In June 2021 during the R&I Days, the European Commission signed Memoranda of Understanding with 11 entities representing the industry interest behind certain Horizon Europe research themes. Following an “Access to Documents” request by EUREC, the Memoranda of Understanding has been released to us.
Contents
The MoU set out the terms under which the EC will allow the industry body access to the Work Programme drafting machinery. They contain an outline of the scope of the suggestions the industry body will make (i.e. its R&I priorities), and of the reports that the body must submit to the EC. These reports will detail the extent to which industry is co-investing in the areas in the MoU’s scope, outside of Horizon Europe. The table links to the MoUs and extracts from them the amount of budget the EC allows the industry to co-programme, and the amount that in return the industry must independently co-invest.
The Memoranda of Understanding are not legally enforceable. In the Horizon 2020 era (2014-2020) the EC had published the MoUs of Co-programmed European Partnerships — then known as contractual public private partnerships.
The MoUs last to 2030 (the period beyond the end of Horizon Europe in 2027 intended for reporting and following-up projects already funded).
About half the partnerships relate to climate protection.
The Commission Decision C(2021) 4113 of 14 June 2021 on the approval and signature of eleven Memoranda of Understanding for Coprogrammed European Partnerships for Research and Innovation, the EC Decision greenlighting the signature of the MoUs, was also shared with EUREC.
Table summarising the budgets pledged per MoU
| European co-programmed partnership | Amount of H Eu budget co-programmed / M EUR | Required industry contribution / M EUR |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence, Data and Robotics | 1300 | 1300 |
| Batteries: Towards a competitive European industrial battery value chain (Batt4EU) | 925 | 925 |
| Clean Steel Low Carbon Steelmaking | 700 | 1000 |
| Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) | 500 | 500 |
| European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) | 490 | 500 |
| European Partnership Made in Europe | 900 | 900 |
| People centric Sustainable Built Environment (Built4People) | 380 | 400 |
| European Partnership for Photonics | 340 | 340 |
| European Partnership Processes4Planet (P4Planet) | 1300 | 1300 |
| European Partnership towards Zero emission Road Transport (2ZERO) | 615 | 615 |
| European Partnership for Zero emission Waterborne Transport | 530 | 3300 |