29 Jan 2024
Horizon 2020 evaluation shows that investment in EU research and innovation greatly pays off
On 29 January 2024, the European Commission published the report on the ex-post evaluation of Horizon 2020. The report concludes that Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation programme running from 2014 to 2020 with a budget of nearly €80 billion, made a major contribution to building an EU society and economy rooted in knowledge and innovation and benefited Europeans far beyond what could have been achieved at national or regional level.
Horizon 2020 funded more than 35,000 projects over seven years, calls attracted over a million individual applications from 177 countries. The programme played a crucial role in fighting climate change and saw 64.4% of its budget invested in sustainable development. Horizon 2020, together with its predecessor FP7, is the second largest provider of climate science in the world.
The report states that its multidisciplinary collaboration and pan-European cooperation on R&I was a key strength of Horizon 2020. This approach proved effective in consolidating expertise, skills and resources from multiple countries, creating a critical mass to raise the quality of research and innovation outputs. The competitive nature of the EU-wide funding process further enhanced quality, ensuring that research was conducted in areas of significant relevance to European society.
The evaluation identified the following areas for improvement:
- broader participation,
- further simplification and reduction of the administrative burden,
- reinforcement of the dissemination, exploitation and deployment of results,
- support for the participation of women and
- enhancement of synergies with other initiatives at EU, national and regional level.
The insights and key conclusions of this final evaluation of Horizon 2020 will play a crucial role not only in shaping the ongoing implementation of Horizon Europe, but also in influencing the policy development for future research and innovation initiatives. This ensures that lessons learned from Horizon 2020 are effectively integrated into current and future programmes, enhancing their efficiency, relevance and impact.
The evaluation report and its annexes can be downloaded here: