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UK Research and the European Union the Role of the EU in Funding UK Research UK research and the European Union The role of the EU in funding UK research UK RESEARCH AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE ROLE OF THE EU IN FUNDING UK RESEARCH 1 The European research landscape is complex. Both the European Union and individual European countries fund research. Researchers collaborate with each other within Europe and internationally. UK research and the European Union: The role of the EU in funding UK research Working group Professor Carlos Frenk FRS Sir Tim Hunt FRS FMedSci Dame Linda Partridge DBE FRS FMedSci Dame Janet Thornton DBE FRS FMedSci Professor Terry Wyatt FRS The text of this work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA. The license is available at: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 2 UK RESEARCH AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE ROLE OF THE EU IN FUNDING UK RESEARCH UK research and the European Union: the role of the EU in funding UK research A referendum on the United Kingdom’s at building capacity in the least economically membership of the European Union (EU) developed regions of the EU. Excellent research and will take place before the end of 2017. This innovation help us to report sets out to show the role of the EU in The UK was the second largest recipient in live healthier, fuller and funding UK research. absolute terms after Germany in the most better lives. recent Framework Programme (FP7). If This is the first part of a phased project structural funds are taken into account, Poland gathering evidence about the influence is ranked second and the UK fourth. In the of the UK’s relationship with the EU on UK, universities are by far the most successful research. It is intended to inform debate. in attracting Framework Programme funding, Subsequent phases will look at researcher taking 71% of the total funds awarded to the mobility and collaborations, and the role of UK during Framework Programme 71. UK EU regulation and policy. businesses attracted 18%2. By contrast, if we consider the distribution of where research Excellent research and innovation help us to and development is conducted in the UK; live healthier, fuller and better lives. Europe is 64% conducted by businesses and 26% in home to world-class research, and researchers universities3. come from all over the world to collaborate with researchers that are based here and to use The proportion of research income that EU European scientific infrastructure. Within this funding represents for universities has been community, the UK has created a world-leading increasing. Since the 2010 UK spending review, research base that interacts with the best and universities have seen their total research most ambitious in the rest of the world, keeping income rise slightly, despite experiencing a UK research at the cutting edge. drop in UK government funding for research through the Higher Education Funding Council The European research landscape is complex. and the Research Councils. This is due to Both the EU and individual European countries increases in research income from other fund research. Researchers collaborate with sources including the EU and the private sector. each other within Europe and internationally. The UK’s relationship with the EU is complex The UK contributes more overall to the EU and the EU’s influence varies across different budget than it receives. However, the UK is one parts of the UK’s research ecosystem. The of the largest recipients of research funding evidence presented in this report focuses on in the EU: it receives a greater amount of EU the financial aspects of the UK’s relationship funding for research and development than the with Europe and should not be considered proportion of its contribution analyses suggests in isolation. The monetary value of a funding is earmarked for this. stream is not the sole guide to its value for research. Small amounts of funding in There are two major routes by which the EU areas where little funding is available, or that directly funds research in the UK – Framework offer researchers mobility and encourage Programme funding and structural funds. The collaborations can have a bigger impact than UK is very successful in attracting Framework their monetary values might suggest. This value Programme funding, particularly that allocated is difficult to quantify and we have not sought to for excellence. The UK recieves relatively little do so in this document. structural funding, which is largely targeted UK RESEARCH AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE ROLE OF THE EU IN FUNDING UK RESEARCH 3 Who funds research in Europe? The European Union (EU) is one of many The European research landscape is complex. According to estimates research funders in Europe. Regional, national and international actors by the League of interact at multiple levels. European Research Universities (LERU), FIGURE 1 15% of publicly funded research conducted Flow of research funding in Europe. in EU Member States comes from, or is EU Member State national governments coordinated by, the EU or by intergovernmental organisations.4 Key DG = Director General European Research- DG REGIO intensive Flow of funds Commision DGs Funding of researchers based outside EU Member States DG RTD (research) Framework Structural Sectoral R&I Programmes and Investment programmes Horizon 2020 funds (ESIF) (2014 – 2020) EU Researchers Universities Research infrastructures Associate Businesses Research institutes countries Businesses Charities Third Charities countries 4 UK RESEARCH AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE ROLE OF THE EU IN FUNDING UK RESEARCH How does the EU fund research? The EU supports research, development In addition the EU provides indirect support and innovation through several interlinked for research, development and innovation The EU has a total programmes. These are estimated to provide through specific programmes. estimated budget of €120 billion5 to directly support research, €120 billion to directly development and innovation activities over support research the period 2014 – 2020.6 and innovation activities between FIGURE 2 2014 and 2020.5 Estimated EU expenditure on research, development and innovation. 2014 – 2020. €40.2bn Structural funds for R&D activities €120 billion €74.8bn Horizon 2020 €5bn Sectoral R&D programmes Additional programmes indirectly supporting research and innovation activities: • Competitiveness for Enterprises and Small • The Life programme and Medium Size Enterprises (COSME) • The Connecting Europe Facility • Erasmus+ • European Fund for Strategic Investment • The Health programme Source: References 1, 8, 28 and 29. UK RESEARCH AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE ROLE OF THE EU IN FUNDING UK RESEARCH 5 Framework Programmes How is funding distributed? Up to December 2014, What are Framework Programmes? Horizon 2020 funding is mostly allocated almost half of the Framework Programmes (FPs) are the main EU competitively through calls for proposals to scientific publications funding mechanism for research, development which researchers and organisations can resulting from and innovation. The current Framework apply. Criteria for allocating funding vary completed Framework Programme is called Horizon 2020. and include scientific excellence, alignment Programme 7 projects with a number of strategic objectives (grand were in high impact Who manages them? challenges), geographical and disciplinary peer reviewed Horizon 2020 is managed by the European diversity and potential for commercialisation. journals.10 Commission’s Directorate-General for The calls for proposals are managed under a Research and Innovation (DG RTD). number of schemes and agencies, including Eight other DGs with a research dimension the European Research Council (ERC), (Energy, Communication, Agriculture, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCAs), Education and Culture, Growth, Home the Small and Medium sized Enterprises Affairs and the Joint Research Centre (JRC)) (SME) instrument, the European Institute of share ownership and responsibility for the Innovation and Technology (EIT), the European Programme with DG Research. Investment Bank and partnerships with Member States and industries. What is the budget? Horizon 2020 has a budget of €74.8 billion9 What has Framework Programme funding for the period 2014 – 2020. The budget achieved? and remit of Framework Programmes has Looking at the most recent Framework increased since their inception in 1984 Programme, (FP7 running 2007 – 2013), 48% (see timeline on page 9). of projects were completed by December 2014 and had produced over 43,000 Who can receive funding? publications, 47% of which were published Universities, research organisations, small in high impact peer reviewed journals10 and large businesses, charities and individual (defined as the top 10% of the SJR index11 of researchers from EU Member States are all journals within a given scientific category). eligible for Framework Programme funding. These projects also reported more than 1,500 Non-EU countries also participate in patent applications. Framework Programmes. What do Framework Programmes fund? Framework Programmes fund a variety of different research, development and innovation activities across the private and public sectors, spanning from fundamental research to technological development. These funded activities aim to broaden understanding of the world, harness scientific progress for economic and technological development, and solve some of the ‘grand challenges’ Europe faces. 6 UK RESEARCH AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE ROLE OF THE EU IN FUNDING UK RESEARCH The European
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