Horizon 2020 and the Local and Regional Authorities

Contracting Party: The European Committee of the Regions (CoR)(with the Framework Contract EYCR – Education, Youth, Culture and Research)

Period: 2017

URL: http://cor.europa.eu/en/documentation/studies/Documents/Horizon 2020 and the Local and Regional Authorities/H2020-LRAs.pdf

Description:

This study, co-authored by Progress Consulting S.r.l., aims at providing the interim evaluation of the Horizon 2020 (H2020) programme from the perspective of European local and regional authorities (LRAs). The work has been commissioned by the European Committee of the Regions in order to suggest ways to

1) facilitate LRAs’ accessibility to the programme,
2) enhance the matching of future programmes to innovation and growth needs of LRAs,
3) improve the role of LRAs in specific areas of intervention such as the seeking of synergies between H2020 and other programmes funded through the European Structural and Investment Funds.

The added value of this study is based on the comprehensive and unique analysis and handling of the quantitative evidence publicly available in the CORDIS database with information collected for the first 3 years of the H2020 programme. Furthermore, several interviews with representatives of local authorities (i.e. Municipalities) and regional authorities were carried out to gather additional quantitative and qualitative inputs to the analysis of participation. The report exhaustively presents and comments on the results using charts, tables and maps. The concluding recommendations distinguish between a macro perspective, i.e. proposals for overcoming the reasons for LRAs for not applying to the H2020 programme; and a micro perspective, i.e. proposals for overcoming the reasons hampering an effective contribution of LRAs to H2020 projects.