Rules for Partnering in H2020 Projects

Most Horizon 2020 projects are collaborative research and innovation projects where at least three organizations from different countries work together.

Maybe you are part of a consortium or you want to find a partner for an H2020 project?

Then you should know that there are rules you can follow when looking for a partner for your project in H2020.

The roles in the project

In a European R&D project, the roles of the different actors are predefined before the work begins. Depending on its strategy, the company will be the project coordinator (“consortium leader”), or partner.

The coordinator

Before the project, the coordinator has different missions, he:

• Gathers relevant and motivated partners that are a match with the selected call for proposals.
• Coordinates the editing and drafting of the project proposal.
• Identifies those responsible for the tasks on which the project relies.
• Builds and supports the project vision.
• Finalizes the project and submits it by the deadline imposed by the European Commission.

During the project, his missions evolve, he:

• Provides interface with the funding program manager at the Commission.
• Verifies the progress of the project and the content of the deliverables (technical and financial).
• Pilots partnership meetings.
• Motivates and federates teams (resolve disputes if necessary).

The coordinator often ensures the financial management of the project. He has greater decision-making power than its partners in general.

The partner

Before the project, the partner has different missions, he:

• Verifies the adequacy of the suggested role with its internal strategy and with other partners (overlap, competition).
• Is involved in the editing of the project proposal and its drafting.
• Introduces ideas/orientations while complying with the decisions of the coordinator.
• Ensures the proper distribution of the results ownership and their exploitation.

During the project, his missions evolve, he :

• Performs its tasks as agreed in the proposal.
• Provide technical and financial deliverables.
• Participates in partnership monitoring meetings.

The differences and complementary aspects of partners

A European partnership is the gathering of several organizations from different areas around a joint R&D project.

The organizations concerned can come from different countries, belong to the public or private sector, be of different size (SME, group, laboratory, large university, etc.). They often work in different activity area: industry, service, research, etc. Of course, they bring into the consortium their knowledge and know-how, different from one another.

The project can not exist without this complementarity, which confers a specific role on each organization in the project. The project is joint: all work together to achieve a unique result that benefits everyone.

The eligible countries

But who are the ones that can be part of a consortium? In particular, are you eligible to European funding depending on your country?

The 27 member states of the EU are eligible for funding of course, including their overseas territories. And also other associated countries (Europe or even the world) such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Islands, Faroe Islands, Macedonia, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey.

More rarely, other countries according to calls for proposals. But those countries are only eligible to the title of partner, and they are not eligible for funding from Europe unless they signed an agreement with the Union as identified in the Horizon 2020 Regulation.

The gathering of a consortium

Depending if you are engaging in a large or small project, selection and gathering partner will be more or less formal.

In the case of a small consortium, informal discussions will be held between potential partners. Potential partners are invited to participate in the project by already-engaged partners. Sometimes, a call for expression of interest is published to attract potential partners. Once the consortium is gathered, the engaged partners may provide to the coordinator a more official Expression of Interest to ensure their engagement. For a larger project, with numerous partners, a formal selection process might be put in place.

For example, the call “ Support to research organizations to implement gender equality plans” implemented the following process to recruit partners. Once a project has a title and a named coordinator the selection happens in 2 phases:

• The partners send an email to confirm their interest in the project.
• The partners send an email with an Expression of Interest (EOI) and Letter of Intent (LOI) before the deadline chosen.

While they confirm their interest in the first email, partners have to show they meet some eligibility criteria such as for example :

• A high-level of commitment.
• Availability of key resources during the proposal stage.
• Not having worked on the exact same topic that the one of the project before.
• Agree to financial participation for a consultancy fee of the technical expert.

The coordinator communicates the outcome of the selection process after the deadline. Then organizations meeting the expectations could be selected to participate in the proposal-building.

The checklist for a successful project

Regarding partners, there are certain things you want to keep an eye on. You and your partners should then:

• Acknowledge the deadlines for project applications.
• Protect your pre-existing know-how, and agree on the know-how developed during the project.
• Ensure that other partners are not competing markets, or on market sharing.
• Respect the project timeline and expectations. Otherwise, you might be under penalty of being excluded or have your funds reduced.
• Comply with the contract and the consortium agreement which govern the functioning of the project.
• Book time for the project installation, but also during the project itself, to provide the coordinator with needed information.
• Master professional English, which is the common use in written and spoken form.

The trap to avoid

Finally, we are talking about partnering from the beginning. But you should remember that you have another way to fulfill punctual technical needs than to call upon partners. This way is outsourcing to a subcontractor.

There is a difference to make between partners and subcontractors.

Each member of the consortium (meaning the partners):

• Operates on its own funds and public financial assistance,
• Shares the risks of the project,
• Shares its know-how and the results of the project.

A subcontractor fulfills neither of these tasks. Concretely, the subcontractor performs a service and margins on the service provided (as in any commercial exchange). While the partner co-invests with a view to part of the ownership of the results and of the future commercial exploitation of these.

As you know, most of the EU funded projects are collaborative projects with at least 3 organizations from the different EU Member States or Associated countries. What you should remember is that any organization from anywhere in the world can also be included in the consortium.

And also that there are different ways you can find partners. One of them is using partner search services. They help you to find organizations that would like to participate in the proposals. Scientist happens to be a partner search engine, so don’t hesitate to check it out.