Ready for Horizon Europe (2021-2027)

On the 25^th of March, KAILA, our innovation tool, available free of charge to anyone interested, published the e-book “Horizon 2020 Key figures,” which reviews the 7 years of the Horizon 2020 programme. The e-book provides the key figures of the programme, giving an overview of its results and taking stock of various aspects of interest, such as the distribution of funding, the most active and successful countries in the programme, and the companies and projects that have obtained the most funding.

A look at our results

As we look forward to the official launch of the new period (2021- 2027) with Horizon Europe at the forefront, we have also taken the opportunity to take stock of our activity and success during the 7 years of the previous period (2014-2020). Looking back, we can only be proud of the work we have accomplished and, most importantly, of the success we have achieved for our clients. We are delighted to share the most significant results of our hard work over the past 7 years:

– More than 1000 European project proposals submitted for our clients in all types of European programmes.

– 334 proposals approved, with over 720 million euros in grant funding obtained for our clients. This represents around 1% of the total funding distributed across Europe in the programming period.

– An average success rate of 33%, three times the European average, and with knowledge areas and/or programmes/calls that stand out even more (such as +50% success rate in Energy related programmes and LIFE+).

– We have succeeded in funding projects in almost all the programmes of the period: Horizon 2020 (in all its sectors), LIFE+, CEF, COSME, INTERREG, ERASMUS+, PRIMA, Eurostars, various JTIs, KICs… In some programmes, our activity has stood out at European level. Some examples of this are the following:

• LIFE+: ZABALA has submitted 12% of all proposals in the Environment sub-programme at the European level. Likewise, our funding rates in this programme, every year, have been much higher than the average.
• CEF: 20 proposals have been approved in different sub-programmes, with a relative weight of 2-3% at European level and success rates of 100% in some calls.

• Innovation Fund: ZABALA presented 5% of the total projects presented throughout Europe.

Next steps: Horizon Europe (2021-2027)

We have also been actively working on our own projects, with the approval of 6 new projects that we coordinate and another 47, in which we participate as partners, thanks to which ZABALA has become the 1^st SME and the 4^th Spanish entity in terms of funding obtained. Some projects also allow us to position ourselves as leaders of strategic initiatives at a European level, such as in the energy sector, where we lead the ETIP SNET, BRIDGE, Batteries Europe and Hydropower initiatives.

These results help us look forward with great optimism to the next programming period, for which we have been preparing with great care: our teams of consultants have been significantly reinforced, and we have improved and fine-tuned our methodologies and expertise. We are impatient for the new calls to be officially published, which should take pace in the coming weeks. We are already working with our clients on new project ideas, since we know that time will be very valuable in 2021, which will be full of call deadlines after July 2021.