1. S2E Conference NCP_WIDE.NET Workshop
Bonn
14 March 2017
Nicholas Harrap
Stairway to Excellence - S3P
Growth and Innovation, DG JRC, EC

2. National Events National Events in all EU13 Member States
Approx participants from different communities (MAs, NCPs, research institutions, local/governmental authorities in charge of RIS3 and/or H2020 and business)
Approx international experts (on R&I related activities)
Joint statements addressing the main issues and possible actions to tackle these issues
A policy brief based on the joint statements

3. S2E Conference – 8 March
Approx participants (including directors , members and representatives from European Parliament, different DGs of European Commissions, Member States, different EU initiatives and private companies)
Achievements of the project, including lessons learnt from the S2E National Events
A better understanding of the national (and regional) innovation ecosystem with a special emphasis on the identification of obstacles, barriers and potentials to innovation.
Raising awareness of the actions needed to enable synergies
Sharing experiences
Drawing lessons for the future and identifying follow-up actions to enhance the potential synergies

4. SYNERGIES BETWEEN FUNDS – important issues
Tension between S3 in regional innovation systems and excellence based research
Need for national support for application preparation for H2020
RIS3 themes and H2020 themes – may not be matching
Different approaches, local ESIF and large scale H2020
Differences in rules and overall complexity
Importance of internationalisation

5. IMPLEMENTATION Bottlenecks
Different understanding and implementation of state aid rules
Possible constraints in the maximum funding of projects – state aid limits
Different financial rules and cost models
Mismatch in timing of call for proposals (H2020 and national calls)
Seal of excellence: redundant evaluation of proposals at the national/regional level

6. IMPLEMENTATION Bottlenecks
Not enough continuous training of Managing Authorities on both H2020 and ESIF (multi-fund expertise)
Keeping strategic focus and result-oriented instead of chasing funds
SMEs spend 80% of time in managing administration of ESIF projects

7. IMPLEMENTATION Way forward
Projects evaluated at EU level (H2020) must not undergo repeated evaluation at regional national level
State aid rules must not apply to H2020 projects with EU impact regardless of the source of funding
Simplification for state aid and the EU programme rules
more European and national schemes to support good-quality H2020 projects where they are above threshold but not funded – similar to SoE

8. Anything else?