5.1.2 Funding decisions

National/regional decisions generally follow internal regulations except for cases in which the ERA-NET has commissioned this task to a joint panel (usually if a real common pot model is applied). The fact that cross border collaboration between nationally funded projects is facilitated forms the important deviation from this internal regulation. A coordinated project start within a common time frame is crucial to allow effective trans-national collaboration.

The national/regional funding decision of each program owner is the required input for ERA-NETs applying the virtual common pot model. Usually, each national/regional program has an internal board of decision makers in charge to officially approve the funding of projects recommended by evaluators.

Decisions should follow in strict consent with the results of the joint evaluation and the jointly made recommendation of projects. An excellent communication within the ERA NET consortium, an open use of information about national decisions and a timely execution of the process are necessary to control the activities and to start the projects and their research activities in an appropriate manner.

For ERA-NETs applying a real common pot or mixed mode model operated by a central call secretariat the required input of national/regional program owners is the formal transfer of decision making to the decision making panel of the ERA-NET, and assignment of freedom to operate the following process to the call secretariat. In this case the decision making is the result of the panel meeting and no further coordination of decisions is necessary.

In ERA-NET Plus calls, the currently most advisable financial model is the mixed mode.

This funding mode helps to ensure that selection decisions can strictly follow the ranking list of the evaluated proposals and that the participating funding countries/beneficiaries maintain their initial commitments. The final decision on which projects are to be funded in an ERA-NET Plus call determines the amount of budgets to be spent by the funders, and that influences also the EC contribution. Beneficiaries of the ERA-NET Plus call need to consider that they are required to pre-finance the final payment from their national/ regional budgets prior to receiving the final payment from the EC.

The final EC contribution is open to variations and can, in principle, only be determined at the end of the ERA-NET Plus activity as the costs claimed by and granted to the projects can vary in their running time.

Suggestions for funding distribution scenarios:

filling of gaps first regardless of national return/fair share, and followed then by a proportional redistribution of the remaining EC contribution among the funding agencies. The EC contribution will be given primarily to those funding agencies that have run out of national resources to cover their remaining national contributions requested in the projects recommended for funding.

Download: "Ranking ERA-NET plus"
fair national return regardless of the “gaps, this might mean that lesser projects can be funded and/or that additional efforts have to be made in order to adjust the project budgets during the contract negotiation phase: The EC contribution will be distributed proportionally among the funding agencies based on the respective national/regional contributions.
a certain fixed percentage of the [or even the entire] EC contribution flows into a joint “balancing pot” – any remaining EC contribution will be shared proportionally among the funding agencies as under 2.