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EU Framework Programme funding compared to national public funding

data publication
Science in Figures
08 April 2022
Funding
The European Framework Programme is of increased importantance for the Netherlands. In this data publication we show the relationship between national public R&D expenditure and EU funding through the different Framework Programs. We also compare the funding of the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme with the funding of the European Research Council (ERC) to researchers at Dutch institutions.

In short

  • In 2020, the Netherlands spent 6.1 billion on research. In addition, we raised 0.9 billion euros through European funding.
  • The European funding is a continuously increasing share of the total public R&D.
  • The size of the person-oriented ERC grants is now the same as that of the Talent Scheme.

The income from EU Framework funding compared to national R&D

Source: Evaluations fifth and sixth FP by Senter (2003) and SenterNovem (2006), TWIN reports, H2020 Dashboard, last updated January 25, 2022.
Notes:  National public spending for the Netherlands is limited to direct R&D funding. 

Europe increasingly important

National expenditure and European income for the Dutch science system have increased over the years. National from €3.39 billion in 2000 to €6.1 billion in 2020. European from € 170 million in 2000 to € 874 million in 2020. The European part is becoming increasingly important: from 5% of the total during the 5th Framework Programme (1998-2001) to 12.5% of the total during Horizon 2020 (2014-2020).

Income from NWO Innovational Research Incentives Scheme and ERC grants

Source: talent scheme: NWO, ERC: ERC (until 2014) and European Commission, H2020 Dashboard (last updated January 25, 2022), after 2014.
Notes: Based on call year, with one exception: as of 2016, the call for the Starting Grants has gone out the year before. This has been corrected here, so that the Starting Grant 2016 is included in 2016 figures, etc. Both the NWO Talent Programma and the ERC are funding instruments targeted at funding excellent research of individual researchers. ERC funding presented here is exclusive of Synergy Grants, as the aim of this grant is different from the aim of the NWO talent scheme. The ERC data differ slightly from the data presented in the Dutch publication 'feiten & cijfers beleid voor excellente wetenschap', because a) there the Synergy Grants are included and b) the data in the report is based on data concerning individual grants.

Talented researchers get as much money from EU as from Netherlands
The increasing importance of funding from Europe can also be seen when we compare the NWO Talent Programme (Renewal Incentive) of the national financier NWO with the income from the European ERC programme. The NWO Talent Programme (Veni, Vidi, Vici) and the ERC grants (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and Proof of Concept) are so-called person-oriented grants. In total, researchers from Dutch institutions annually receive about 150-160 million euros through the NWO Talent Programme. Since about 2012 researchers obtain the same annual amount from Europe via the ERC. 

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