21. Dec. 2020

Austrian Science Ministry confirms success of ZSI in SC6 "Europe in a changing world" (H2020)

Today we received an eMail from the Austrian Ministry of Science, Education and Research, which makes us happy. It is written there:

"With Horizon 2020 coming to an end soon, it is also possible to take stock of Austria's activities in Societal Challenge 6. With 130 project participations and 12 project coordinations, 37.5 million euros in funding could be obtained over the seven years (data as of November 2020). A major drawback is the extremely low success rate of 9% in SC6 (although Austria is slightly above with 11%). 65 different Austrian organizations have won projects in SC6, with three organizations winning more than 10 projects each, 14 organizations winning between six and two projects, and 48 organizations winning one project (see also the list attached from the public area of the EU-PM portal ). Even more important are the many scientific findings and practical applications found in the projects, the networks that were established and the exchange between scientists from Austria and all over Europe"

ZSI fully agrees with the last sentence!

One more note: while the University of Vienna receives the highest share of structural funding among all Austrian universities (it is also the largest university in Austria), and FFG is a financially well endowed state-owned agency, ZSI receives ZERO (= 0) structural subsidy from the state. Maybe, this should give policy-makers food for thought on how to deal better with non-university research in Austria, how to better integrate and support it. Because with only halfway fair financial support from the public sector, we could achieve much more together! You just have to want it!

For the sake of completeness, it should be noted that ZSI, as a social science institution, is not only active in SC6, but has successfully acquired most of its more than 40 H2020 projects in the other societal challenges. Social science is what social scientists do, not what is disciplinarily boxed in.

You can find the list of the best performing Austrian organsiations in Challenge 6 attached for download.

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