Revealed: How tough is it to win Horizon 2020 grants?

It’s official: The average odds of getting a Horizon 2020 grant in the first 14 months of the €80 billion programme are 14.53 per cent, down from prior programmes. But those odds vary from one part of the programme to another – and chances are that you’ll get a decision faster, with fewer hassles.

Those were among the messages conveyed – with extensive details for the first time – by Wolfgang Burtscher, Deputy Director General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission. 

Speaking at a Science|Business conference March 24, Burtscher said, ”we’ve really done a good job when it comes to administration; it’s not easy to digest all these applications.”

The lower success rates for Horizon 2020, compared to prior EU programmes, has been a growing issue in the European research community – and Burtscher, a key administrator of the programme,  detailed wide variations in rates from one part of the programme to another. In short, what you think of the programme will depend heavily on what part of it you apply for. 

For instance, competition among small business applicants is fierce. Jean-David Malo, the Unit Head in DG Research responsible for the SME Instrument, showed slides at the conference that indicated at the start of the programme the success rate for the smallest €50,000 SME grants averaged just six per cent – but it gradually rose to 11 per cent by December. Part of the problem was that a lot of the applications didn’t score well in the Commission evaluations – suggesting a lot of small companies may have been taking a flier with their applications. For those applications that cleared the minimum quality thresholds set by the Commission, 49 per cent actually got the money at the start of the programme, and by December 81 per cent were being funded.

In other parts of  Horizon 2020, Burtscher said, for food competitions the success rate is 13.3 per cent, down from 18.1 per cent in Horizon 2020’s predecessor, the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).  

In transport calls, it’s 17.7 per cent, down from 25.1 per cent. Similarly, environmental calls have slipped from 18.9 per cent success rate to 11.9 per cent. 

But it can also go the other way. The success rate, or the number of funded grants divided by reviewed applications, for the European Research Council grants, on the other hand, is slightly improved at 12.8 per cent – up from 11.9 per cent. (Burtscher’s full presentation can be seen here).

Explaining the slippage

Why are average success rates falling? Part of the explanation is that the denominator is larger: since the programme opened, there’s been a deluge of applications. 

There’s no one thing determining this uptick, said Burtscher. It’s a combination of many factors: the gap between programme cycles and the pent up demand this creates; the phrasing of the calls, the more general the more inviting; a strong awareness effort and, perhaps the most decisive element, shrinking public research money in countries such as Italy and Spain. 

As with all numbers, there’s some caveats. “Things are in constant movement,” said Burtscher.

His success percentages are based on the 26,321 proposals that have been concluded and evaluated up to 25 February: so not the total overall number of applications received, which stands at over 45,000. 

Of the evaluated proposals, 400 were considered ineligible and discarded. From the eligible ones, 3,765 were awarded funding, which translates into around €6.6 billion in awarded money. 

Time to grant 

If the competition is hotter than ever, at least winning applicants get their hands on grant money quicker under Horizon 2020. In the previous programme, the average time it took to receive a grant was 330 days. “Now it’s down to 207 days,” said Burtscher, explaining how the Commission has been able to stick to this eight-month window approximately 93 per cent of the time. 

A vastly improved IT structure helps. “We have now grants that are signed within 24 hours. When we had paper signatures, it often took months to get all partners to get a grant agreement [finalised],” he said.

Simpler? 

Researchers generally agree it’s simpler to apply for funding in Horizon 2020: the website is understandable and easy to navigate and there’s more concentrated calls. 

The Commission also reported positive feedback on the introduction of two-year work programmes. “They provide businesses and universities the chance to plan a little better,” said Burtscher.  

Evaluation 

Because of the flood of applications, there have been some delays in evaluating proposals. “[With] 45,000 proposals, think of all the peer reviewers we need!” exclaimed Burtscher. The audience didn’t have to: 18,000 was the figure he gave. 

This means the Commission doesn’t have the time to provide detailed feedback for all proposals. A familiar gripe with those who’ve been rejected is the scant two paragraphs they receive from evaluators. 

While there’s room for improvement on the quality of explanation, the Commission says it’s respecting its commitment to reply to rejected candidates “within five months”. “In 100 per cent of cases, we were able to do this,” said Burtscher.