Tiempos para determinar la Velocidad

Specific Challenge: In view of the profound changes being made to our energy system, there is a crucial need to support and encourage the coordination and convergence of national and EU efforts in addressing research and innovation activities related to integration aspects ([to be defined]). This convergence should be aligned to the objectives of the SET Plan, the Energy Union, and the European Research Area.

It is thus necessary to bring together activities supported by national institutional funding, with a possible financial contribution from private companies, and to complement these with additional support from the European Union in order to maximise the impact and efficiency of research and innovation investment in strategic aspects for the energy transition.

The SET Integrated Roadmap and Action Plan provide a blueprint for how to achieve this convergence. In particular, the Action Plan identifies priority areas in which Member States are ready to elaborate and define common research and innovation agendas, and priority areas in which they are ready to set up joint projects or programmes involving Research Organisations (RO) and the private sector.

This action aims at supporting the creation of such joint programmes based on European Common Research Agendas (ECRAs). ECRAs will bring together national efforts on a European scale, so that national activities and their results in areas of significant complexity can be better exploited. This will develop a critical mass of knowledge in crucial sectors for Europe to achieve the intended energy transition.

The most important characteristic of ECRAs is that they will have to combine national institutional and EU funding, with a possible financial contribution from private companies.

Scope: An ECRA will first define a common research and innovation agenda in the areas identified as a priority in the SET Action Plan. The agenda will consist of a number of research topics related to integrated aspects of the energy system which could benefit from European-wide cooperation, plus a number of new topics that could benefit from EU funding. In addition, the scope will have to be focused on a limited number of clear deliverables, where short-term progress can be demonstrated and achieved by pulling research efforts together. Topics supported by national institutional funding will bring together research activities at different stages of development:

• Recently-completed27 research, demonstration and/or innovation projects for which the dissemination of results can contribute to the objectives of the ECRA.

• Ongoing research, demonstration and/or innovation projects of participating Research Organisations (ROs), and possibly private companies, related to the topics included in the ECRA.

• Planned research, demonstration and/or innovation activities by the ROs and, possibly, private companies, related to the topics included in the ECRA.

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Secure, clean and efficient energy

In addition, EU funding should be used to launch research and innovation activities grouped under new topics. The EU contribution can also be used to fund the necessary coordination required to ensure that research activities are carried out in an integrated and transnational manner.

The two figures below illustrate the scope in more detail. Figure 1 shows how the activities of several ROs and possibly private companies operating in different countries and related to two research and innovation topics would feed into the structure of an ECRA. Figure 2 shows such structure, and how the two funding streams from national funding and EU funds will complement each other.

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Secure, clean and efficient energy Figure 2. Structure of an ECRA.

Proposals should give priority to the following:

• Making use of existing groups or associations of ROs with a proven track record as major actors in structuring research and innovation in the field of energy.

• Addressing the complexity of the integration of the energy system by targeting specific and limited aspects of the current problems where short-term progress can be achieved by integrating multidisciplinary research activities.

• Demonstrating the coherence of the different elements brought together and the added value of the choices made to deliver on the objectives in the most efficient way possible. • Demonstrating that the programming of the national resources incorporated to the project

(recently-completed, on-going research and innovation projects and planned research and innovation activities, which will take place within different timeframes) underpins the agenda and allows a good balance between activities and results during the whole duration of the ECRA.

• Identifying gaps within national programmes/activities in order to decide the content of the new topics that will be supported by EU funds.

• Providing a description of the governance that will be put in place to implement the ECRA. Governance should be kept as simple as possible and, where possible, it should make use of pre-existing governance structures.

In addition, a good ECRA proposal should foresee:

• Activities to lay the foundations for long-lasting future co-operation. • Exchange of researchers to facilitate co-operation

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Secure, clean and efficient energy • Shared use of existing research facilities.

• A strong partnership with industry promoting transfer of knowledge and dissemination activities. Knowledge transfer should operate both ways, i.e. not only to allow technology transfer that moves the technology forward in the innovation chain, but also input from industry into research priorities.

Proposals shall include a clear research and innovation roadmap covering at least the three years for which the ECRA will run. The roadmap shall include a clear and detailed description of the expected outputs and outcomes. The ECRA will be monitored and evaluated against this roadmap on an annual basis by the Commission and the national agencies responsible for the institutional funding provided, in the context of the SET Action Plan.

Expected impact: ECRAs will first of all support the development of the common research and innovation agendas of the SET Action Plan, thus contributing to objectives of the Energy Union and the European Research Area.

This new ECRA model will then develop a critical mass of research and innovation capacity in Europe, specifically addressing the complex integration aspects of the energy system. This capacity, which does not exist yet, is crucial if Europe wants to complete successfully its energy transition in the long term and develop an industrial competitiveness advantage. ECRAs target the coordination of national efforts in order to develop synergies and improve the impact of public and private investment in this emergent sector.

Type of action:Research & Innovation Action

Additional eligibility criteria:

ECRAs will only be funded if national institutional funding and EU funds are brought together.

To this end, proposals shall detail and justify the funds requested:

• For the new topics supported by the EU, in the same manner as for any other Research and Innovation Action under Horizon 2020.

• For the topics supported by national institutional funding, with a possible contribution from private companies, full details of the funds received by the respective participants for the recently-completed and on-going projects included in the ECRA, as well as for other contributions in kind (e.g. human resources, use of existing research facilities). An estimation will have to be made in the case of planned activities (e.g. those possibly subject to the outcome of competitive calls in a country). The EU contribution shall match the sum of all the national (private and institutional) funding contributed to the ECRA beforehand. For planned activities expected to be supported by national institutional funding, the estimated amount will be revised with actual figures at the end of the project duration.

A maximum of 20% of the total funds provided to the ECRA shall be reserved for external partners (not part of any groups or associations of ROs running the ECRA), who will contribute to the activities via competitive calls for tender.

Additional information: This new ECRA model will be piloted during the period 2016- 2018. Consequently, the duration of each ECRA shall not exceed three years.

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Secure, clean and efficient energy

LCE 34 – 2016: Framework Partnership Agreement supporting Joint Actions towards