Evaluation study on excellent science in the European framework programmes for research and innovation: Final report phase 2 : supporting the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe

This evaluation study serves as an input for the mid-term evaluation of Horizon Europe. Its thematic focus is on excellent science and therefore it covers all programme parts under Pillar 1 of Horizon Europe, namely the European Research Council (ERC), the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), and Research Infrastructures (INFRA). It also covers the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Partnership2 and activities falling under the horizontal pillar ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’
(WIDERA). Beyond that, it considers how Horizon Europe (and Horizon 2020, whenever this is relevant for the analysis of long-term effects) contributed to excellent science as a whole. The results presented in this report serve to answer a number of predefined evaluation questions on the effectiveness, coherence, efficiency, EU added value, and relevance of the evaluated intervention. The underlying analysis covers all EU-27 Member States and associated countries under Horizon Europe and, where relevant, under H2020.