Publicly funded automotive research in EU.pdf - EAGAR

EAGAR – Publicly funded automotive research by the European Commission
2.5 The efficiency, flexibility, and experienced bureaucracy of the funding process
The flexibility to release new calls in response to changing situations
The current calls and targets show that the EU tries to respond to the new requirements of the market
and to the new environmental issues. The EAGAR-related topics, in particular the European
Green Cars Initiative, aim at both promoting advanced technologies with a main focus on decarbonisation
of road transport, but also to support the recovery of the automotive industry.
The application process
The European Commission issues calls for proposals in accordance to the requirements laid down in
the relevant annual Work Programmes. The Work Programmes are normally published annually and
include all the relevant information on the topics covered and on the upcoming calls. Between one
and two calls are launched per year and programme. Up-to-date information on the existing (or
“open”) and for past calls and other enquiries is provided by the Cordis website
(http://cordis.europa.eu)
The proposals received are ranked through a peer review procedure, which involves an evaluation
prepared by independent experts. If the project proposal is selected, the negotiation of the contract
between the European Commission and the project coordinator can start. The grant agreement
needs to be signed by every consortium participants and it will form the basis of their rights and obligations
towards the Commission during the period of the project. A survey among automotive research
managers, experienced with European and national funding programmes showed that the
average time for the proposal assessment process, meaning the time from proposal submission until
notification of the evaluation result is between 3 and 6 months. From this notification and the start
of contract negotiations most projects need more than 6 months to start. However, latencies up to
18 months are not unusual. One third of the projects could start between 3 and 6 months after positive
assessment.
(#13) How long does the proposal
assessment process take?
< 1 month 1-3 months 3-6 months
> 6 months Not known
Figure 10: How long does the proposal assessment process take?
Regarding the flexibility of the FP7 programmes it is noticeable that the accommodation of new topics
is regarded as very well. This matches the estimation that the EU can react on new topics quickly.
Nevertheless, a third of the applicants did not experience such flexibility. Reason is perhaps the fact
that there is usually only one call per programme per year. Figure 10 below about flexibility to slightly
amend the objectives and tasks of a project during its duration is drawn from the feedback of the
above mentioned research managers. The majority (80 %) experienced flexibility whilst their projects
were running. In 20 % of the cases the reaction of the EU was rated as not very flexible.
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