The European Commission has published a fact sheet presenting facts and figures on the results of ERA Calls under the WIDERA programme part of Horizon Europe.
Since the first ERA calls in 2021, 74 projects have received funding to the amount of € 159.8 million. The projects are carried out by 697 distinct participants from 61 countries, with a total of 970 participations. The five countries with the highest number of participations are Germany (80 participations), Belgium (79), Italy (71), Spain (66), and the Netherlands (64). Belgium, Germany, and France each coordinate 10 projects, followed by Spain with 9 and Italy and the Netherlands with 7 each. In addition to France (57 participations) and Ireland (31), the top ten participating countries include the Widening Countries Greece (50) and Portugal (31), as well as the United Kingdom (47), an Associated Country.
In nearly all projects there is at least one participation from a Widening Country. More than 150 participants are involved in more than one ERA project, with most participating in two projects. Projects have 13 participants on average, including beneficiaries, associated partners, and third parties.
Higher or secondary education establishments represent the largest group of organisation types participating, accounting for 34.5% of all participants; research organisation account for 21.8%. The third-largest group, at 17%, falls under the category “Other”, covering a wide range of entities, such as civil society organisations. Private forprofit entities represent 13.6%, followed closely by public bodies, such as ministries, which make up 13.1%.
The average success rate across the four ERA calls stands at 27%. The success rates varied greatly between individual calls, however: two calls achieved rates exceeding 40% (ERA call 2021: 45%, ERA call 2023: 44%), while the other two were considerably lower, with 24% for the 2022 call and just 13% for the most recent call (2024-01). Success rates also fluctuated significantly across individual topics. Over the four call years, certain thematic areas have been consistently represented in the call topics, namely Open Science, Gender Equality, and Ethics. With 35 projects, these areas account for nearly half of the 74 funded ERA projects, receiving approximately €80 million – half of the total EU funds allocated across the four calls.
For more information:
Results from the Horizon Europe ERA Calls: Exploring the Facts and Figures