ERICs have the right to provide services and charge for them while pursuing their principal task on a non-economic basis (Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 2009), that is to say that commissioned activities should not be profitable. Charging for services does not mean that the ERIC has a commercial activity or an economic basis, since an economic activity consists of offering goods and/or services to a given market. Conversely, the fact that a fee might be charged does not in itself render the activity ‘profitable’ if the access and related services do not correspond to what the market can provide.

Economic activities shall be limited and closely related to the principal tasks of the ERIC and do not jeopardise their achievement thereof. Any income generated by ERIC’s activities that accrues to its budget shall be used for advancing the Work Programme and budgets must eventually be balanced. The economic activities of an ERIC must remain secondary and not prevail over the execution of its main task. If an economic activity becomes successful enough to be no longer considered as secondary, an ERIC may consider creating a spin-off company for example (Briffa et al. 2023).

Policy regarding fees to access ERIC’s services strongly vary across ERICs: most often, ERIC’s members who pay an annual fee can access the services for free, while observers access the services for free or for a fee. Most times, external users pay a fee to access ERIC’s services. For most ERICs, a not-for-profit rate applies to academic research for accessing the services. It is recommended that the services are provided for free to researchers. Full economic costs apply to industry users while access for the general public is granted for free, unless the services or resources are constrained by licensing conditions imposed by the owners. Access to data is generally free of charge.

Commissioned services are charged on a market-price plus a reasonable margin. An ERIC shall record the costs and revenues of its economic activities separately and shall charge market prices for them or, if these cannot be ascertained, full costs plus a reasonable margin. This margin may be referenced to margins commonly applied by undertakings for the same activity. In a similar way to that which the “reasonable margin” is allowed for economic activity charges, the European Charter for access to RIs states that “costs need to be covered and fees for Access, to the extent found necessary, should contribute to the financial sustainability of the Research Infrastructure”.

Whatever decisions are taken at the end regarding charges and fees, the most important is transparency: costs for different services and their provision must be transparent.

ERICs typically generate income from a variety of sources and it is generally recommended that funding diversification be pursued in order to ensure sustainability. An example of a successfully diversified ERIC is the SHARE-ERIC (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe). ERICs have access to a range of financial resources, although this is subject to certain limitations and conditions established by the General Assembly of each ERIC:

- Membership fees are the first and most secured source of income and commonly fund the ERIC’s core management and services: IT, Stakeholder forum, central hubs etc;

- EU funding is often steady and used to fund targeted deliverables and specialised services;

- Host Member State and the hosting countries of Common Services can provide contributions (in cash or in-kind – contributions in-kind shall be evaluated and presented in the financial report on a cash basis);

- Private companies, industries and foundations can also contribute to ERIC’s incomes. ERIC’s interaction with the private sector can be a strategic question: contribution from private partners should be carefully considered as they may want to step in the management of the ERIC.

Procurement is an essential process for all legal entities. Standard (commercial) procurement processes are commonly used to purchase market-ready products and services. It can be used to fulfil a variety of needs, including purchasing materials, manufacturing goods or hiring a service; however, procurement entails more than a mere financial transaction. It requires a set of formal decisions to select what will be purchased and a predefined process to achieve the best value for money, amongst other things. Most commercial organisations follow a formalised process and all public entities and most publicly-funded entities are required to do so. This so-called public procurement process is the sequence of activities starting with the assessment of needs through awards to contract management and final payment, whereby public authorities - including government and public agencies - buy goods and services. In fact, procurement processes for public entities are mandated in EU and national laws and are governed by strictly enforced regulations (Public procurement). They make up a considerable proportion of the EU market.

There are specialised legal entities that provide advice regarding national implementations of the EU public procurement directives, one such entity being the online platform: the sustainable procurement platform where EU member state guidance can be found at this webpage: Sustainable Public Procurement platform.

To boost innovation in the EU single market, the concepts of PCP and PPI have been defined, developed and deployed, although ERICs are generally encouraged to develop partnerships with public and private entities to increase both their visibility, impact and sustainability. Every partner represents a separate voice in managing an ERIC (Briffa et al. 2023).

In the case of PCP and PPI, the partnership with external entities (private and/or public) is housed within the procurement framework, meaning that external partners will not enter into the ERIC. This provides a buffer between the intentions, impact and sustainability of an ERIC and that of its external partners. PCP is defined as procurement of Research and Development (R&D) services involving risk-benefit sharing under market conditions and competitive development in phases. Here, risk-benefit sharing under market conditions refers to the PCP approach in which procurers share with suppliers at market price the risks and the benefits related to the IPR resulting from the R&D. Competitive development in phases refers to the competitive approach to buy the R&D from several competing R&D providers in parallel and to compare and identify the best value for money solutions on the market to address the PCP challenge. To reduce the investment risk for the procurer, reward the most competitive solutions and facilitate the participation of smaller innovative companies, the R&D is also split into phases (solution design, prototyping, original development and validation/testing of the first products), showing similarities with a Technology Readiness Levels measurement system (Fig. 2), with the number of competing R&D providers being reduced after each phase. PCP focuses on the R&D phase prior to commercialisation. PPI is similar to PCP, but relates to scale-up activities for market-ready innovations rather than R&D risk-sharing. While in PCP, goods or services are not available in the market, a PPI starts in cases that are closer to the market. Therefore, although PCP and PPI must be applied in different circumstances, nevertheless they are complementary.

The key points on PCP and PPI are outlined in Table 3. The purchase of innovative goods and services by public authorities can improve Europe’s economic competitiveness and help solving societal and environmental problems, as well as deliver more efficient public services (Edquist and Zabala-Iturriagagoitia (2015) Rolfstam 2013 Turkama et al. 2012, Rigby 2013, Rigby 2016, Rolfstam 2013, Edquist and Zabala-Iturriagagoitia (2015), Milenkovic et al. 2022). Public procurement can also promote market uptake of innovative products and services and raise the quality of public services (Edler and Uyarra 2013).

Both schemes reward publicly-funded entities for creating opportunities for R&D and innovation in the EU marketplace. Herein, innovative partnerships enable the contracting authorities to pull industrial R&D capacity towards its needs and foster innovation in the public sector (Sørensen and Torfing 2012, Carbonara and Pellegrino 2019). The EU has made public procurement a driver of its strategy to harmonise the European Single Market. To help publicly-funded organisations new to this way of working, the EU has launched funding schemes (Horizon Europe funding for PCP and PPI) designed to help them understand and practise PCP/PPI activities.

The PCP/PPI process is complicated, yet it is considerably more accessible and effective than using a standard public procurement for the same scope (Salomó et al. 2013, Milenkovic et al. 2022). Simplification has been made possible through the contexts explicitly described in the names themselves: Pre-Commercial and Innovation. The term pre-commercial defines an activity that is adjacent to marketplace activity, not within it. Innovation defines an application that is novel and seeking to enter a market. These justifications result in PCP and PPI not being classified as commercial activities; hence, there are no competitive elements to consider when judging fairness issues. Notwithstanding this observation, the PCP/PPI process can appear relatively complex at first and the rules that govern their use impose specific requirements (Milenkovic et al. 2022). Effectively, the rules of PCP and PPI define a process that begins with an idea and a novelty assessment, all the way to a current best available solution.

The full Procurement Process is illustrated in Fig. 3, including the PCP Process and PPI Model, which is further simplified to follow a PCP or run independently. Fig. 3 illustrates how PCP and PPI represent additional opportunities on top of the standard Commercial Procurement process. These steps are only relevant if the market consultation proves that PCP or PPI are applicable. The successive key steps in the procurement process are outlined in Table 4 .

There is an overall cost and complexity associated with each procurement approach and the significance of these will differ depending upon the point of view (central hub vs. member perspective). For this reason, we developed a simplified model that considers the cost and complexity associated with each procurement approach, from both perspectives (Fig. 6).

We plot the overall cost and complexity from the point of view of the whole. To combine the cost and complexity of the hub and the members, the amount of participating members and the amount of funding national nodes needs to be taken into account as a factor. For the DPP from which these insights stem, we had to consider the more than 170 members from at least 23 countries (https://www.dissco.eu/dissco/network/). This high number serves us well, as it magnifies the impact between central and partner costs and complexities, making trends more obvious, albeit extreme.

The principle-based model is not data driven as none was found during the DPP. Hence, we adopted an index approach, estimating values associated with each model relative to each other. The number represents a value above or below a normative value which is determined to represent the value for the service in the reference scenario, being the distributed ad hoc approach: this value is represented as 100 and it can be exceeded or not reached. These indices are derived only from the experience and logic of the authors and verified with experts that supported us in the project. They are to be reassessed for use in other project configurations. The index values assume the distributed ad hoc procurement (Fig. 5) as baseline, as it is the organic or “default” mode if no proactive thought is put into organising procurement.

Cost is the spending of resources, time and effort. If a large amount of work needs to be done by the hub, this will translate into a larger cost. Complexity is understood as the state of having many parts and being difficult to understand or find an answer to. If an effort is large, but clear, with little chance of reloops and little need for micro management, the complexity is lower. To illustrate, a dedicated resource, while costly yet hard working, will reduce the complexity, as the level of expertise and confidence is high. For a distributed ad hoc approach, the total effort will be larger, as the expertise and confidence are reduced, so while the overall cost is distributed across all members, the overall complexity is significantly higher, which, in turn, can add to the amount of effort.

To be able to make an analysis, we have to make some starting assumptions with regards to who covers the procurement resources and what impact this represents.

These assumptions are:

For Centralised Dedicated: The Hub dedicates resources. This enables expertise to build up over time and a Single Point of Contact for awareness of where to go for the members. Advantages are found in having someone present in the hub, such as the strategy awareness, responsiveness and approachability (note: any organisational burden of an extra Full Time Equivalent (FTE) is to be considered, even if outsourced, albeit in another topic than procurement). The complexity for the hub consists of contacting all members, retrieving input and following up on it, as well as compiling the required documents and executing steps. The complexity for all members is reduced to providing input upon request.

For Centralised Delegated: The cost of resources at the appointed member will be carried over to the Hub, while the cost for the members remains the same as in the centralised dedicated approach. Efficiency gains through temporary expertise building and temporary Single Point of Contact for both the hub and the members. Here it is the Delegated Single Point of Contact that will be contacting all members for input and following up on it, as well as compiling the required documents and executing steps. The complexity for the hub consists of connecting to the delegated Single Point of Contact. The complexity for all members is reduced to providing input upon request.

For Distributed Networked: Several members provide and fund recurrent resources to maintain the network. No Single Point of Contact available yet some expertise building albeit at a slow rate. A structure is formed that results in efficiency gains through an active network. The complexity for the hub consists of contact with a group of individuals and following up on the required documents and executing steps. The complexity for all members benefits from leveraging the strengths of specific members for specific tasks in the process (multi-national).

For Ad Hoc Distributed: The decision of who shares in providing and funding the ad hoc resources that are to be delivered is on a case-by-case basis. The level of expertise will vary and the level of expertise build up will likely be outrun by the changes in the concerning rules and regulations. The complexity for the hub consists of contact with all members and following up on the required documents and executing steps.

As touched upon previously, a PCP goes through well-defined stages (Fig. 7). The preparation consists of four defined stages, the first two are the Needs Assessment and Prior Information Notice (PIN), these requiring input from all the members yet can be coordinated centrally or distributed. The remaining two preparation stages, being Open Market Consultation (OMC) and Innovation Gap, do not require input from all the members. Whether the members need to provide input or not has an impact on the complexity of a stage.

Based on our assumptions, we estimate that the centralised dedicated, centralised delegated and distributed networked approaches represent respectively, 12%, 12% and 92% of the preparation costs of the Ad Hoc model which serves as a reference frame (Fig. 8). Key cost drivers are highlighted in Table 6.

The start-up phase typically benefits from a lower complexity. As an organisation grows into maturity and its activity increases, so will the complexity. The complexity is impacted by the amount of executing members; therefore, while the first principles hold up, the numbers of executing members impact the relative differences.

Based on our assumptions, we estimate that the centralised dedicated, centralised delegated and distributed networked approaches represent respectively an index of 15, 16 and 85 of the preparation complexity (Fig. 11), where we keep the Ad Hoc model as reference frame at 100. Key complexity drivers are highlighted in Table 7.

Several types of funding with different rules (not necessarily including providing money in cash), different purposes and different time-scale of investment (e.g. short-term needs or long-term social benefits), can be provided (Table 8).

While the EU provides the funding for a specific programme or project, it is not always directly involved in the day-to-day management. There are three types of implementation modes for the programmes funded by the EU: Direct management, Shared management and Indirect management (Table 9).

The new EU’s long term funding scheme for the period 2021-2027 is gathered within the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The MFF (MFF 2021-2027 and European Commission 2021) is made up to fund R&I programmes in Europe, grouped into seven headings (Fig. 14), that correspond to the spending categories of the MFF, dedicated to specific policy areas.

The MMF constitutes a supporting tool to secure the resources for the European political priorities, such as digitalisation and green deal, providing particular opportunities to research programmes and RIs. It is seconded by the instrument NextGenerationEU (NextGenerationEU) supporting the post-COVID19 recovery plan for Europe. The funding programmes provided via the MFF can be accessed through different entry points (Fig. 14) by: Headings or Spending categories, Topics, National Single Portals, EU programmes and Funds via Agencies. Key information on the 2021-2027 MFF entry points are provided in Table 10.

Heading 1: Single Market, Innovation and Digital

Within Heading 1, the EU wants to step up investment in R&I, digital transformation, strategic infrastructure and the Single Market, as they are considered to be key to unlocking future growth. Heading 1 supports the society to tackle common challenges such as decarbonisation and demographic change and boost the competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Relevance for ERICs: Heading 1 hosts the funding programmes dedicated to Research and Innovation and is, thus, particularly relevant for ERICs at all levels: central hub, national and local nodes. ERICs can be partners of the grants and participate in the calls or host a grant obtained by any individual user, including from outside the EU.

Research and innovation

Horizon Europe

Objectives: Horizon Europe (Fig. 17) is the EU framework programme for R&I. It supports the creation and better diffusion of excellent knowledge and technologies, it promotes excellence in research and provides essential support to top researchers and innovators to drive the systemic changes needed to ensure a green, healthy and resilient EU. It aims to tackle climate change, to help to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and to boost the EU’s competitiveness and growth.

Relevance for ERICs: ERICs can apply to calls either as coordinators, beneficiaries or third parties. Depending on the call, the ERICs can be the coordinator and develop their own capacity, services and network or be the instrument used by the research community to develop its own research programme.

Eligibility: Scientists and academics, research organisations, universities, industry, SMEs, students. Legal entities from the EU, such as ERICs and associated countries can participate.

Types of funding: Grants, prizes and procurement, as well as funding to develop RIs and foster mobility within the EU. It also supports partnerships between Member States, industry and other stakeholders to work jointly on R&I.

- Pillar I, Excellent Science: RIs, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, and European Research Council;

- Pillar II, Global Challenges and European Indusrtial Competitiveness;

- Pillar III Innovative Europe: European Innovation Council, European Innovation Ecosystems, European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

Horizon Europe, Pillar I: Excellent Science

Research infrastructure

Objectives: To enable new discoveries and keep Europe’s RIs at the highest level of excellence and to provide users of RIs with research services, particularly in some priority domains: health, green transition, knowledge.

Relevance for ERICs: Relevant for different levels of ERICs (central hub, national or local nodes and users), depending on the calls.

Funding opportunities for RIs include:

- INFRADEV: Developing, consolidating and optimising the European RIs landscape (INFRADEV);

- INFRAEOSC: Enabling an operational, open and FAIR EOSC ecosystem (INFRAEOSC);

- INFRATECH: Next generation of scientific instrumentation, tools and methods and advanced digital solutions (INFRATECH);

- INFRASERV: Develop and fund transnational users’ access to European RI's services (INFRASERV).

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Objective: To fund R&I projects to boost top researchers’ careers through mobility and innovative doctoral and postdoctoral training.

Relevance for ERICs: For users, national and local nodes.

Eligibility: Postdoctoral Fellowships: individual researchers and host organisations; Doctoral Networks and Staff Exchanges: academic and non-academic international networks of organisations; Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes: organisations funding or managing doctoral or postdoctoral programmes; MSCA and Citizens.

European Research Council (ERC)

Objective: ERC is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe.

Relevance for ERICs: Applications to funding by ERICs’ users. Awards can be used by researchers to finance access to ERICs’ facilities and services. ERICs’ national and local nodes and member’s institutions could serve as host for the award.

Eligibility: The ERC offers four main grant schemes: i) Starting Grants, ii) Consolidator Grants, iii) Advanced Grants and iv) Synergy Grants. Research grants can be used to finance access to ERICs’ facilities and services, but it requires ERICs to be eligible as large access facilities, as well as ERICs improving their visibility amongst the research community to attract researchers to apply to ERC with an ERIC as a host/partner.

Limitation: A weakness exists for distributed ERICs that have faced administrative challenges when there is a simultaneous implication in the project of an ERICs' headquarters (coordination/core team/Central Hub) and one or more of its national nodes. This adds significant hurdles to the execution of the projects and also has an impact on ERICs' visibility as a single entity. In addition, ERICs currently experience reduced visibility as potential hosts for ERC’s awards.

Horizon Europe, Pillar II: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness

Objective: Pillar II includes six clusters: i) Health; ii) Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society; iii) Civil Security for Society ; iv) Digital, Industry and Space; v) Climate, Energy and Mobility; and vi) Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment. The objective is to maximise integration and synergies across the six clusters while securing high and sustainable levels of impact for the Union in relation to the resources that are expended.

Relevance for ERICs: Relevant for different levels of an ERIC depending on the clusters and calls within the clusters.

Eligibility: Universities, research institutes, research centres; Local, regional and national public administrations; Museums, cultural institutions and the cultural tourism industry; SMEs in the field of digital technologies.

Horizon Europe, Pillar III: Innovative Europe

Objective: Support the development of disruptive and market-creating innovations and enhance European innovation ecosystems to foster sustainable economic growth and employment. Pillar III features three distinctive and complementary instruments: i) European Innovation Council, ii) European Innovation Ecosystems and iii) European Institute of Innovation and Technology. They aim to reinforce close cross-border collaboration amongst academia, the public sector, industry and individual entrepreneurs.

Relevance for ERICs: Relevant for ERICs’ users and to create bridges between ERICs, start-ups and SMEs, through developing new technologies emerging from research and development.

Eligibility: Single company classified as SME, or as a small mid-cap (up to 499 employees) and established within a Member State or an Associated Country or natural persons and legal entities.

Horizon Europe, Actions: Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area

Reforming and enhancing the EU research and innovation system

Objective: Training researchers for successful participation in R&I activities, while enhancing networking, gender equality, ethics and integrity.

Relevance for ERICs: National and local nodes, potentially users.

Eligibility: Universities, research centres, NGOs, governmental organisations, civilian volunteer organisations, civil society organisations, citizens associations. Every consortium must assign a project coordinator who will be the main contact throughout the project.

Widening participation and spreading excellence

Objective: To build R&I capacity for countries that have reduced opportunities to develop such capacities. They will be able to strengthen their potential for successful participation in transnational research and innovation processes and promote networking.

Relevance for ERICs: National and local nodes located in eligible countries.

Eligibility: All organisations eligible in Horizon Europe can participate, but only organisations based in Widening Countries can participate as coordinators. As for 2023, the list of eligible Widening Countries is: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.

Areas of intervention:

⎯ Teaming: Support/create centres of excellence as role models to stimulate excellence, new investments and reforms of national R&I systems.

⎯ Twinning: Develop excellence in chosen R&I domains, increase visibility of the research institutions and universities and develop the skills of its staff.

⎯ ERA Chairs: Support universities or research organisations to attract and maintain high quality human resources and help excellent scientists and their teams.

⎯ European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), a cross-border scientific network helping excellent researchers and innovators gain access to the European and international networks.

Horizon Europe, Actions: Co-fund

Co-funded European Public-Public Partnerships

Objectives: To link European research institutions together. Co-funded European Partnerships are based on a grant agreement between the Commission and a consortium of partners. The grant agreement is signed following a call for proposals for a programme co-fund action in Horizon Europe. This co-funding instrument supports cross-border countries and regions to link their research programmes with those of other Member States and participate in joint activities.

Relevance for ERICs: Relevant for ERICs users and Member State’s institutions.

Possible Activities to be funded include: Networking and coordination; research; innovation; pilot actions; innovation and market deployment; training and mobility; awareness raising and communication; dissemination and exploitation. Co-fund may also provide financial support, such as grants, prizes and procurement, as well as Horizon Europe blended finance or a combination thereof.

Limitation: A limitation can arise from the national rules of the Member States, since some are in contradiction with ERICs mechanisms (e.g. Co-fund may require that research is undertaken in specific institutions that receive the funding).

European Strategic Investments

Invest EU (InvestEU)

Objectives: To boost innovation and job creation in Europe by investing in sustainable infrastructure, R&I, digitisation, SMEs and midcaps and social investment and skills.

Relevance for ERICs: Central hub, potentially national nodes, useful to associate partners (Private companies, Banks, Financial institutions) to the ERICs’ activities.

Eligibility: Public and private investors and project promoters, SMEs and mid-caps, service providers and recipients of microfinance.

Types of funding: The EIB will provide guarantee to support financing and investment operations and advisory support for the development of investable projects and access to financing. Project promoters should apply directly to the EIB.

Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) (Connecting Europe Facility)

Objectives: To accelerate investments in Europe’s transport, energy and digital infrastructure networks. To support the digital transitions, by contributing to the infrastructure targets. CEF promotes growth, jobs and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment. It supports the development of high performing, sustainable and interconnected trans-European networks in the fields of transport, energy and digital services. CEF makes travel easier and more sustainable and it facilitates cross-border interaction between public administrations, businesses and citizens.

Relevance for ERICs: CEF is relevant to National and Local nodes and to develop public-private partnerships within ERICs. The Health and Digital Executive Agency (Health and Digital Executive Agency) manages the digital part of the Connecting Europe Facility and is particularly relevant for ERICs that involve digital data.

Eligibility: Industry, SMEs, research organisations, other public and private entities established in a Member State or in a non-EU country associated with the programme or created under EU law and international organisations.

Types of funding: Grants, with different co-financing rates depending on the project type, to three main sectors: transport, energy and digital. CEF also offers financial support to projects through innovative financial instruments, such as guarantees and project bonds. These instruments create significant leverage in their use of the EU budget and act as a catalyst to attract further funding from the private sector and other public sector actors.

Digital Europe Programme (Digital Europe Programme)

Objectives: To drive the EU’s digital transformation, to build the EU’s strategic digital capacities and facilitate wide deployment of digital technologies, to be used by EU citizens, businesses and public administrations. The digital Europe programme supports the strengthening of digital capacities for high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, along with advanced digital skills and accelerating the adoption and best use of digital technologies.

Relevance for ERICs: Relevant to all ERICs managing online data and providing e-services, at all levels of ERICs (From central hub, to users), with the conditions that data must be hosted in Europe.

Eligibility: Public and private organisations, industry and SMEs, scientists and academics, universities etc.

Types of funding: Grants and procurements under the direct management scheme or under indirect management for the high performance computing and cybersecurity actions, by the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre.

Heading 2: Cohesion and Values

Heading 2 aims to strengthen the cohesion amongst EU Member States, to reduce disparities in EU regions, within and across Member States and to promote sustainable territorial development. In addition, through investment in young people, health and actions to protect the EU's values, Heading 2 seeks to make Europe more resilient to the various challenges that our continent is and will be facing in the future.

Relevance for ERICs: Heading 2 hosts funding programmes dedicated to cohesion and territorial development in the EU. These programmes are particularly relevant for distributed ERICs.

Regional development and cohesion

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (ERDF)

Objectives: To strengthen cohesion in the EU by reducing economic, social and territorial disparities between its regions and supporting the full integration of less-developed regions within the EU’s internal market. ERDF supports investment in innovation and research, the digital transition, the environment and the net-zero-carbon economy. It also addresses economic, environmental and social problems in urban areas, with a special focus on sustainable urban development. In addition, it supports cooperation activities between regions in different Member States (see Interreg).

Relevance for ERICs: ERDF allows for capital investment in ERICs, for building and equipment, for the construction and upgrading of facilities and, in certain cases, to access the services proposed by ERICs. ERDF is relevant for National and Local nodes of ERICs in disadvantaged regions. It includes specific funding possibilities for: Online training, research projects, new academic chairs, equipment and buildings.

Eligibility: Regional public and private entities, networks of universities, research institutions, with special attention paid to disadvantaged regions and areas, notably rural areas and areas suffering from natural or demographic handicaps and outermost regions; and, indirectly, EU citizens, public or private organisations, SMEs and businesses.

Types of funding: Grants, procurements and financial instruments. ERDF finances programmes in shared responsibility between the EC and national and regional authorities in Member States. The Member States' administrations take responsibility for day-to-day management. Productive investments in enterprises, infrastructure and public policies across a range of topics; consultancy services and advice; studies.

European Territorial Cooperation - Interreg (Inforegio - Interreg : European Territorial Co-operation)

Interreg is part of ERDF and supports cooperation and collaboration across regions and countries, to develop joint services and strengthen solidarity. Funding for projects between Member States, their outermost regions, the EU acceding countries and the neighbourhood countries. Interreg supports cross-border mobility and efforts to develop environmental protection, emergency services, skilled jobs and access to public services. There are several levels of cooperation within Interreg: Interreg A, B and C.

Interreg A - Cross-border operation: Supports cooperation between NUTS III regions (NUTS Maps) from at least two different Member States lying directly on the borders or adjacent to them.

Interreg B - Transnational cooperation: Allows for cooperation over larger transnational territories or around sea basins. It involves national, regional and local programme partners in Member States, but also in some programmes, non-EU countries (third countries such as Iceland or Lichtenstein), Enlargement and Neighbourhood partner countries and the Overseas Countries and Territories, with a view to achieving a higher degree of territorial integration. Interreg B supports a wide range of project investments related to innovation, the green and digital transition, accessibility, digitalisation, education, capacity building and governance, public sector innovation and interoperability, Cultural heritage and sustainable tourism development.

Interreg C - Interregional cooperation: Aims at boosting the effectiveness of cohesion policy by promoting exchange of experiences, innovative approaches and capacity building between regions.

Investing in people, Social Cohesion and Values

European Social Fund+ (ESF+) (European Social Fund+)

Objectives: ESF+ is the main instrument for investing in people, with the aim of building a more social and inclusive EU. Provides important contributions to the EU’s employment, social, education and skills policies. ESF+ will also support economic, territorial and social cohesion in the EU – reducing disparities between Member States and regions.

Relevance for ERICs: Relevant for ERICs’ education and skills aspects, particularly for national and local nodes. ESF+ can be used to recruit technicians, staff in human resources and staff to support the high-technology training that can be proposed by ERICs.

Eligibility: EU public and private organisations, non-governmental organisations, EU citizens, young people and children, people from vulnerable groups.

Types of funding: Support under the ESF+ is implemented under shared management and indirect management. Funding is disbursed in the form of grants, procurements and financial instruments.

ESF+ supports: social innovation; investments in young people, training and lifelong learning; investments in capacity building and transnational/cross-border cooperation. Studies, actions and training aimed at investing in people, creating and protecting jobs, promoting social inclusion, fighting poverty and developing the skills needed for the digital and green transitions.

ESF+ also includes the ESF Social Innovation+ (ESF Social Innovation+), which aims to facilitate the transfer and upscaling of innovative solutions to the societal challenges of today. Through supporting transnational cooperation, the initiative aims to expand best practices in fields including employment, education, skills and social inclusion across Europe.

European Commission Education Programme (Education)

Description: Range of educational and training opportunities available throughout Europe for students of all ages, including information on studying abroad, vocational training, recognition of qualifications and skills. This includes the ERASMUS+ programme, the funding scheme to support activities in education, training, youth and sport.

ERASMUS+ (Erasmus+)

Objectives: To promote learning mobility for individuals and groups, along with cooperation, quality, inclusion and equity, excellence, creativity and innovation. It promotes non-formal and informal learning mobility and active participation in education amongst young people.

Relevance for ERICs: Relevant for ERICs’ national and local nodes and users to promote and implement the training provided by ERICs in the domains of their dedicated tasks and activities. The Erasmus+ programme is a particularly relevant funding scheme to support ERICs activities in education, training and outreach activities with youth.

Eligibility: Students, researchers and academics, universities and other organisations working in the field of higher education in the EU and the partner countries. As a general rule, organisations participating in Erasmus+ projects must be established in an EU Member State or third country associated with the Programme. Some Actions are also open to participating organisations from third countries not associated with the Programme, notably in the field of higher education, vocational education and training and youth.

Types of funding: Direct and indirect management with the support of the Erasmus+ EU national agencies. Funding is disbursed in the form of grants, prizes and procurements. Erasmus+ projects are submitted and managed by participating organisations. If a project is selected, the applicant organisation becomes a beneficiary of an Erasmus+ grant, grant agreements are not signed with individual participants.

Heading 3: Natural Resources and Environment

Heading 3 is designed to be a driver of sustainability and aims to invest in sustainable agriculture and maritime sectors, climate actions, environmental protection, food security and rural development. Part of the programmes support Europe’s farming, agricultural and fisheries sectors and seek to make them more competitive. Other programmes are dedicated exclusively to the EU’s environmental and climate objectives.

Relevance for ERICs: Heading 3 of the EU MFF hosts funding programmes dedicated to climate actions and is particularly relevant for environmental ERICs.

Environment and Climate Action

Programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) (LIFE)

Objectives: To achieve the shift towards a sustainable, circular, energy-efficient, renewable-energy based, climate-neutral and resilient economy; to protect, restore and improve the quality of the environment, including the air, water and soil; to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and to tackle the degradation of ecosystems.

Relevance for ERICs: ERICs’ central hub, National and National Nodes.

The LIFE programme’s financial allocation is implemented through four sub-programmes: i) nature and biodiversity, ii) circular economy and quality of life, iii) climate change mitigation and adaptation and iv) clean energy transition.

Eligibility: EU national or local authorities, private commercial organisations and private non-commercial organisations (e.g. non-governmental organisations). Individual persons are not eligible to apply.

Types of funding: Funding in the form of grants, procurements and prizes through direct management. The programme supports demonstration, best practice, coordination and support actions, capacity building and governance projects. This includes projects that support the implementation of environmental and climate plans, as well as programmes and strategies developed at regional, multi-regional or national level.

The EIB (European Investment Bank) offers loans, guarantees, equity investments and advisory services (Fig. 18). The EIB works closely with other EU institutions to support EU policies in over 140 countries around the world. The EIB has equity to directly finance a panel of companies, institutions, SMEs and projects.

Relevance for ERICs: EIB’s advisory services are relevant financial products for ERICs. The programme InnovFIN is particularly relevant for RIs. Equity, guarantees and loans constitute additional financial instruments for ERICs.

Access to the services are restricted to projects in concordance with EIB’s priorities (Fig. 19).

EIB financial products relevant to ERICs

Through their Member States and national agencies and/or ministries, ERICs may benefit from advisory services (EIB's Advisory services) in three categories:

- Strategic development: support to realise projects both inside the EU and worldwide;

- Market development: to help defining the parameters and specific needs of a sector, a region or a specific investment programme;

- Project development: to support projects that are then funded by the EIB or by other financiers.

Services are available for public and private project promoters and to improve access to finance and the business environment in general. Services include market and sector studies, to help ERICs conceive their strategy and hone their skills. EIB’s guides projects through the steps needed to secure financing, mobilising where necessary complex or ad-hoc financial solutions.

EIB InnovFIN programme

EIB’s InnovFin Advisory (InnovFin Advisory) helps R&I projects that face difficulties in securing finance, despite being fundamentally good projects. InnovFin Advisory guides its clients on how to structure their R&I projects in order to improve their access to finance. The service helps them to capitalise on their strong points and adjust elements such as their business model, governance, funding sources and funding structure to improve their access to finance. In the long run, InnovFin Advisory increases their chances of being implemented. The programme also provides advice to improve investment conditions through activities which are not project-specific. This includes things such as developing a business case for new financing mechanisms and preparing studies on increasing the effectiveness of financial instruments to address specific R&I needs.

Relevance for ERICs: EIB’s advisory services of the InnovFIN programme can provide support to ERICs for finding and securing funding.

Eligibility:

- Public sector (EC, Member States, government agencies etc.);

- Public-private and semi-public (research institutes, foundations, NGOs etc.);

- Private sectors (large and small corporates, RDI clusters, industry associations, financial market associations etc.).

- To be eligible for InnovFin Advisory, a project must: require a minimum of €15 million for R&I investment; Fit the policy objectives of Horizon Europe; and not yet be mature for financing appraisal. For application: send request to innovfinadvisory@eib.org, including a detailed description of the project.

Financial instruments: equity, guarantees and loans

EU funding is available through a range of financial instruments (Financial instruments) implemented in partnership with public and private institutions.

Relevance for ERICs: ERICs can request financial support to the EIB through different types of instruments that are listed below.

Types of financial instruments: Equity and debt, Loan guarantees and venture capital, capacity building and risk sharing facilities.

The EU provides loans to businesses of all types for investment in R&I. It also provides guarantees to help beneficiaries to obtain loans more easily or at better conditions from banks and other lenders. The EU may also financially participate in a project by owning parts of it. Financial instruments can be combined with grants.

Financial instruments are implemented in partnership with public and private institutions, such as banks and venture capitalists. These financial institutions determine the exact financing conditions – the amount, duration, interest rates and fees.

Objectives: Enable scientists from European countries and beyond to use technological resources and expertise to enrich their projects with equipment and knowledge from specialised research sites, laboratories and observatories encompassed within ERICs (Access to European RI). TNA covers access costs and most research costs. Travel and accommodation costs are also eligible. TNA can fund scientific and technological development. TNA is a true catalyst for ERIC Member State contribution to ERIC’s central budgets.

Relevance for ERICs: Relevant for ERICs’ central hub and users’ projects to cover access costs, research costs, scientific and technological development, funding of central budget by State Members. TNA constitutes an attractive alternative source of funding for ERICs and ERICs’ users, especially TNA provides crucial supplementary funding for continuous sustainable development of ERICs (more services, access to new communities etc.). TNA is essential for ERICs to provide services to the research community for little or no cost; it can support the early stages of service provision; it can become a stable instrument for sustainable transnational access for European researchers.

TNA can fund ERIC’s users to access their services. TNA also promotes cross-RI mobility, the use of services by industry and expansion of access to RI’s services to other countries beyond the EU. A joint approach of ERICs and funding bodies through TNA has the potential to boost ERIC’s visibility and attraction for potential users.

Limitation: Member States of ERICs in development (without yet a common budget for the implementation of user projects) often experience a financial bottleneck with the Transnational Access Scheme.