01 / 02 / 2022
EP STOA Event on “Use of lump sum funding in EU research programmes” on 1 February 2022
The European Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) event ‘Use of lump sum funding in EU research programmes’ was held at the European Parliament on 1 February 2022.
Within the Horizon 2020 Programme, the European Commission (EC) launched a lump sum pilot, which envisaged the use of lump sum-based schemes instead of traditional schemes in certain areas. Recently, an assessment of the lump sum pilot was published by the EC, and the STOA Panel mandated a study to collect different ideas and feedback on the use of this scheme funding.
The STOA event aimed to present the studies and the views of the different stakeholders and to understand whether lump sum is the appropriate instrument for EU research programmes.
EARTO, represented by Dorte Dalsgaard (Team Manager, Finance and Accounts, from EARTO Member DTI as well as Core Team Member of EARTO WG Financial Experts), participated at the event as one of the stakeholders who were asked to give their feedback on the subject. The main message from these discussions by EARTO is the following:
- Workload increased during application and grant preparation fases
- Await final and thorough evaluation of the full life cycle of projects before expanding
- Impact on research and innovation projects still unknown
- Time might still be used to measure progress
EARTO therefore recommends to wait with the implementation of lump sumps and to limit their application to small projects.
