Poland to transfer €30M of regional funds to boost Horizon Europe participation

Poland is set to transfer €30 million from regional EU funds to support Horizon Europe applicants as it seeks to boost its participation in top-level science and innovation programmes. 

It becomes the fourth EU country to use an EU synergy mechanism, called transfer of funds, that allows money from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to be used to finance Horizon Europe applicants who get a positive evaluation but aren’t given grants due to budgetary constraints. 

Lithuania, Malta and Germany have already employed this tool to positive effect. 

“Poland has a remarkable research and innovation potential, underpinned by a strong talent base, state-of-the-art infrastructure and a growing portfolio of breakthrough ideas that could contribute more substantially to the development of the entire [EU],” Marcin Kulasek, Poland’s minister of science and higher education, told Science|Business. 

“To fully unlock this potential, however, these assets must be deployed in a more strategic and coordinated manner. As the world’s 20th largest economy, Poland increasingly relies on the generation and absorption of new knowledge and innovative solutions to sustain its long-term growth trajectory. 

“In this context, we are intensifying support for our most promising talents, enabling them to compete successfully for prestigious grants and to engage more actively in collaborative networks across Europe, particularly within the framework of Horizon Europe,” he added. 

Poland hopes that the use of this tool will help increase the number of successful Horizon Europe proposals and stir up more interest among its researchers for European grants. 

How it works

The ERDF is one of a number of funds that fall under the umbrella of the EU’s cohesion policy, and is used to support the economic development of poorer regions through investments in, for example, public services, green initiatives or businesses. 

Over €35 billion of the ERDF is earmarked for research and innovation activities between 2021 and 2027. This is, though, is usually used to build R&D capacity, not necessarily to finance the research itself. 

The interest of transferring this money to a pot to support Horizon Europe applicants is that it increases an applicants’ chances of winning a prestigious European grant. 

The transfer of funds tool can only be used for single-beneficiary programmes. This includes the European Research Council (ERC) that funds groundbreaking basic research, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), which support the mobility and development of PhDs and postdoctoral researchers, and European Innovation Council (EIC) grants that support academic teams and start-ups in commercialising research. 

Usually calls in these programmes are oversubscribed, meaning there are more fundable proposals than funds available. In a situation where an applicant gets a positive evaluation but doesn’t make the cut due to a lack of budget, a country with the transfer of funds tool in place can step in and provide finances.

That applicant then receives the EU grant as normal. Management of the process is handled by the European Commission, making it easier for countries. 

Complicated, but worth it

Lithuania was, in 2023, the first country to implement the transfer specifically to support Horizon Europe applicants, committing an initial €18.5 million between 2023 and 2025. The country has since added another €5 million to cover the final two years of Horizon Europe. 

Malta also has also used the system to transfer a total of €5 million, broken down into €1 million instalments per year between 2023 and 2027. The German state of Brandenburg has transferred €2 million. 

All have reported positive results. 

Lithuania has been able to fund one ERC Consolidator grant, five EIC Accelerator grants, 16 ERA Fellowships, and two MSCA postdoctoral fellowships with the transferred money. In 2026, the country expects to fund up to 26 more MSCA postdoctoral fellowships and/or two ERC Starting Grants, depending on final results. 

“I think the transfer of funds has had a really positive effect on our applicants, who see it as a second chance to get grants,” said Aistė Vilkanauskytė, a technology and innovation adviser to the Lithuanian government. 

She dismissed concerns that the Commission would be encouraged to not award grants to applicants from countries with the transfer of funds mechanism in place, knowing that they would have a second chance. 

Malta, meanwhile, has so far funded 10 MSCA postdoctoral fellowships, and will fund a further nine this year. This has boosted the attractiveness of this programme at a time when success rates have fallen below 10%. 

“When we inform researchers who are interested in this call that there's this opportunity to get a second-chance at funding, it increases their motivation to apply,” said Anthea Fabri, Horizon Europe national coordinator at Xjenza Malta, the country’s agency responsible for promoting and coordinating scientific research. 

Both Vilkanauskytė and Fabri noted some teething issues with the mechanism. 

Lithuania first implemented it after having already agreed on the operational programme that defines how ERDF money should be spent. This meant introducing an amendment to the agreement, which blocked the whole programme for a short period. 

“I think in the future, if the European Commission wants to continue with this, it would be beneficial if this process was made a bit easier,” Vilkanauskytė said. 

There is also a slight gap between MSCA results being announced and researchers finding out that they will receive funding through the transfer of funds mechanism, Fabri said. It creates the risk that the chosen winners will find other opportunities in the meantime. 

Vilkanauskytė and Fabri would both like to see the transfer of funds option continued in the future, with the highlighted issues ironed out. 

“It's worth doing it,” said Vilkanauskytė, adding that countries setting it up should be prepared for some complications.