Horizon Europe grants: Management and processes

The European Commission (EC) provides guidelines and resources on proper grant management in its EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Grant management manual. This page provides a general overview of each requirement, comparing EC guidelines and those of the Tri-agency council where applicable. Visit the Horizon Europe Programme Guide for more information.

Record keeping

All beneficiaries must keep records and other supporting documents to confirm proper use and costs claimed.

Records must be kept for five years after the final payment for grants over €60,000, or three years for grants of €60,000 or less

For more information, see Article 20 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement.

Amendments

Any changes to a GA or its annexes must be documented in a formal amendment directly in the Grant Management System:

Amendments can be prepared collaboratively but can only be submitted by the Coordinator
Amendments should typically be made before the end of a project, but some may be submitted afterward
Amendments include adding a beneficiary, an affiliated entity, and/or an associated partner, as well as changing the coordinator; Annexes 1 and 2
Grant amendments can be made if they do not call into question decisions about awarding the grant
- All amendment requests must include a rationale and supporting documents

Continuous reporting on milestones and deliverables

Article 21 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement includes continuous reporting on:

Milestone progress
Deliverables
Publications
Critical risk management
Communication activities
Intellectual property rights

Each consortium beneficiary must submit reports on milestones and deliverables related to their work, in accordance with the determined schedule :

Milestones: Control points that guide progress (kick-off meetings, survey first drafts, prototypes)
Deliverables: Outputs submitted to the EC (publications, progress reports, leaflets)

Reports and payment requests

To receive funding, consortium must submit periodic reports (as per the GA) including work progress and costs claimed.

Reports must be prepared by consortium members collectively but submitted by the coordinator via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Grant Management System. Notifications about required action related to periodic reporting are sent out by email.

Periodic reporting is divided into two parts (see Article 21.2 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement):

Technical report:

Part A: Accessible in the Grant Management System and contains project information tables (such as cover page, publishable summary)
Part B: Description of work done and status of project objectives. It includes any delays, budget overruns, actions not yet implemented

Financial report: Accessible in the Grant Management System and includes:

Financial statements (both individual and consolidated for all beneficiaries and/or affiliated entities)
Details about resources used (and a cost-reporting table if needed)
A certificate on the financial statements (CSF) may be required (see Article 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement)

For more information, see Articles 6 and 22 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement.

Acknowledgement of European funding

Canadian beneficiaries of Horizon Europe funding, which is funded primarily by the Government of Canada, should actively communicate/promote their research, acknowledging EU support by displaying the European flag and funding statement. Communication activities include:

Attending conferences and seminars
Distributing physical materials such as brochures, leaflets, posters, and/or electronic materials (such as via social media)
Participating in events such as exhibitions, school visits, Internet debates

Communication activities must be included in the grant proposal. Good communication:

Starts at the beginning of the action and continues until its conclusion
Is strategically planned, not uncoordinated or reactive
Has clear objectives and target audiences: it clearly defines the expected impacts of early, mid, and late communications on their intended audiences. In addition to audiences related to the project's subject matter, the media and the public should also be included
Has relevant messaging about how the action contributes to the everyday lives of people

For more information, see Article 17 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement.

Dissemination and exploitation of project results

Because EU grants are publicly financed, Horizon Europe beneficiaries are expected to share their results with targeted groups affected by the action as well as society at large:

Dissemination: Refers to the public disclosure of research results, for instance by way of scientific publications
Exploitation: Refers to the use of disseminated research results to guide further research and/or innovation activities. This can include commercial exploitation in the form of the creation, development, manufacturing, and marketing of a product, or the creation and delivery of a service

Unless stated otherwise, work programme proposals should include a planned summary of dissemination and exploitation activities. However, there are also limitations for research of a sensitive nature, which is excluded from this obligation.

Beneficiaries must provide a complete plan for the dissemination and exploitation of results, as well as a report on activities in progress. When forming a consortium, consider:

The eventual and expected results of the research
Ownership issues related to intellectual property rights

During the project's implementation and following its completion, beneficiaries must:

Exploit the research results or have another entity exploit them
- If the results are not exploited within one year of the project's completion, the beneficiary must use the Horizon Results Platform to find parties that can exploit the results
Comply with any other applicable call-specific exploitation obligations for up to four years after the completion of the action
Disseminate their results as soon as possible in a publicly available format
- All beneficiaries must be informed of any dissemination of results and have the opportunity to object on the grounds of harm to legitimate interests related to results or background

See Horizon Europe support websites for disseminating and exploiting results:

For step-by-step guidance on dissemination, exploitation, and communication activities, see Section 17, page 33-37 of the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Checks, audits, reviews and investigations

Based on the assessment of the grant agreement, responsible EU authorities may conduct project reviews, investigation and financial audits.

The EC has traditionally provided funding based on actual costs, it is increasing the use of lump sum funding in Horizon Europe to simplify grant management and reduce administrative burden.

For lump sum grants (which do not use actual costs), there will be no financial audits focusing on costs
- There will be no questioning of receipts or salary extracts
- There can be technical audits to verify that the work packages were successfully completed

To learn more about the project monitoring process, visit the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Project monitoring process – reviews page.

In terms of project reviews:

The granting authority regularly reviews project implementation to ensure compliance with the GA (assessing deliverables and reports)
In-depth reviews may take place, focusing on the project's technical implementation. These may also examine financial and budgetary aspects under the GA

To learn more about the audits process, visit the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Audits page.

Beneficiaries must fully cooperate in project reviews and financial audit processes and provide any required documentation relevant to agreement compliance by the requested deadline. Where deemed necessary, this may also include on-the-spot visits/access to sites and premises. The EC reserves the right to conduct checks, reviews, investigations and audits on grants received by beneficiaries from other granting authorities. To learn more, visit Article 25 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement.

Communication with the granting authority

Three types of communications can take place with the granting authority (GA):

Formal notification is used:
- When acknowledgement of receipt is needed, such as when replying to formal notifications received from the granting authority
- For communications under Article 19 of the GA, such as information requests and information about events and circumstances that affect the action
- When required under the conditions of the GA, such as when declaring a conflict of interest
Portal messaging facility (used for all other communications)
Grant Management System (can only be used by the coordinator)

Additional information

For information and resources, including step-by-step guides, visit:

Language selection

WxT Search form