Record numbers apply for H2020 first-round funding

The Director General of DG RTD of the European Commission has revealed that they received 16,000 applications in the first round of calls for Horizon 2020.

These calls had a budget of €15 billion. Funding requested in 9 times that much. The first-round success rate will be 11%. The most heavily-subscribed calls concerned health, food, ICT and cyber-security.

The Commission will be advising National Contact Points to take a greater role in screening ideas, to ensure that only the strongest proceed to proposal phase.

On a positive note, the goal of “bringing industry back in the game” has been successful. 44% of all applicants were from industry and of these half were SMEs.

Source Science Business portal.

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