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The role of ‘results’ in Horizon Europe proposals

Although we are more than halfway in the life of Horizon Europe, many proposals, especially in Pillar II, continue to fall foul of the fundamental requirements of the Commission’s templates. A common pitfall is the absence of a clear and documented statement of what the expected results of a project are going to be. In such cases, the Impact Summary section 2.3, which requires a statement of the results, is filled with unrelated titles which exist nowhere else in the proposal.

Horizon Europe proposal structure showing the role of project results linking deliverables, outcomes and impacts.

Horizon Europe vs Horizon 2020: From activities to impact

The difference between Horizon2020 and Horizon Europe is the drive: activities vs impact. In contrast to H2020 proposals, where Impact was answered ‘empirically’, using a ‘common sense’ approach, Horizon Europe relies on workprogramme-prescribed impacts. Applicants for funding should not have to ‘invent’ or derive their own impacts. Instead, they must show why the outputs of their project will have a significant contribution to workprogramme pre-defined shorter- and longer-term effects, called expected “outcomes” and “impacts” respectively.

Both are expected to materialise after the funded life of a project.

Why results are the backbone of a Horizon Europe proposal

The entire logical structure of Horizon Europe proposals is manifested in the application templates issued by the Commission and the instructions therein. Chapter 2 ‘Impact’ states: “The results of your project should make a contribution to the expected outcomes set out for the work programme topic over the medium term, and to the wider expected impacts set out in the ‘destination’ over the longer term.” The first key concept of any proposal is revealed in the sentence above: ‘results of your project’. To justify your project’s contribution to outcomes and impacts, your basis is the results. In other words, the output produced during the funded life of the project. In other words the ‘Deliverables’. A project is what it delivers, i.e., its Deliverables.

The backbone structure of your Horizon Europe proposal is now already in place:

  • you should clearly present and analyse a set of outputs, termed ‘results’ in your proposal
  • each result should correspond to one or more deliverables
  • you should describe a consistent, convincing path leading from results to workprogramme expected outcomes and impacts

Where should the results be presented in a proposal? And what is the relationship of results to chapter 1 ‘Excellence’? Let us first recall:

  • Results concern what is produced and found during a project
  • The part of a proposal which treats the while-funding-lasts phase is Excellence
  • The part which treats the after-funding-ends phase is Impact, section 2.1

Where should results be presented in a Horizon Europe proposal?

And the answer is: results should be presented and analysed in Excellence. Results realise and implement the objectives of a project. They should be accompanied by clear, (quantitative if possible) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Technology Readiness Level (TRL) estimates and a clear correspondence showing which results realise which objective.

In this way, measurability of results becomes measurability of objectives.

A common mistake: replacing results with objectives

Result-less proposals substitute ‘results’ with ‘objectives’. They include long lists of detailed objectives, loaded with KPIs and even TRLs. This not only makes the evaluator lose clarity regarding the aims and outputs of the project but also creates logical inconsistencies in the description of impact pathways in section 2.1. Not recommended!

A strong Horizon Europe proposal must clearly define its project results and demonstrate how they correspond to deliverables produced during the project. These results form the basis for linking the project to expected outcomes and longer-term impacts defined in the work programme.

Clear presentation of results in the Excellence section, supported by measurable indicators such as KPIs and TRL levels, helps evaluators understand the objectives, outputs and impact pathway of the project. Without clearly defined results, proposals risk losing coherence and failing to demonstrate their contribution to the expected outcomes and impacts.