FP9 must aim for broad impact, university group urges

The EU’s next Framework programme must recognise that R&D impact is “complex and multi-faceted”, the League of European Research Intensive Universities has said.

Applicants to Framework 9 must not be asked to try to state the expected impact of their proposal at the application or proposal evaluation stages, because impact often cannot be predicted in advance, Leru said in a position paper it published on 27 April.

Horizon 2020 applicants are too often tempted to overstate expected impact, and this is “unfortunately often rewarded in the evaluation instead of penalised”, it said.