HORIZON 2020 IN FULL SWING — Three Years On - Key facts and figures 2014-2016
The European Commission publishes this brochure to provide an insight to the framework programme's main achievements.
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The recent interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 confirmed that the programme is highly successful and well on track to achieve its objectives: stimulating excellent science, building industrial leadership, and providing solutions to the challenges that our society faces. In doing this, Horizon 2020 is an important contributor to the Juncker Commission priorities.
This brochure provides a snapshot of the programme’s main achievements after three full years of implementation (2014- 2016). For the first time, some early trends can be glimpsed from the year-on-year evolution of key monitoring data such as success rates, SME participation, and project evaluation. We take heart from the clear indications of its attractiveness and accessibility. Some 55% of applicants are newcomers, and the share of funding awarded to SMEs surpassed the 20% target. Continuing efforts to simplify the programme are paying off, with a shorter average time now taken to sign grants than ever before.
The quality of applications is also striking – a very high proportion of proposals are assessed as high-quality by independent evaluators. Horizon 2020 would have required an extra EUR 66.3 billion in order to fund all the high-quality proposals received so far.
Three years on, a closer look at the results and project examples illustrated in this brochure clearly show the enormous potential in Europe for excellent research and innovation, and how in turn this can have a real impact on our economy and society. We will work hard to ensure that Horizon 2020 can be even more successful during the second half of its lifetime, paving the way for the successor programme due to start in 2021.