Where Can You Get H2020 Money?

In 2017, the European Commission funds projects according to the different pillars of Horizon 2020, like Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership, Societal Challenges.

The calls for proposals are now open, but there are so many. Maybe you are wondering if there is a call topic matching your expertise in research?

Here is a review of the European calls pillars for H2020 and their content.

H2020 funds for individual or groups of researchers

What is it?

This H2020 research pillar has specific objectives with a balanced set of activities allowed by different fundings:

• The European Research Council (ERC) provides funding to allow individual researchers and their teams to pursue original projects at the interface of different disciplines of science.
• Future and emerging technologies(FET) supports collaborative research and foster scientific collaboration across disciplines. The aim is to extend Europe’s capacity for innovation. So if you have “high-risk innovative ideas” as it is described, you are welcome. (See our article on the subject for more information)
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) allows excellent and innovative research training. It also provides career and knowledge-exchange opportunities through cross-border and cross-sector mobility of researchers. You can apply if you have an excellent record and have many ideas and projects to fulfill in your young researcher’s life.
• Research infrastructure (INFRA), it includes e-infrastructures, develops European research infrastructure for 2020 and after. It is important to have laboratories and equipment to do your research.

The ERC funding is for 1 researcher from 1 host institution for 1 project with 1 selection criterion: scientific excellence. No consortia, networks or co-financing is advocated.

MSCA funding support programs that encourage the movement of researchers as well as individual fellowship.

However, FET and INFRA fundings encourage consortium building.

It worked for them

The ERC granted the project ACCORD meaning Algorithms for Complex Collective Decisions on Structured Domains. It is a project hosted by the University of Oxford.

The aim is to develop new tools and methodologies for making complex group decisions in rich and structured environments.

The team offers to formulate collective desiderata, to design specific procedures that satisfy as many of these desiderata as possible, and develop efficient algorithms for computing them.

The approach of the “Excellent Science” pillar is a forward-looking program. The aim is to build skills in the long term. So if your lab’s area of research is one of the next generations of science and technology, well, do try and apply.

H2020 funds for innovative SMEs

What is it?

This pillar aims to speed up the development of technologies and innovations. Its objective is to help innovative European SMEs to grow and to make Europe a more attractive location to invest in research and innovation.

It consists of three specific objectives:

• Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (LEIT) supports research, development, and demonstration and also for standardization and certification in different fields of research. You could be eligible if working on information and communications technology, nanotechnology, advanced materials, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and processing, and space. Interactions between the different technologies and their relations to societal challenges are very important to get funding. (See our article on the subject for more information)
• Access to risk finance aims to overcome deficits in the availability of debt and equity finance for R&D and innovation-driven companies. It simply means that it enables SME’s with good ideas not to be lost in the gap between their innovative ideas and the time (and money) to market them.
• Innovation in SMEs provides tailored support to encourage innovation of all forms in SMEs.

The LEIT funding encourages partnerships and the involvement of industrial participants, and of SMEs in particular to maximize the expected impact of the projects.

Innovation for SMEs funds can support solo SMEs but also partnerships between SMEs.

Access to risk finance supports innovative companies of all sizes, research centers, and universities. It encourages public-private partnerships and joint ventures.

It worked for them

The project FiDaCaMS is funded for innovation in SMEs. It stands for Fisheries Data Capture and Management System.

The FiDaCaMS project is a joint venture. The coordinator is an SME from Malta, Loqus Fleet. They have two commercial partners from the UK, Succorfish M2M, and MWS.

The aim is to build a new innovative system that allows fishermen to collect accurate and reliable fisheries and related environmental data. And this should be achieved in an automated and highly efficient form.

The goal of this pillar of H2020 is to encourage the growth potential of European companies and help transform SMEs into world-leading companies.

They are going to do it by providing them with adequate finance. So if you have innovative potential in your SME, don’t hesitate, take the plunge.

H2020 funds for health, food and climate projects

What is it?

The objective is to bring together resources and knowledge from several areas of research, such as technologies, social sciences and the humanities.

European funding is focused on different areas:

• Health, demographic change, and wellbeing.
• Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy.
• Secure, clean and efficient energy.
• Smart, green and integrated transport.
• Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials.
• Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies.
• Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens.
• Spreading excellence & widening participation.

It worked for them

The SILVERWINE project for the food security area. This project addresses the use of antiseptic kaolin-silver complex for substituting the use of sulfites in winemaking.

This project involves the Spanish company Laboratorios Enosan as coordinator and the Italian company Nastri-Tex as a partner.

They want to put on the market a kaolin-silver complex (microparticles and nanoparticles) that has antiseptic properties. It would be contained in an infusion bag and would allow substituting the use of sulfites in winemaking.

Societal Challenges calls covers activities from research to market with a focus on innovation-related activities. Links with the activities of the European Innovation Partnerships (EIP) are expected in the objectives.

The issues addressed by these 3 pillars of H2020 cover a large spectrum of topics. Expertise in many domains is needed. So, if you are interested in applying, you can go and see the evaluation rules for Horizon 2020 here. And of course, if you are looking for partners to fulfill every expertise needed in the project, you can find them on Scientist.