The first calls launching co-funded partnerships in Horizon Europe are now closed. For all of these calls, proposals have been submitted by the relevant consortia. The proposals for the Biodiversity and Innovative SMEs partnerships have already been evaluated, while the process for the other proposals is still ongoing.

The following calls for co-funded European Partnerships are now closed:

• Chemicals Risk Assessment
• Clean Energy Transition
• Driving Urban Transitions to Sustainability (DUT)
• Rescuing biodiversity to safeguard life on Earth
• Water4All
• Innovative SMEs

The following calls are still open:

• Transformation of Health Systems (04/2022)
• ERA for Health (04/ 2022)
• A climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy (02/2022)

The Partnership Knowledge Hub is at the heart of the new Strategic Coordinating Process for European Partnerships, a new governance structure for partnerships under Horizon Europe. The Partnership Knowledge Hub includes representatives from the Member States and involves the partnerships as observers. It held its first meeting on 13 October 2021. The main topics of discussion were the preparation of the first Biennial Monitoring Report on European Partnerships and the preparation of future policy discussions and foresight work.

After an agreement was reached on the text of the Single Basic Act (SBA), the umbrella regulation for the Joint Undertakings (JU) in Horizon Europe in the Council Working Group on Research (representatives of the member states) at the end of September, the European Parliament adopted its position on the SBA on 21 October 2021. This paves the way for formal adoption of the SBA by the Council at the end of November.

Following the publication of the SBA in the Official Journal in early December, the SBA will enter into force. After that, the founding members can/must sign the letters of commitment required by the SBA so that the new JUs can be constituted at the first meetings of the respective governing boards planned for December. It is planned that the Governing Boards will then release the work plans for 2022 and 2023 in the beginning of next year, so that the first calls for proposals can be published thereafter.

On 8 October, during the trialogue discussions between the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission, a political agreement was reached on the Metrology Article 185 initiative. The EP’s ITRE Committee has voted on the file on 14 October, and the plenary vote in first reading is scheduled for mid-November. After that, the file will go back to the Council for confirmation, followed by signing and publication in the Official Journal.

The need for a common framework for monitoring and assessment of partnerships in research and innovation as well as a central system for monitoring data has been acknowledged and addressed in the new phase of the partnerships in Horizon Europe. The European Commission set up in 2021 an Expert Group to support the Strategic Coordinating Process – a new governance framework for EU Research & Innovation (R&I) Partnerships – by developing a new framework and methodology for monitoring and evaluation of the new partnerships in close collaboration with the partnerships and the participating countries.

With the new partnership approach in Horizon Europe, the stakeholders of European Partnerships have been confronted with quite a lot of changes as Horizon Europe introduces a more strategic and impact-driven approach to partnerships. It sets out common life-cycle criteria for all partnerships with the focus on the effectiveness in achieving agreed Union priorities like openness, coherence and synergies with other relevant Union initiatives (including missions). Also, it introduces a systemic process of selecting, implementing and monitoring for all partnerships, linking them with the Strategic Planning of Horizon Europe. ERA-LEARN updated its website and introduced valuable background information on the changes, the Strategic Coordinating Process and gives support concerning administrative issues for both the Horizon Europe and the H2020 partnership landscape.