DIGITALEUROPE's position on Evaluating Horizon 2020 and FP9

WHY DO DIGITALEUROPE MEMBERS PARTICIPATE IN HORIZON 2020?

International cooperation is crucial in developing new knowledge, building momentum for global standards and creating early access to future markets. Horizon 2020 offers our members a well-established framework for cooperation with skilled researchers all over Europe – exchanging new ideas for state-of-the art research, building platforms and establish networks of talented people. The environment created by Horizon 2020 and its predecessors means that our members can approach any other research organisation in Europe to engage in Research and Innovation. Horizon 2020 allows for peer-to-peer collaboration, as well as staff exchanges (MSCA), a possibility many national programmes do not provide. DIGITALEUROPE welcomes that reciprocal access to third country programmes is encouraged, also for the local R&D labs of European multinational companies.

Especially LEIT and the Societal Challenges are in line with our members’ priorities and support them in their R&D&I activities. In their view, grants for collaborative projects are the most important form of funding. The funding form of grants that partly reimburse the total costs presents a good balance between public and private interests. In return, the ICT industry’s participation in EU R&D funding programmes has brought many important benefits and has allowed stakeholders from academia and other industries to take advantage of such resources. It is worth noting that half of the economic growth in Europe is related to the introduction of ICT to other sectors, while 5% of European GDP, with an annual value of about € 660 billion, is generated today by the ICT sector itself. It can continue to grow, providing more highly skilled jobs in knowledge intensive organisations, if we invest now.

Overall, our member companies are not strongly dependent on Horizon 2020 funding for their Research & Development activities. After all, H2020 represents only about 3% of total R&D expenditure in the EU. In purely financial terms at the company level, the impact if the EU support to research and innovation were to be discontinued would thus be limited for them, even though the impact for individual R&D departments could be substantial. However, effective cross-border R&I networks based on successful collaboration between academia, institutes, SMEs and large companies would fall apart and synergies across Europe decrease. Thus, the EU would attract fewer research, innovation and investment opportunities.