes the budget for the FP9 should be increased, at least, by 120 million euros, compared to the 80 million euros of the current programme, Horizon 2020.

As stated in the report, the universities value positively the funding of the EU framework programmes regarding research and innovation (R&D), which is an essential contribution for a wider range of funding programmes and grants available in Europe. In particular, the programmes of the European Research Council (ERC), Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) and funding for collaborative projects are considered indispensable. The Framework Programme in general, and ERC in particular, has created a competition across Europe to reach the best research results. This competition has lifted European research to an even higher level.

FP strengthens collaboration across borders, disciplines and sectors to a hard-to-reach level for other funders. According to LERU, the European Union Framework Programme funding for R&D has a clear added value and should receive in the future, even when facing tight budgets, a generous amount of funding.

LERU proposes continuing with ERC and MSCA, two programmes that are functioning well and have a good record and a highly valued international reputation. Both programmes should be essential pieces in the FP9 and their budgets should increase compared to the current one, in order to meet the current demand and work better.


Proposing changes
Regarding collaborative research projects, LERU proposes a different approach compared to the current funding, offered in pillars II and III of Horizon 2020. The paper proposes a program for all collaboration activities which would increase opportunities for frontier collaborative research compared to the current programme. At the same time, the programme should fund advanced research, support projects working on similar topics and foresee follow-up funding for those projects that need something extra to achieve a greater impact. LERU is also proposing a different process of topic identification and work programme development, with topics resulting from a bottom-up consultation and topics decided top-down.

To increase transparency and accessibility as well as limiting the number of instruments, LERU pleads for a process of ʻinternalizingʼ instead of ʻexternalizingʼ public and private partner involvement. It proposes offering the industry and member states the possibility to co-invest in research, albeit within the Framework Program, to avoid earmarked and untouchable budgets and allow beneficiaries to participate more easily in these collaborations. 
The paper notes that participation in FP9 should not follow geographical criteria, but it should create synergies between the FP9 and structural funding proposed by the EU to other member states which are less developed. Therefore, the LERU proposes that a certain percentage of the structural funds should be earmarked for synergies with FP9 and should be exempt from state aid rules. The paper makes clear suggestions for these synergies such as the ʻSeal of Excellenceʼ and a return phase for intra-European MSCA fellowships.

The paper touches on many other aspects of the framework programme such as the assessment, innovation of instruments, EIT, Open Science, or gender and research integrity. It does not give many recommendations in detail on participation rules but it highlights that it is necessary for Commissions to start trusting beneficiaries more.

Participation across LERU working groups

The paper has been produced with the participation of all working groups in LERU. In particular, the representatives of the UB who took part in the LERU groups were: Francisco Ciruela, Senior Officer; Anna Villarroya and Núria Pumar, from the group on Gender Issues; Ignasi Labastida, from Information and Open Access; Jordi Naval, director of Bosch i Gimpera and representative of the UB for Enterprise and Innovation; Ignasi Sánchez and Marina Mateu from the Office for International Projects.

Link to LERUʼs press release