Preparing a short stage-1 proposal? Mind the new declaration

22nd December 2021 at 8:00 am

Two-stage submission procedures still exist in most instruments or sub-programmes of the new EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe. We have analysed the single- and two-stage procedures within the current Work Programmes 2021-2022 of some of our priority areas, namely Health (Cluster 1), Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5) and Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6) in terms of number of call topics, timing, budget and other criteria. Based on our experience from our last two-stage submission proposal submitted in Horizon 2020 (H2020), the DECIDE project, we have additionally tried to find out whether the rules are still the same. For example, we checked whether changes from the short proposal submitted in stage-1 can still be made in the full proposal in stage-2, knowledge that we shared in one of our H2020 blog posts – and we found a big difference and important change! Please read more further below.

Statistics on stage-1 and stage-2 procedures

As you can see from the table here, 2-stage procedures seem to be more present in Cluster 6, more precisely in the areas of biodiversity, food, bioeconomy, and resilient communities. The share of the funding allocated to two-stage calls is however higher in the Health Cluster.

Our comparison also revealed that the submission deadlines are rather scattered over the year and there seems to be no clear pattern or uniform schedule. We can assume that the results of the stage-1 proposals are communicated at least two months in advance before the stage-2 submission deadline.

Declaration of changes between stage-1 and stage-2

In H2020, consortia could make substantial changes to their stage-1 proposal theoretically and submit the stage-2 proposal with significant modifications, such as new partners and a different budget.

Although we always recommended avoiding big changes and having everything “in place” already for the short proposal, we wonder of course why the European Commission has introduced a new online form on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal where changes need to be declared.

This new form, as shown on page 24 (Section 5 – Other questions) of the so-called Guide for Applicants, the guidelines for the “Standard Application Form (HE RIA, IA)”, requires applicants to report changes regarding the partnership, budget, and the approach. As “the full stage-2 proposal must be consistent with the short outline proposal submitted to the stage 1”, this implies that (substantial) changes are no longer possible. For this reason, we highly recommend starting early with the preparation of short proposals, even though it is only ten pages, and having your project partners confirmed before the submission of stage-1. This is also important because the administrative details, except the partner description with the list of publications and projects, need to be provided for each participant in the forms “organisation data”.

accelopment in stage-1 proposals

Given that partner changes need to be declared and are not recommended, have you considered including a professional partner for EU project management, communication, and dissemination support? As we have ample experience with short proposals where only the excellence and impact of your proposed project will be evaluated, we would be happy to share our knowledge and can give you advice at this early stage, even at short notice, and then support you in the preparation of the full stage-2 proposal.

In the tables below, you can find the list of two-stages calls in the three Horizon Europe clusters, with key information on the deadlines, the budget, and the anticipated number of funded projects.

Cluster 1 – Health

Cluster 5 – Climate, Energy and Mobility

Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Dr. Johannes Ripperger
Research & Innovation Manager

Dr. Jeanette Müller
CEO

Andreia Cruz
Research & Innovation Project Manager