The financing large scale research, development and innovation initiatives across Europe

Abstract

Funded by the European Commission through Horizon 2020, Topic NMP-37-2014—‘Practical experience and facilitating combined funding for large-scale RDI initiatives’, EU-Great! (web page: http://eu-great.com) project is an investigative study that will identify the best practices, approaches and policy framework to boost the financing of large-scale research, development and innovation initiatives across Europe. The EU-Great! will focus on investigating the best approaches adopted and the barriers encountered by stakeholders when combining funds from different public and private sources, specifically to translate successful fundamental research results and lab-scale prototypes into industrial demonstrators, production pilot lines, first market replications and commercialized products and services. Through interaction and dialogue with industry, researchers, investors, and governmental stakeholders the consortium will identify, analyze and validate the best practices adopted by consortia when forming and managing large-scale RDI initiatives. The EU-Great! consortium will also make recommendations to policy-makers for improving the administrative and policy framework of public-private funding instruments for combining funding, in order to stimulate greater investment and creation of more large-scale RDI initiatives in Europe. The purpose of the article is the description of the results of the EU-Great! project regarding definition and characteristics of large-scale research initiatives as well as issues on combined funding.