According to the 2014-2020 legal frameworks of the main EU
programmes supporting research and innovation (Horizon 2020 and
the European Structural and Investments Funds), the Commission
and national authorities are legally required to establish synergies
between them.
We assessed the degree of implementation of four types of synergies
and concluded that it varied by type. In particular, while measures to
create upstream synergies (e.g. support for research centres) were
well implemented, measures to create downstream synergies
(e.g. funding the exploitation of research results) were hardly
implemented.
Differences in the legal frameworks, limited cooperation between
the programmes’ research and innovation stakeholders and the
absence of interoperability between their projects’ databases
limited the scope for creating synergies. We make recommendations
to address these issues to increase the use of synergies.
ECA special report pursuant to Article 287(4), second subparagraph,
TFEU.