Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FLAG-ERA III (The Flagship ERA-NET — FLAG-ERA III)
Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2024-11-30
FLAG-ERA has contributed to the objectives of the two FET flagships HBP and Graphene. More specifically, the main objective was 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. In addition, it targets 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. Thus, FLAG-ERA supports research and innovation activities that 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 III was to launch a new Joint Transnational Call, the JTC 2019, with a budget of about 20 M€. The JTC 2019 is composed of three sub-calls, namely HBP Basic and Applied Research, Graphene Basic research and Graphene Applied Research and Innovation. This last one having been introduced with the JTC 2017 in the frame of FLAG-ERA II, for accompanying the evolution of the Flagships towards higher TRLs and supporting the delivery of concrete results for the European society.
A specific objective of FLAG-ERA III was to launch a new Joint Transnational Call, the JTC 2019, with a budget of about 20 M€. The JTC 2019 is composed of three sub-calls, namely HBP Basic and Applied Research, Graphene Basic research and Graphene Applied Research and Innovation. This last one having been introduced with the JTC 2017 in the frame of FLAG-ERA II, for accompanying the evolution of the Flagships towards higher TRLs and supporting the delivery of concrete results for the European society.
During the first period, a major activity has been to launch the JTC 2019, evaluate the submitted proposals and select the projects recommended for funding. 82 pre-proposals were submitted to the call, representing a total requested funding of 50 M€. Three scientific evaluation panels, one for each call topic, were set up. 65 proposals were pre-selected and the corresponding applicants invited to submit a full proposal. These full proposals were evaluated and 60 were ranked above threshold. Out of these, 25 projects could be recommended for funding, representing a total requested funding of 16.4 M€. This represents an overall 30% success rate in term of the number of projects and a 33% success rate in term of funding.
After the organisation of the JTC 2019, the consortium has been able to launch additional Calls: JTC 2021 and JTC 2023 without co-funding by the EC. For both Calls, proposals have been evaluated, selected and followed. As a summary, for JTC 2021, 44 projects were evaluated, 13 of them were funded (29.5% succes rate) and for JTC 2023, 29 projects were evaluated, 12 projects were finally funded (41.3% success rate). Thanks to both of this Call, the additional fundings to the Flagships has represented: 9.7 M€ for JTC 2021 and 7.9 M€ for JTC 2023, hence a total of 17.6 M€. This is about the same level of funding that was distributed for the JTC 2019.
Besides, communication activities were actively pursued, mainly through the FLAG-ERA web site. Regular exchanges with the two Flagships took place at the occasion of FLAG-ERA workshops or Flagship events.
After the organisation of the JTC 2019, the consortium has been able to launch additional Calls: JTC 2021 and JTC 2023 without co-funding by the EC. For both Calls, proposals have been evaluated, selected and followed. As a summary, for JTC 2021, 44 projects were evaluated, 13 of them were funded (29.5% succes rate) and for JTC 2023, 29 projects were evaluated, 12 projects were finally funded (41.3% success rate). Thanks to both of this Call, the additional fundings to the Flagships has represented: 9.7 M€ for JTC 2021 and 7.9 M€ for JTC 2023, hence a total of 17.6 M€. This is about the same level of funding that was distributed for the JTC 2019.
Besides, communication activities were actively pursued, mainly through the FLAG-ERA web site. Regular exchanges with the two Flagships took place at the occasion of FLAG-ERA workshops or Flagship events.
25 new projects have been selected in the framework of the JTC 2019, 13 for JTC 2021 and 12 for JTC 2023. They add up to the 19 projects of the JTC 2015 and the 23 of the JTC 2017. Altogether, this represents a global funding of around 60 M€. These projects constitute most of the Flagship partnering projects and strengthen the Flagships.