Lessons learned from 2014 calls: proposal
management and best practices
Agata Kotkowska
Head of Sector Buildings and District Heating/Cooling
EASME
Connecting European Chambers:
Sharing Lessons learnt and new challenges from EU Programmes
EESC - 25th March 2015
Content
1.Energy Efficiency 2014 Call
2.Evaluation principles
3.Getting started…tips and lessons learnt
4.Things that often go wrong…
5.Where to find information
HORIZON 2020 BUDGET
Industrial
Leadership
EUR 17.0 billion
Societal Challenges
EUR 29.7 billion
European Institute of
Innovation and
Technology
EUR 2.7 billion
Excellent Science
EUR 24.4 billion
Euratom (2014-2018)
EUR 1.6 billion
Other EUR 3.2 billion
Societal
Challenges
Budget
2014-20
(EUR billion)
1. Health, demographic change and wellbeing
7.5
2. Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry,
marine and maritime and inland water research and the
Bioeconomy
3.9
3. Secure, clean and efficient energy
5.9
4. Smart, green and integrated transport
6.3
5. Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and
raw materials
3.1
6. Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies
1.3
7. Secure societies
1.7
Total participants
Retained participants
•
456 proposals
submitted
16%
Public Body (excl.
research and
education)
11%
Research Organisations
16%
•
56 proposals
selected for
funding
41%
16%
Higher or Secondary
Education
Private for Profit (excl.
education)
Others
Retained proposals: Buildings & Consumers
•
4 projects developing IT tools to target consumers in public buildings and
social housing (EE11 – R&I)
•
4 projects under EE10 targeting consumers through an (a) online platform
(Topten) or (b) large campaign, or focusing on (c) office occupants or (d)
vulnerable consumers
•
4 socio-economic research projects addressing the multiple benefits or
barriers of EE; or the development of scenarios and policy
recommendations (EE12 – R&I)
Retained proposals: Heating and Cooling
•
2 projects developing advanced methodologies and tools for controlling
and optimising a wide range of District Heating and Cooling systems (EE13
– R&I)
•
1 EE14 project removing market barriers to the uptake of efficient heating
and cooling, with a focus on package systems integrating solar thermal
energy
Retained proposals: Industry & Products
•
2 industry proposals, one focusing on steam generators and electric motor
systems, the other on waste water treatment plants (EE16)
•
1 ambitious project to raise compliance of space heating, lighting and
imaging equipment. 13 market surveillance authorities involved (EE15)
Retained proposals: Innovative Financing
•
One project for the creation of a national financing platform and 2 other
addressing the green value of buildings (EE19)
•
Another 4 EE19 proposals addressing frameworks for the standardisation and
benchmarking of investments
(labelling of investment portfolios, standardisation of investment processes in
building renovation and energy performance contracting, evaluation of technical
risks on PV projects)
•
4 Project Development Assistance projects triggering altogether more than €
100 million of investments in EE (EE20)
•
3 projects for the development and market roll-out of innovative energy services
and financial schemes for sustainable energy; one of them focusing on SMEs
(EE21)
Proposal management:
H2020 Evaluation principles
• Fair and equal treatment of all proposals
• Based on the criteria announced in the Work Programme
• Independent external experts
• Confidential process - No conflicts of interest
• Competitive process
• Indicative budget (per topic) as guidance
• Basic steps of the evaluations
• Eligibility & Admissibility conditions
• Award criteria (assessed by external experts)
Proposal management: Evaluation
• Award criteria:
• Excellence
• Impact
• Quality & efficiency of implementation
• Only the best proposals, i.e. those not
requiring negotiations, were recommended
for funding
Frequent mishaps – Eligibility /
Admissibility
•
Call deadline is unchangeable: use all advantages of the electronic submission
system to make the deadline!
•
Completeness: one section missing makes your proposal inadmissible
•
Partnerships: remember the principle of 3 participants from EU Member States
or Associated Countries (except EE 20 + parts of EE 19)
•
Page limit of 50 pages for CSA (Market Uptake) proposals and 70 pages for
RIA/IA proposals - applied strictly during evaluations!
Getting it right – Excellence
•
Evaluation Results: Proposals often miss explanation of the concept and added
value and innovation falls short
•
Make choices, focus, have a clear direction, remove unnecessary elements,
innovate
•
"Explain the overall concept underpinning the project"
 Do this not only from the perspective of the Coordinator… input from your
partners is key
•
Your opportunity for a unique selling point - do not assume that evaluators
know your specific context
•
You win by explaining!
Getting it right – Impact
•
Evaluation results: Ambition is not quantified / not realistic / not supported by
action
•
Keep your 'challenge' in mind!
•
Quantify! Describe in a concise, yet robust, manner your baseline, benchmarks
and assumptions
•
Plan activities to monitor your performance
•
Be aware: keep the link to actual activities in your work plan!
•
Explain with a plan how you will exploit, disseminate and communicate your
results
Getting it right – Resources/Workplan
•
Evaluation results: Work plan not sufficiently detailed / Budgets not justified /
Budgets seem top-down
•
Make sure work description is sufficiently detailed and clear
•
Invest time into this: this is the opportunity to convince evaluators that you
can materialise your vision
•
Invest time into your resource planning –bottom up
While perfect proposals
do not exist…
• We look forward to excellent proposals,
with convincing impact from the best
possible use of resources
• Submitted by motivated and inspired
project teams
• Aiming to deliver and 'make a change'
Code
EE Call 2015 Topics
Type
Budget
(M€)
Deadline
Design for new highly performing
buildings
EE-18 Heat recovery in large industrial systems
IA
9
RIA
10.6
EE-06 Demand response in blocks of buildings
EE-11 ICT for energy efficiency
EE-13 District heating and cooling
IA
RIA
RIA
8
8.5
5.3
4 June
EE-05
EE-07
EE-09
EE-10
EE-14
EE-15
EE-16
EE-17
EE-19
EE-20
EE-21
CSA
CSA
CSA
CSA
CSA
CSA
CSA
CSA
CSA
CSA
CSA
59.3
4 June
EE-02
Buildings renovation
Capacity building of public authorities
Empowering stakeholders
Consumer engagement
Efficient heating and cooling
EU product efficiency legislation
Energy efficiency in industry
Innovation through large buyer groups
Attractiveness of investments
Project development assistance
Energy services and financial schemes
4 Feb.
4 Feb.
Coming soon: WP2016-17
• Reflecting on the lessons learned from the Calls 2014
• Building i.e. on the SET-Plan Integrated Roadmap priorities
and the latest policy developments
• Indicative timeline:
30 September 2015:
Adoption by the Commission
Information Ressources
• H2020 Portal
• National Contact Points
• FP7 projects
• 300+ Intelligent Energy Europe projects,
including various information platforms
Thank you
for your attention!
Find out more:
www.ec.europa/research/horizon2020