Horizon 2020
How to reach impact with your project?
Focus on Impact
• The Impact sections has gained more importance in Horizon 2020, as
the Commission now wants to see tangible outcomes of the projects
in the form on new innovations (products, services, solutions, policy
recommendations, etc.)
• Furthermore, there is more focus on dissemination of results and
communication of the project activities.
• Impact was the most problematic section in the first applications and
many applications failed because of impact not being addressed
properly.
Problems with addressing Impact
• Problem:
– Treated too artificially with not enough detail provided (too much
focus on science in the Excellence part.
– Simply stating that the consortium will reach the expected impact
is not enough!
This is done at stage 1 and 2 (in two-stage submissions) where
Impact is normally evaluated first leading to applications often not
receiving feedback for the Excellence part.
Impact - the Commission’s view
• To be in with a shot of winning a grant, applicants will have to be sure
that their expected impact is “clearly defined” and rigorous.
Robert-Jan Smits, Director General, DG RTD
• “It’s all about the outcome. An applicant should say clearly: “Here’s
what we want to come out of the project.”
Brendan Hawdon, Head of Horizon 2020 Policy Unit, DG RTD
Impact criterion during evaluation
• The expected impacts listed in the work programme under the
relevant topic
• Enhancing innovation capacity and integration of new knowledge
• Strengthening the competitiveness and growth of companies by
developing innovations meeting the needs of European and global
markets, and where relevant, by delivering such innovations to the
markets
• Any other environmental and socially important impacts
• Effectiveness of the proposed measures to exploit and disseminate
the project results, to communicate the project, and to manage
research data where relevant.
How to address Impact correctly?
• Think of impact at various levels
– International
• How does it help tackle global societal challenges?
– European
• How does the project contribute to the objectives of EU strategies and plans?
• How does it help address fragmentation of research agendas across Europe?
• How does it help to build lasting partnerships i.e. between academia and
industry?
– Institutional
• How does the project fit with the institution's wider plans and strategic
direction?
Institutional level
Cross-cutting theme
in H2020
LEIT:
Factories of the
Future
Challenge 6:
Cultural heritage
and European
identities
Challenge 3:
Secure, Clean and
Efficient Energy
Challenge 6:
Europe as a global
actor
LEIT:
Nanotechnology,
materials,
bioeconomy
Challenge 2:
Food Security
Challenge 1:
Health,
demographic
change and
wellbeing
Challenge 6:
Europe in a
changing world
Focus Area
Smart Cities and
Communities
How to address Impact correctly?
• Be SMART about it:
pecific
easurable
ssignable
ealistic
ime-bound
How to address Impact correctly?
• Most applicants state that they will reach the expected
impact and be involved in a number of dissemination and
exploitation activities.
• No specific details of these activities are provided and that
is where the applications loose points!
• The project (incl. activities to maximise impact) must
appear ready to go… at least on paper!
Impact criterion during evaluation
• The expected impacts listed in the work programme under the
relevant topic
Example: SEC-13–BES–2017
• Short term:
– At least two prototype platforms deployed and tested in several, different real-life
environments.
• Medium term:
– Better integration of existing systems and methodologies in situational awareness,
information exchange and operation control platform prototypes.
– Solid basis for a full-scale, cost-effective common situational awareness, information
exchange and operation control platform for EU civilian external actions.
• Long term:
– Improved management of EU resources allocated to EU civilian external actions.
Impact criterion during evaluation
• Enhancing innovation capacity and integration of new knowledge
– How will the consortium partners benefit from any technology transfer taking
place?
– How will the consortium benefit from open access to expertise required on
the project?
– How will the project help strengthen the competitiveness of the consortium
as a world-leading group in a particular research area against other
organisations?
– How will international networks and other links be exploited by partners to
exchange new knowledge?
Impact criterion during evaluation
• Strengthening the competitiveness and growth of companies by
developing innovations meeting the needs of European and global
markets, and where relevant, by delivering such innovations to the
markets
– What marketable products, services, or solutions will be the result of the
Horizon 2020 project?
– What will the economic benefits be for the partners involved, especially
SMEs? Will it help them increase their turnover, maintain current level of
employment, increase their competitiveness and help access new markets?
– What will be the impact on the European economy?
Impact criterion during evaluation
• Any other environmental and socially important impacts
– Will the project include ANY public engagement activates that will in turn
result in increased awareness of the problem faced?
– Will the project result in increased social innovation in Europe?
– Will the outcome of the project help the EU reach objectives of new EU
policies/ strategies/ plans not in place when the call was written?
• COP 21 climate deal (Energy and Climate calls)
• Migration crisis in Europe (Inclusive societies, Security calls)
Horizon 2020
Measures to maximise impact
How to deal with OA in proposals?
• Impact criterion in proposals
– The extent to which the outputs of the project would contribute to each
of the expected impacts mentioned in the work programme under the
relevant topic;
– Any substantial impacts not mentioned in the work programme, that
would enhance innovation capacity, create new market opportunities,
strengthen competitiveness and growth of companies, address issues
related to climate change or the environment, or bring other important
benefits for society;
– Quality of the proposed measures to:
• Exploit and disseminate the project results (including management
of IPR), and to manage research data where relevant.
• Communicate the project activities to different target audiences
Impact – communication of activities
• Consider a large number of communication activities:
– Project website
– Participation in conferences and other events
– Publication in peer-reviewed journals
– Social media
– (Local) media coverage, etc.
• Many projects now include professional companies dealing
with dissemination in the media in order to maximise impact
Successful proposal example
The channels of communication activities will include:
• Intra-consortium dissemination meetings
• Outreach dissemination meetings
– For example, the project will be strongly promoted at the World Association
for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology international conference in
Liverpool in August 2015 [specific details provided]
• Project website
• Written items and publications
• Mass media participation
PROJECT communication activities
PROJECT website:
communicate at all levels
Engage with the animal
health industry
Interact with regulatory
bodies
Communicate with other
scientists
Workshops & seminars for
end users & wider public
Impact – communication of activities
• Show who the main audience will be, for example:
– Communication to other scientists
• i.e. during dedicated conferences, which you know will take
place during the project’s lifetime
– Societal engagement: end-users and stakeholders
• Animal health industry
• Regulatory bodies
• Farming, veterinary and animal health advisor communities
• Wider public
Dissemination of results - Open Access
Obligation to provide open
access when publishing
Related costs eligible
Open Access to Research
Data Pilot for some areas
mandatory, otherwise opt-in.
Source: European Commission
Open Access to scientific publications
• Open access to scientific publications refers to free of charge online
access for any user. … Definitions usually describe 'access' in the
context of open access as including not only basic elements such as
the right to read, download and print, but also the right to copy,
distribute, search, link and mine.
• There are two main routes towards open access to publications:
– Self-archiving (also referred to as 'green' open access) means that the
published article or the final peer-reviewed manuscript is archived (deposited)
by the author - or a representative - in an online repository before, alongside or
after its publication.
– Open access publishing (also referred to as 'gold' open access) means that an
article is immediately provided in open access mode as published.
• Costs related to ensuring open access are eligible
Open Access to research data
• Open access to research data refers to the right to access and re-use
digital research data under the terms and conditions set out in the
Grant Agreement. Openly accessible research data can typically be
accessed, mined, exploited, reproduced and disseminated free of
charge for the user.
• Open Research Data Pilot
A novelty in Horizon 2020 is the Open Research Data Pilot which
aims to improve and maximise access to and re-use of research data
generated by projects.
• Costs related to ensuring open access are eligible
Open Research Data Pilot
• Scope of the Pilot in 2016-17:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Future and Emerging Technologies
Research infrastructures – (including e-Infrastructures)
LEIT – Information and Communication Technologies
Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and
Processing, and Biotechnology: ‘nanosafety’ and ‘modelling’ topics.
Societal Challenge 2: Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine
and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy – (selected topics
only)
Societal Challenge 5: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw
materials – except raw materials
Societal Challenge 6: Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and
reflective Societies
Science with and for Society
Cross-cutting activities - focus areas – part Smart and Sustainable Cities
Open Research Data Pilot
• According to Commission, voluntary participation in the ORD Pilot
does not increase the chances of being funded, as it is technically not
part of the evaluation process.
• Only management of data (if gathered on the project) is taken into
account during evaluation  Data Management Plan
• However, participation in the ORD Pilot can be presented in the
proposal as a way of increasing the impact of the project, which
might be taken into account by evaluators.
How to deal with OA in proposals?
• In the proposal (under Impact) include the following:
– A clear dissemination strategy for project results (i.e. scientific
publications  open access)
– A Data Management Plan (if relevant, i.e. where research data is
gathered) – a short, general outline of the policy for data
management, including the following:
• What types of data will the project generate/collect?
• What standards will be used?
• How will this data be exploited and/or shared/made accessible
for verification and re-use? If data cannot be made available,
explain why.
• How will this data be curated and preserved?
Further guidance
• Detailed guidance on Open Access in H2020 is provided on
the Participant Portal:
– Guidelines on Data Management (incl. a template for the DMP);
– Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research
Data;
• Useful guidance and factsheets also provided by the
European IPR Helpdesk:
– The Plan for the Exploitation and Dissemination of Results in
Horizon 2020;
– Open access to publications and data in Horizon 2020: FAQ
Impact – exploitation of results
• Exploitation of results:
– Provide details of how the results of your projects are going to be
exploited in the future.
– See IPR Helpdesk factsheets for further information on exploitation and
dissemination of results:
• Latest factsheet: The Plan for the Exploitation and Dissemination of
Results in Horizon 2020
Thank you