Today, ERA-LEARN launched its new Twitter channel. The new channel is available under the Twitter name @ERA-LEARN_EU.

Since 2008, the ERA-LEARN consortium has been supporting the Public-Public Partnerships (P2P) community. Building on the success of the previous ERA-LEARN project, we are now taking P2P support to the next level: Our experienced consortium is looking forward to the continuous cooperation with all relevant and interested stakeholders.

In this issue: A revised policy approach for European partnerships under Horizon Europe: What’s new? | Efficient implementation of partnerships under Horizon Europe | An interview with Maria Reinfeldt, Chair of the ERAC Ad-Hoc Working Group on Partnerships, and more...

The ERAC ad-hoc Working Group was tasked with four goals. First, to propose criteria for selecting EU research & innovation partnerships. Second, to sketch out a long-term strategic coordinating process for the selection, implementation, monitoring and phasing out partnerships. The Working Group released reports on these two goals in May.

On 7 June 2018, the Commission adopted its proposal for the new framework programme, called Horizon Europe, which will become operational from January 2021 onwards. While the overall policy for the new framework programme was ‘evolution and no revolution’, the part on ‘European partnerships’ differs significantly compared to Horizon 2020.

The new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that enters into force today has several implications for the use of personal data within the context of implementing co-funded joint call for proposals and funding/managing co-funded projects as well as using mailing lists and sending newsletters.

In May, the European Commission proposed €97.6 billion for Horizon Europe, the next EU framework programme for research and innovation (2021-2027). Additional €2.4 billion are scheduled for the Euratom nuclear research programme.

EU Research and Innovation Partnerships have been used since FP6 to optimise the contribution of public and private players in achieving sustainable growth and competitiveness, addressing societal challenges, and to ensure that national policies and Union policy are mutually consistent. A discussion on partnerships at the Informal Council of July 2017 resulted in a general recognition by the Member States of the continued relevance of partnerships.

The European Commission has launched nine calls in P2P specific topics in the Work Programme 2018 of the framework programme Horizon 2020. The Work Programme 2018 will fund P2Ps with a planned Union contribution of about Euro 100 million. H2020 calls invite for the submission of six proposals for ERA-NET Cofund actions, one proposal for EJP Cofund actions and two Coordination and Support Actions (CSA). In 2019, there will be calls for three additional ERA-NET Cofund actions and two EJP Cofund actions with a planned Union contribution of about Euro 90 million.

The European Commission has published a paper by Professor Mariana Mazzucato entitled "Mission-Oriented Research and Innovation in the European Union - a problem-solving approach to fuel innovation-led growth".

During the annual P2P-Event 2017, conference participants identified 20 services that ERA-LEARN could provide to support the P2P-activities. While many of the specified needs have already been addressed by the current ERA-LEARN 2020 project, the next ERA-LEARN phase will also reach out to stakeholders beyond the P2P community.

The focus of the 2017 Annual Joint Programming Conference was on the future of P2Ps under the motto "Co-designing Public-Public Partnerships for the next Framework Programme".