Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2013)493 - Participation of the Union in a programme jointly undertaken by several Member States aimed at supporting research performing small and medium-sized enterprises (Eurostars-2) - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2013)493 - Participation of the Union in a programme jointly undertaken by several Member States aimed at supporting research ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2013)493  |
| date | 10-07-2013 |
This proposal concerns the participation of the European Union, on the basis of Article 185 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in the Eurostars-2 Joint Programme (Eurostars-2) undertaken by several Member States as a follow-up to the Eurostars Joint Programme.
The overall objectives of the Eurostars-2 are:
Ÿ to promote market-oriented transnational research activities in any fields of research-performing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),[2], especially those without previous experience in transnational research, leading to the placing of new or improved products, processes and services on the market;
Ÿ to contribute to the completion of the European Research Area (ERA) and to increase the accessibility, efficiency and efficacy of public funding for research-performing SMEs in Europe by aligning, harmonising and synchronising the national funding mechanisms.
The competitiveness of research-performing SMEs will be enhanced and will therefore actively contribute to European economic growth and job creation to achieve the Europe 2020 objectives.
SMEs make up the backbone of the European economy and have the potential to contribute significantly to creating more growth and jobs in the European Union. Across the EU, there are around 20.7 million SMEs representing more than 98 % of all businesses in the EU, accounting for approximately 58 % of the EU’s GVA,[4] and employing more than 87 million people (67 % of total employment, and in some key industries as much as 80 % of all jobs).
Amongst those SMEs, innovative research-performing SMEs form a very dynamic sub-group which can greatly contribute to growth and jobs, even more so if they are engaged in transnational R&D collaboration. However, a number of market failures prevent SMEs from easily accessing the necessary private funding for their R&D; existing national R&D programmes very seldom accommodate transnational collaborations and are not sufficiently synchronised and interoperable. In addition, while a number of complementary EU initiatives address innovative SMEs (e.g. the financial instruments such as the Risk Sharing Instrument or the newly conceived SME instrument), a programme specifically dedicated to transnational R&D performed by research intensive SMEs does not exist at EU level.
In 2008, 32 European countries that were members of the Eureka network decided to adopt a coherent approach at European level in the field of research-performing SMEs by setting up the Eurostars Joint Programme. The objective of Eurostars is to support research-performing SMEs by co-financing their market-oriented transnational research in a bottom-up manner and by providing them with a legal and organisational framework.
Under the Decision[7] of 9 July 2008 of the European Parliament and the Council, the European Union participates financially in Eurostars by way of Article 185 TFEU (ex-Article 169 EC) with a contribution of up to one third of the effective contributions of the participating Member States and the other participating countries, within a ceiling of € 100 million, for the period 2008-2013. The Eurostars Programme is implemented through a dedicated implementation structure, the Eureka Secretariat (‘the ESE’), which is responsible for the execution of the programme, in particular organisation of the calls for proposals, verification of the eligibility criteria, peer-review evaluation and selection of projects, monitoring of projects and allocation of the Union contribution.
An interim evaluation of Eurostars[8] was conducted in 2010 by a Group of Independent Experts[9], to which the Commission replied with an Interim Evaluation Report[10], adopted in April 2011. The Competitiveness Council, in its conclusions of 31 May 2011[11] on the above-mentioned documents, welcomed the view of the Group that Eurostars is well aligned with the objectives of Europe 2020, complements well the opportunities offered to SMEs in FP7 for international cooperation and has proven attractive to the target group by successfully reaching European research-performing SMEs. It also welcomed the Group’s recommendation that Eurostars be continued beyond 2013 and committed to consider its continuation in the overall context of the future Common Strategic Framework for Research and Innovation Funding.
The Council also highlighted a number of recommendations for improving the programme in the future, including the need for participating countries and the EU to provide sufficient funds to finance a maximum of top-ranking projects meeting the Eurostars threshold criteria; the need to further streamline and harmonise the implementation processes and funding rules at national level to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Eurostars; and the need to continuously improve the quality of evaluations and to keep a short time to contract as a priority.
On 22 June 2012, the Eureka Ministerial Conference in Budapest endorsed a document (‘the Budapest document’) stating the interest of the Eureka countries in supporting the follow-up to the Eurostars Programme. The Budapest document sets out a common vision for a Eurostars-2 and the basis for addressing the above-mentioned recommendations of the interim evaluation. In January 2013, the informal financial commitment indicated by the majority of the Eurostars countries for the period 2014-2020 amounted to almost three times the countries’ commitments for Eurostars. The Budapest document invites the EU to participate in Eurostars-2.
The Commission proposal for Horizon 2020[12] includes a dedicated activity for research-intensive SMEs in ‘Innovation in SMEs’, which will support the next stage in the Eurostars scheme implemented in partnership with Member States and reoriented along the lines stated in its interim evaluation. This is the only programme under Horizon 2020 specifically dedicated to research-performing SMEs, open in any field of research and development, and having an additional impact on furthering integration of national research programmes, therefore contributing to the completion of the ERA. With its bottom-up approach and business-driven agenda, Eurostars-2 is well placed under the ‘Industrial Leadership’ part and will strongly contribute to achieving its objectives by supporting projects of direct relevance to a number of leading and enabling industrial technologies and help innovative research intensive SMEs to grow into world-leading companies.
Contents
- RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS
- LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL
- BUDGETARY IMPLICATION
- 1.1. Objectives of the proposal
- 1.2. Grounds for the proposal
- WITH INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
- 2.1. Consultation on the future on the Eurostars Joint Programme
- 2.2. The policy options
- 2.3. Results of the ex-ante impact assessment
- 3.1. Legal basis
- 3.2. Subsidiarity and proportionality principle
- 3.3. Choice of instrument
- 3.4. Derogations from the Horizon 2020 Rules for Participation
- 5. OPTIONAL ELEMENTS
- 5.1. Simplification
- 5.2. Review/revision/sunset clause
- 5.3. European Economic Area
An extensive number of consultations have been performed during the last three years on Eurostars and its future development. They have covered all internal and external stakeholders. Comments have been received among other things on the identification of the main problems and barriers, on issues linked to subsidiarity and on possible future options and their impacts.
An open public consultation on the SME support measures and on the use of Article 185 TFEU took place as part of the public consultation on the ‘Green Paper on a Common Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation Funding’, European Commission, February–May 2011. Eurostars was addressed or mentioned in 70 of the 849 position papers responding to the Green Paper. The views were positive for more than 80 % of the responding organisations. The few critical comments (10 %) mainly had to do with synchronisation issues. Other remarks focused on the fact that Member States’ commitments were not always honoured, on the harmonisation of funding rules, on the budget level and the time to contract.
The Green Paper open consultation was followed up by two open Workshops on ‘Innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises’ in Brussels[13] involving 160 participants consisting of experts in both R&I and SME matters coming from European and national SME and industry associations and representatives of Member States, governmental bodies and SME National Contact Points. The workshop discussions led to two main conclusions on the scope of a future Eurostars-2: firstly, Eurostars-2 should continue with the same target group (research-performing SMEs); secondly, there was no support among the workshop participants for the idea of enlarging the scope of Eurostars also to non-research-performing SMEs since the number and size of national programmes supporting other kind of SMEs (such as research for the benefit of SMEs) was not sufficient to form a critical mass and to set up a joint programme under Article 185 TFEU.
Potential and actual final beneficiaries of projects funded under Eurostars (SMEs and research institutes) and other stakeholders were also consulted in the context of the interim evaluation by the Group of Independent Experts in 2010[14]. The group recommended continuing the programme subject to the improvements along the lines indicated in the report.
The Commission discussed continuing to provide EU support for Eurostars-2 in an Impact Assessment Steering Group (IASG) gathering different Commission departments in 2012. The IASG contributed to the planning and roadmap for the preparation of the Impact Assessment Report accompanying this proposal, with special reference to the problem statement and the relevance of the Eurostars Joint Programme to other EU policies.
The Impact Assessment Report included the following options:
Option 1 — The business as usual (BAU) option (baseline)
This option corresponds to the continuation of the existing Eurostars Joint Programme during the next programming period (2014-2020) with its current format, implementation arrangements and overall budget. The EU participation and financial contribution would be the same as for Eurostars 1 (the EU financial contribution is up to € 100 million under FP7). This option is set as the baseline.
Option 2 — The zero option (no EU involvement in Eurostars-2)
Under this option the EU participation and financial contribution to Eurostars would be stopped after the end of its current funding phase (by the end of 2013). Member States would be left to decide whether to continue Eurostars and to what extent to pursue the scientific, managerial and financial integration.
Option 3 — The reinforced partnership option
The reinforced partnership option means that the existing Eurostars Joint Programme would be continued in the next programming period as an Article 185 TFEU initiative in an improved format based on full implementation of the recommendations made in the Interim Evaluation Report and with an enhanced degree of integration and on an extended scale.
Strongly encouraged by the Commission departments, Eureka member countries have agreed on specific measures to be implemented in Eurostars-2 which will lead to a short time to contract, more standardisation of rules and processes, lean administration and higher synchronisation and integration of funding. In order to enhance the programme and to support a greater number of research-intensive SMEs with growth potential, Member States committed to substantially increasing the financial volume of the programme. This responds to the increasing demand from SMEs since the start of the programme and reflects the absorption capacity of the Eurostars target group. Consequently and in order to incentivise and support further the above-mentioned improvements, the EU financial contribution would be raised accordingly.
The ex-ante impact assessment concluded that Option 3 is the preferred option in view of its effectiveness in achieving the objectives, its efficiency and its coherence across all criteria. This is fully supported by the stakeholders, since 99 % of the respondents to a survey addressed to all HLRs/NPCs in November 2012 (28 Eureka HLRs and/or NPCs from 22 Eureka member countries replied) considered the option of a ‘New reinforced partnership’ as very suitable and capable of bringing more impact in ‘enhancing the competitiveness of R&D-performing SMEs’.
In February 2012, the Impact Assessment Board reviewed and approved the Impact Assessment Report. In its Opinion it requested improvements to the report, and these have been taken into account. In particular, the report now explains more clearly the policy context, the relations with other EU initiatives, the remaining problems and the specific measures to address them and links them more closely to the options. The objectives were revised to provide a solid basis for measuring the progress achieved by Eurostars. Finally, the comparison of options in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and coherence was improved and the views of stakeholders better spelled out.
The proposal for Eurostars-2 is based on Article 185 of the TFEU, which states that the Union may make provision for the participation of the European Union in research and development programmes undertaken by several Member States, including participation in the structures created for the execution of those programmes.
The Horizon 2020 Communication[15] indicates that: ‘partnership approaches on the basis of Articles 185 and 187 of the Treaty will also be continued’.
Article 20(2)(b) of the proposal for a Regulation establishing Horizon 2020[16] lists a number of criteria for how public-public partnerships are to be identified. Eurostars complies with those criteria: the ‘Budapest document’ on Eurostars-2 endorsed by all Eureka countries provides (a) a clear definition of the objectives to be pursued in conformity with the objectives of Horizon 2020 and broader Union policy objectives indicated in section 1.1, (b) the financial commitments of the participating countries, (c) the added value of action at Union level as mentioned in section 3.2 and (d) the critical mass, with regard to the size and the number of national programmes involved.
The subsidiarity principle applies as the proposal does not fall under the exclusive competence of the European Union. Subsidiarity is safeguarded by basing the proposal on Article 185 TFEU, which explicitly provides for the participation of the Union in research programmes undertaken by several Member States, whereby all operational aspects are implemented where possible at national level, while ensuring a coherent approach at the European level of the joint programme.
The objectives of the proposal cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States alone: the national research programmes supporting research-performing SMEs lack interoperability and compatibility and only very few national programme cycles are synchronised and use a joint international peer review.
Eurostars-2 respects the proportionality principle as the Member States themselves will be responsible for implementation and all operational aspects. The role of the EU is limited to providing incentives for improved coordination of participating programmes and harmonisation of rules and regulations, to the benefit of SMEs interested in transnational R&D activities, and also ensuring synergy with relevant complementary activities in Horizon 2020.
The added value of the Union action is significant as the EU involvement will enable the creation of a new legal framework where EU and national funding can be pooled under a common strategy to stimulate transnational collaborative R&D projects initiated and led by research-performing SMEs. The pooling of resources from national programmes and from the EU enables a critical mass to be achieved that can better address the challenges faced by research-performing SMEs. This would otherwise not be feasible using the existing structures in Horizon 2020 and within national programmes. The Union’s contribution shall be equal to one third of thecontributions of the participating states.
In particular, the proposed organisational structure keeps the administrative burden to a minimum, by having the main administrative work carried out through national agencies under the supervision and overall responsibility of the common legal structure identified for this purpose.
The proposed instrument is a Decision by the European Parliament and Council based on Article 185 of the TFEU.
The proposal allows derogations from a number of Articles, namely Article 14 on the verification of the financial capacity of applicant. Article 16 on grant agreements, Article 19 , to (7) on the implementation of the action, Articles 22 to 28 on funding rules of the action. Those derogations result from the breakdown of responsibilities between the ESE and the national funding agencies: the ESE is in charge of receiving, distributing and monitoring the European Union contribution channelled to the beneficiaries through the national funding agencies.
The main reason for it is that SMEs, the specific target group of Eurostars-2, in certain cases can feel more at ease with the well-known rules of the participating national funding programmes than EU rules. The administrative and legal barriers to the participation of these SMEs in transnational research and innovation activities is therefore lowered by the application of national funding rules and the provision of the Union’s financial contribution and the corresponding national public support through one grant agreement.
The proposal provides appropriate safeguards to guarantee respect for the principles of equal treatment and transparency by the dedicated implementation structure when providing financial support to third parties, and in order to protect the financial interests of the Union. It also provides for the inclusion of detailed provisions to this end in an agreement to be concluded between the Union and the dedicated implementation structure, including strong pressure for the rapid progressive harmonisation and alignment of national programme rules.
The Legislative Financial Statement presented with this decision sets out the indicative budgetary implications. The maximum Union’s financial contribution, including EFTA appropriations, to Eurostars-2 shall be EUR 287 million in current prices for the duration of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. The contributions will be made from the following objective[17] under Part II ‘Industrial Leadership’
Ÿ ‘Innovation in SMEs’
The provisions of the Decision and of the delegation agreement to be concluded between the Commission and the dedicated implementation structure must ensure that the EU financial interests are protected.
Legislative Financial Statement presented with this Decision sets out the indicative budgetary implications.
The proposal provides for the simplification of administrative procedures for public authorities (EU or national) and for private parties.
In particular, recipients of the research funding from the new joint programme will benefit from a single contracting and payment scheme using familiar national rules without any need for separate reporting with regard to the Union’s contribution.
The EU will deal directly with the dedicated implementation structure of Eurostars-2, which will be in charge of allocating, monitoring and reporting on the use of the Union’s contribution.
The proposal includes a review clause for a mid-term review after three years. The overall duration will be limited to seven years.
The proposed act concerns an EEA matter and should therefore extend to the European Economic Area.