The Flagship ERA-NET

Project Information

FLAG-ERA II

Grant agreement ID: 730027

DOI

10.3030/730027

Project closed

EC signature date 5 December 2016

Start date 1 December 2016

End date 30 November 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)

Total cost

€ 18 941 250,00

EU contribution

€ 6 052 612,50

Coordinated by

AGENCE NATIONALE DE LA RECHERCHE
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FLAG-ERA II (The Flagship ERA-NET)

Reporting period: 2017-12-01 to 2022-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

FLAG-ERA II contributes to the objectives of the two FET Flagships, namely model the brain for the Human Brain Project and bring graphene from the laboratory to the society for the Graphene Flagship. More specifically, the objective of FLAG-ERA II is to support the part of the Flagship initiatives funded by national and regional funding organisations in Europe. By bringing together research teams across various disciplines sharing a unifying goal and a research roadmap on how to achieve it, and by gathering efforts funded by the European Commission and by the Member States into a long-term, large scale initiative, Flagships can aim at solving grand scientific and technological challenges. FLAG-ERA II thus supports research and innovation activities which are both contributing to the FET Flagship objectives and benefiting from the synergies offered by the Flagship partnership model. A specific objective of FLAG-ERA II is to launch a new Joint Transnational Call, the JTC 2017, with a budget of about 15 M€.

FLAG-ERA II succeeded in bringing together a larger number of funding organisations than in FLAG-ERA I, covering a very important share of Europe. The cofunded call of FLAG-ERA II, the JTC 2017 assembled a budget larger than the budget of the JTC 2015. 23 projects were selected with a support of 14 M€. With a series of networking events, FLAG-ERA II reinforced the connections between these projects but also between the projects of the other calls of FLAG-ERA and the respective Flagship Core Projects. FLAG-ERA II contributed to improving the association mechanisms jointly with the respective Flagship Core Projects providing a better environment to the FLAG-ERA funded projects. Moreover, FLAG-ERA II contributed to promote the Flagship concept among other multilateral initiatives with research areas related to the Flagships. It also succeeded in shaping a follow-up project with FLAG-ERA III. Moreover, it happened that many outstanding projects resulted from the JTC 2017.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first period, a major activity was to launch the JTC 2017, evaluate the submitted proposals and select the projects recommended for funding. 23 projects could be selected, representing a total requested funding of 14.2 M€. This represents an overall 33% success rate in term of the number of projects. Regular exchanges with the two Flagships took place at the occasion of FLAG-ERA workshop or Flagship events.

The work carried out during the second period was centred around the following activities:
1. Manage FLAG-ERA II project, in parallel with FLAG-ERA III project (WP 1);
- Maintaining the momentum of the FLAG-ERA – Flagship Core Project collaboration. Its quality has been increasing over the years and is excellent.
- The coordination of the coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The activities in FLAG-ERA were adapted without difficulty to the new context created by the pandemic. The consortium of FLAG-ERA successfully established a coordinated procedure to support the funded projects.
2. Work in cooperation with the Flagship Core Projects (WPs 6 & 7)
- Implement and improve the association mechanisms between FLAG-ERA funded projects and respective Flagships.
- Analyse the research landscape in the domains of the Flagships, considering the needs of the respective Flagships. Two analysis for each Flagship were produced. In both cases, their design was co-constructed with the concerned Flagship.
- Select the research areas for the JTC 2019 and the JTC 2021. The topics were selected consensually and with the objective to meet the expectations of the Flagship Core Projects and FLAG-ERA funding organisations.
3. Manage FLAG-ERA website and communicate about FLAG-ERA activities (WP 5)
The website proved useful to manage the daily work of the consortium of FLAG-ERA. The publicly accessible website contains pages on the objectives of FLAG‐ERA, its partners and associates, thematic research domains, events, publications and reports, links to related initiatives including the Flagships, and contact points.
4. Concentrate on the follow-up and monitoring of the JTC 2015 (WP 8), JTC 2016 (WP 9) and JTC 2017 (WP 4)
FLAG-ERA II aimed also at maximising the impact of FLAG-ERA I joint transnational calls (JTC 2015 and JTC 2016) by facilitating proper implementation of the funded projects (for the JTC 2015 and the JTC 2016) and smooth integration of them to the Flagships activities (for the JTC 2015 only).
5. Broaden the coverage of the Flagships (WP 10)
FLAG-ERA II dedicated an important effort to contribute to deployment of the FET Flagship concept aiming at structuring the broadest European research community around a defined scientific and technological challenge.
6. Assess the impact of FLAG-ERA II (WP 10)
FLAG-ERA II succeeded in bringing together funding organisations, covering a very important share of Europe. The JTC 2017 assembled a budget of 20 M€, larger than the budget of the JTC 2015. FLAG-ERA II reinforced the connections between the projects of the JTC 2017 and between the projects of the respective Flagship Core Projects. FLAG-ERA II contributed to improving the association mechanisms. Moreover, FLAG-ERA II contributed to promote the Flagship concept among other multilateral initiatives. It also succeeded in shaping a follow-up project with FLAG-ERA III. Moreover, it happened that many outstanding projects resulted from the JTC 2017.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

23 new projects were selected in the framework of the JTC 2017. They added up to the 19 projects of the JTC 2015. Altogether, this represents a global funding of 23 M€. These 42 projects constitute most of the Flagship partnering projects and strengthen the Flagships. Besides, the support provided to the JTC 2016 projects, for a total amount of funding of 9.3 M€, improved the offer for potential new Flagships of Flagship-like programmes.

FLAG-ERA II appeared as successful in establishing a network gathering most national research funding organisations in Europe and including the major ones. It organised successfully the JTC 2017 and compared to JTC 2015 the total funding and number of funded projects in JTC 2017 significantly increased. It was also successful in networking the national scientific communities and stakeholders with the Flagships by three for the JTC 2017 projects funded in FLAG-ERA II with over 200 participants. Recommendations and concerns regarding further developments of the Flagships were elaborated and activities of FLAG-ERA II continued in FLAG-ERA III. The Flagship partnering framework was further elaborated under FLAG-ERA II and was well established for the FLAG-ERA funded projects. FLAG-ERA II performed inventories of scientific landscape and funding landscape and contributed to the overall Flagship research agenda. The results of the inventories were shared with the Flagships to widen participation in the Flagships and topics were elaborated in coordination to be included in the FLAG-ERA JTCs. However, contributions of FLAG-ERA to the Flagship partnering framework outside the FLAG-ERA JTCs were rather limited.
Overall, progress was significant for objectives under the control of FLAG-ERA II. The support of the national/regional funding organisations was considered as a real positive input to the development of the Flagships activities and as such FLAG‐ERA II. Additional impact could be created by better integration of national funded research in the Flagship activities.

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