European Partnerships in Horizon Europe are moving ahead. The EP is ready to negotiate on Metrology and co-programmed partnerships are presenting their SRIAs.
The implementation of the new Research and Innovation Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, is running at full steam, with calls for proposals open from all its three pillars. However, a few issues (see SwissCore article) remain open, the implementation of missions, association of third countries and the legal basis of institutionalised partnerships.
The second pillar on ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ in Horizon Europe offers three types of European Partnerships for large-scale public-public and public-private research and innovation (R&I) cooperation. The simplest form, co-programmed partnerships between the European Commission (EC) and associations of mostly private partners have started with Memoranda of Understanding between the parties for 11 partnerships, signed in June 2021 at the occasion of the European R&I Days. Calls implementing the EC part of the partnerships are currently open within the Horizon Europe main work programme 2021-2022, while the associations are finalising their Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas (SRIAs), in order to go ahead with additional activities. On 15 September, ‘BATT4EU’, which aims at creating a competitive and sustainable European industrial value-chain for e-mobility and stationary applications, adopted its SRIA. The partnership gathers, on the private side, all the battery stakeholders from the European research community and wants to improve the European battery sector at six different levels from raw materials, manufacturing and recycling to safety, sustainability and coordination.
The second type of partnership, the co-funds, currently figure as calls for proposals with closing dates this autumn or next April in the Horizon Europe work programme. Consortia of public and private partners, including funders and other public authorities from EU countries and beyond, can apply and when successful, will be able to implement their own activities and calls with a supporting grant from the EC.
The last and most complex type of partnership, the institutionalised partnerships require their own legal base and come in the versions of public-public (according to Art. 185 TFEU) or public-private (according to Art. 187 TFEU) European Partnerships. The former are dependent on a co-decision by the Council and the European Parliament (EP), while the latter are subject to a Council Regulation only. The EP recently progressed on the partnership in Metrology, the only Art. 185 partnership under Horizon Europe. On 15 September, the EP Plenary confirmed a committee decision in favour of entering into interinstitutional negotiations with the Council. The partnership on metrology is a continuation of previous collaboration on the science of measurement, which has seen EU Member States and Associated Countries cooperate and contribute since 2009. Metrology will play a crucial role in the development of new technologies from wind turbines to quantum computers, health care and artificial intelligence. Metrology ensures that research results are accurate and reliable and will thus also play a key role in technologies needed for the green and digital transformations. The EP will be represented in the negotiations by its Member Maria da Graça Carvalho, European People’s Party (EPP), Portugal, who is also the responsible rapporteur for the rest of the totally 11 institutionalised partnerships. According to Carvalho, the EP wants to ensure that the partnership is more open than originally proposed, transparent and accessible to universities, research institutes and industry organisations. The EP aims at facilitating participation by lowering administrative burdens and at encouraging closer cooperation with industry to boost the market uptake of metrology innovation.
The partnership on metrology is a well established initiative and may be finalised in a single round of negotiations between the EU institutions in the following weeks. If this happens, activities can launch in early 2022. The EP was also due to vote on the opinion it will give to the nine Art. 187 public-private partnerships, which are treated as a single basic act legislation. However, the vote was postponed to October due to administrative issues. The Council will receive an update on the status of partnerships in its COMPET formation on 28 September and is due to adopt the legislative bases at its next meeting at the end of November 2021. The first calls will most probably launch in early 2022.