Question
In light of the answer given to Question E-010150/2014, can the Commission explain why 708 projects had participants from only one country, given that one of the objectives of the framework Programme is to foster cross-border cooperation and networking?
Answer
Most projects referred to by the Honourable Member are funded through either European Research Council (ERC) funding schemes or Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), which belong to the ‘Excellent Science’ pillar of Horizon 2020(3) and mainly support individual researchers rather than consortia of researchers. The eligibility criteria for ERC funding schemes and MSCA actions are different from the eligibility criteria for actions funded under the other two pillars of Horizon 2020.
The ERC supports top individual researchers of any nationality who wish to carry out their frontier research in the 28 EU Member States or associated countries. The focus of MSCA is to provide grants for all stages of researchers’ careers — be they doctoral candidates or highly experienced researchers — to encourage transnational, inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary mobility of individual researchers. ERC and MSCA enable research-focused organisations to host talented individual researchers from any country, promote cross-border mobility of researchers, and help create strategic partnerships with leading institutions worldwide.
