Opportunities for private sector: Industry and SMEs

Opportunities for the private, for profit businesses

According to the data below, companies for profit in Turkey (figure 1) and in Europe (Figure 2) are very active in specific thematics in Horizon 2020. 

 Figure 1: Horizon 2020 areas that companies and also industry from Europe are active

Figure 2: Horizon 2020 areas that companies and also industry from Turkey are active

Companies and in also industry based in Turkey can directly benefit from Horizon 2020 mainly in the following three possibilities:

1. As coordinators or partners in the Fast Track to Innovation
2. As partners or coordinators in Horizon 2020 collaborative projects
3. As partners or key actors in Joint-Technology Initiatives (JTIs)
4. As subcontractors for providing specific services to actors that are involved in Horizon 2020 projects

Next, we elaborate further each of the three possibilities.

1. Fast Track to Innovation

The Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) is a fully-bottom-up innovation support programme promoting close-to-the-market innovation activities open to industry-driven consortia that can be composed of all types of participants. It can help partners to co-create and test breakthrough products, services or business processes that have the potential to revolutionise existing or create entirely new markets, under the helm of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot

The Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) is part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council pilot (Enhanced EIC pilot). The Enhanced EIC Pilot will pave the way to a fully-fledged EIC; it builds on the lessons learnt from the previous EIC pilot launched in late 2017. The Enhanced EIC Pilot serves as the umbrella for several EU funding instruments: the SME Instrument: the Fast Track to Innovation (FTI), Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Open and Horizon Prizes, thus providing a 'one stop shop' for funding of breakthrough, market-creating innovation across the EU.

The Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) provides funding for bottom-up proposals for close-to-market innovation activities in any area of technology or application. This thematic openness – combined with the possibility for all kinds of innovation actors to work together and deliver innovation onto the market and/or into society – is set to nurture trans-disciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation.

The FTI's aim is to:

• reduce time from idea to market,
• stimulate the participation of first-time applicants to EU research and innovation funding, and
• increase private sector investment in research and innovation.

Who can participate in the FTI?

Proposals for funding must be submitted by consortia comprising between three and five legal entities established in at least three different EU Member States or countries associated to Horizon 2020. Actions are to be ‘business-driven’ because they are intended to give breakthrough innovation ideas the last push before shaking up the market. Substantial industry involvement in FTI actions is mandatory to ensure quick market take-up (‘quick’ meaning within a three-year period after the start of the FTI-action). This industry involvement implies:

• either the allocation of at least 60% of the budget to industry participants in the consortium,
• or the presence of a minimum number of two industry participants in a consortium of three or four partners, or of three industry participants in a consortium of five partners.

How is the FTI implemented?

The EIC FTI is implemented as a call for proposals running in 2018-2020 on a total budget of €300 million (€100 million per year); its budget is derived from the Horizon 2020 priority “Societal Challenges” and the specific objective “Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies (LEITs)”. The call opens on 7 November 2017 and will be continuously open until 27 October 2020. Proposals are evaluated and ranked and funding decisions taken after three cut-off dates each year.

Proposals are built on a business plan, and focus foremost on achieving high impact: a high degree of novelty comes with a high chance of either success or failure.

Time-to-grant for participants is targeted to be six months at most. As for other innovation actions, EU funding levels are fixed at 70% of the eligible costs. The maximum EU contribution per action amounts to EUR 3 million.

Roots of the FTI?

The FTI is the successor of the FTI Pilot (2015-2016), which was positively assessed during a first study evaluating the response to the call. The pilot scheme was open to applications from January 6, 2015 until October 25, 2016, and had six cut-off dates total.

On average, there were about 333 proposals per cut-off date in 2015-2016. Less than 5% (15-16 proposals) per cut-off date were selected for funding. The majority of the proposals selected for funding at the 2016 cut-off dates were resubmissions. Of the 1994 eligible proposals, a total of 94 got funded in either 2015 or 2016.

More Information

• The FTI is implemented by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which on its website features a specific page on this initiative.
• TUBITAK has a special team responsible to provide help on Horizon 2020 FTI at their FTI page. 
• The programme "Turkey in Horizon 2020" is planning to organise a training on FTI. Please check regularly our event list for updates. 

H2020 Collaborative Projects

As partners or coordinators in Horizon 2020 collaborative projects

From the figure above, we can see that companies and industry are involved in the main following areas:

• LEIT - ICT with H2020 collaborative projects in electronics, microsystems, networking, the ability to master increasingly complex cyber-physical systems and robots, and progress in data processing and human machine interfaces. 
• ENERGY with H2020 collaborative projects to support the transition to a reliable, sustainable and competitive energy system. Under "Turkey in Horizon 2020 II" programme, we have organised a specialised training on ENERGY calls and how to get involved as partner, how to develop a winning proposal as coordinator, what to pay attention on each call, etc and you can access the training material from our specific helpdesk page
• TPT with H2020 collaborative projects to boost the competitiveness of the European transport industries and achieve a European transport system that is resource-efficient, climate-and-environmentally-friendly, safe and seamless for the benefit of all citizens, the economy and society.
• Society with H2020 collaborative projects to address the societal engagement in research and innovation from many perspectives, such as encouraging dialogue between scientists and other members of the public, by promoting an adherence to ethical standards, and by developing better ways for the results of research to be accessed by all.
• FET with H2020 collaborative projects that aim to support top-class innovators, start-ups, small companies and researchers with bright ideas that are radically different from existing products, services or business models, are highly risky and have the potential to scale up internationally.
• INFRA with H2020 collaboragive projects that develop world-class research infrastructures that are accessible to all researchers in Europe and fully exploiting their potential for scientific advancement and innovation.
• LEIT-SPACE with H2020 collaborative projects to foster a cost-effective competitive and innovative space industry (including SMEs) and research community to develop and exploit space infrastructure to meet future Union policy and societal needs.
• FOOD with H2020 collaborative projects towards optimal and renewable use of biological resources and towards sustainable primary production and processing systems. These systems will need to produce more food, fibre and other bio-based products with minimised inputs, environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions, and with enhanced ecosystem services, zero waste and adequate societal value.
• ENV with H2020 collaborative projects that aim to achieve a resource, water efficient and climate change resilient economy and society
• HEALTH with H2020 collaborative projects that support better health for all
• LEIT-ADVMANU, LEIT-NMP, LEIT, ADVMAT with H2020 collaborative projects in the areas of Advanced Materials, Nanotechnologies & Biotechnology and Advanced Materials. 
• Security with H2020 collaborative projects that aim at understanding, detecting, preventing, deterring, preparing and protecting against security threats. Under "Turkey in Horizon 2020 II" programme, we have organised a specialised training on security calls and how to get involved as partner, how to develop a winning proposal as coordinator, what to pay attention on each call, etc and you can access the training material from our specific helpdesk page
• MSCA that enables research-focused organisations (universities, research centres, and companies) to host talented foreign researchers and to create strategic partnerships with leading institutions worldwide. Attention is paid to encouraging the strong participation of industry, in particular SMEs, for the successful implementation and impact of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions. Further information on MSCA, you can find from TUBITAK at https://h2020.org.tr/tr/h2020/marie-curie 

In the programme "Turkey in Horizon 2020 phase II", we offer the following services in order to support companies and industry to get involved in Horizon 2020 collaborative projects

• How to identify the most promising call opportunity for your proposal idea in Horizon 2020 that was part of the IMS-1 training
• How to join consortia as a partner in general in the context of the IMS-1 training or in specific Security, Energy calls and soon in ICT calls. 
• How to develop winning projects with a step-by-step approach in specific Security, Energy calls and soon in ICT calls. 
• How to become a valuable partner by writing an impressive Impact section in grant applications for  H2020 collaborative projects in the context of the IMS-2 training

There will be other trainings also to be organised and you should check our events page for past and upcoming trainings at https://turkeyinh2020.eu/event-list/. In any case,  you can check the links above for accessing the proper training material so far. In general, the training material for most of our trainings can be found from our helpdesk.  

Furthermore, you can visit the TUBITAK website specifically about Horizon 2020 for more info. 

JTI Projects

As partners or key actors in Joint-Technology Initiatives (JTIs)

Under Horizon 2020 the Commission has joined with key industry partners to work together on the grand challenges of tomorrow. Investing jointly in research and innovation is essential for a smart and sustainable growth of our society.

Partnerships with industry

Through partnerships with the private sector, Horizon 2020 pools Europe’s resources to tackle the biggest challenges, support competitiveness, deliver high quality jobs, and encourage greater private investment in research and innovation.

More information about the EU partnering with industry

Public-public partnerships

Public-public partnerships are agreements that allow EU countries to draw up joint research programmes which the EU may participate in.

The aim is to pool national research efforts in order to make better use of Europe's public research and development resources and tackle common challenges more effectively.

More information about public-public partnerships 

Contractual public-private partnerships

There are ten contractual public-private partnerships  between the EU and business representatives have strategic importance for the European industry.

The EU contributes with €7.1 billion while industry is also committed to leverage further investments in research and innovation, work on cutting-edge technologies and ensure the competitive edge of the European industry.

More information about contractual public-private partnerships

The programme "Turkey in Horizon 2020 phase II" has organised a training on how to get involved and how to write a winning proposal under the Clearn Sky Joint Technology Initiative. You can access useful training material  from our specific helpdesk file. 

Subcontractors in H2020 Projects

As subcontractors for providing specific services to actors that are involved in Horizon 2020 projects

A lot of companies as well as industry are involved as subcontractors in Horizon 2020 projects for offering their expertise. They do not participate as partners, i.e. they don't receive funding from the EC directly but they are getting paid for their services by one of the beneficiaries in Horizon 2020 collaborative projects.  In addition to specialised services in specific areas other general services can be :

• Exploitation and marketing of research results
• Budget and formulation of business models
• IPR management
• Production line of RTD products and materials
• etc

If you offer any specialised services such as the ones above or any other, you can contact directly currently Horizon 2020 projects and promote your services to them.