Interim Evaluation of Horizon Europe

add to pdf

The Horizon Europe interim evaluation assess the first results of Horizon Europe research and innovation activities funded by the EU in 2021-2023.

All aspects of the programme were evaluated, including:

European Partnerships
EU Missions
the European Institute of Technology (EIT)

This evaluation, required under Regulation 2021/695 (Article 52), helps to form the design of future EU research & innovation investments.

A Staff Working Document published by the Commission in 2023 describes the intervention logic of Horizon Europe, explains the evidence that will be used for designing, informing and improving the programme, including a comprehensive set of data and indicators.

Evaluation Timeline

Time	Action
July 2022	Call for Evidence for an Evaluation
December 2022 - February 2023	Public Consultation
August 2024	Evaluation Support Studies published (see below)
December 2023 - October 2024	Work of the Expert Group on the Interim Evaluation of Horizon Europe
October 2024	"Align, Act, accelerate” report published
30 April 2025	Publication of the Interim Evaluation of Horizon Europe

Evaluation of European Partnerships in the Interim Evaluation of Horizon Europe

The Interim Evaluation of Horizon Europe was published by the European Commission on 30 April 2025. European Partnerships have been assessed against their underlying criteria (e.g. impact; added value; openness/transparency; life cycle; internationalisation, monitoring, synergies). The tenor is generally positive (e.g. leverage effect, pooling of resources, long-term cooperation), but at the same time open challenges are pointed out (e.g. complexity and bureaucracy, lack of resources, dissemination/exploitationof results).

European Partnerships provide EU added value through the development of long-lasting knowledge networks.
The closer integration of European Partnerships into the programme has had positive effects: evidence from two evaluation support studies suggests that some areas covered by the partnerships are now better coordinated. This in turn has led to a significant increase in public funding from EU Member States and a stronger collaboration at programme level.
Looking at co-investment alone, European Partnerships leverage more resources than the rest of the Framework Programme. If all European Partnerships are excluded, the leverage factor for the ‘mainstream’ programme is around 0.09, equivalent to EUR 2.96 billion of co-investment. For partnerships as a whole, the leverage factor for project activities is 0.62 (EUR 7.22 billion).
The transparency and openness of the European Partnerships has improved. SMEs and participants from widening states still face some challenges.
In terms of international positioning and visibility, European Partnerships have taken different approaches depending on their strategic objectives. According to the Biennial Monitoring Report (BMR), 23 partnerships have allocated a budget for cooperation with partners outside the EU. Despite their efforts, external evaluations of the partnerships have identified the following obstacles:
- lack of sufficient financial resources to engage effectively with international partners,
- concerns about the competitiveness of European industry,
- geopolitical issues and demands for technological sovereignty and
- the absence of a well-defined strategy for international collaboration.
The fragmented monitoring of European Partnerships, and in some cases the reliance on ad hoc reporting exercises, has had a negative effect on the extent to which partnership performance has been evaluated.
The valorisation of research and development results remains a challenge. The involvement of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in academies provides unique support for skills building and learning.
European Partnerships successfully contribute to the EU policy objectives.
Further efforts are needed to improve the monitoring of European Partnerships. The coherence and quality of data varies greatly between the different types of partnerships. The use of a common system should become a prerequisite for the launch of all partnerships. Alternative approaches have led to significant delays in reporting and a considerable administrative burden.
In addition, a full list of the members of Joint Undertakings (JUs), institutionalised European Partnerships and co-programmed European Partnerships should be made publicly available so that an independent assessment can be made of the extent to which partners are meeting their legal obligations to contribute to research activities.

Published Documents

Staff Working Document

Communication

Evaluation reports on individual European Partnerships can be found in the Annexes of the Interim Evaluation of Horizon Europe, including: Chips JU, Circular Bio-based Europe JU, Clean Aviation JU, Clean Hydrogen JU, Europe’s Rail JU, EuroHPC JU, Global Health EDCTP3 JU, Innovative Health Initiative JU, SESAR 3 JU, Smart Networks and Services JU, EIT KIC Climate, EIT KIC Digital, EIT KIC Food, EIT KIC Health, EIT KIC InnoEnergy, EIT KIC Manufacturing, EIT KIC Raw Materials, EIT KIC Urban Mobility and the European Partnership on Metrology.

Evaluation Support Studies on Partnerships

The European Commission has published several so-called evaluation support studies that are targeted to impact areas (Green Transition, Resilient Europe, Innovative Europe) and cover specific parts of Horizon Europe and its predecessor. A total of 17 evaluation reports on European Partnerships were published within the evaluation support studies.

Evaluation report for Eurostars-3 – Part of the co-funded European partnership “Innovative SMEs

Service Navigation