Do you want to collaborate on an H2020 call with Chinese partners? The Chinese-EU Co-Funding Mechanism will allow your Chinese partners to be funded.

The Horizon 2020 programme is a programme opened to the world. Participants from all over the world can therefore apply in most of the H2020 calls, and many calls particularly encourage cooperation with non-EU partners. Flagship initiatives are also developed to encourage collaboration on specific topics.

Contrary to the SP7 Programme, the Horizon 2020 programme does not finance non-EU partners.
Therefore, the Chinese Government and the EU agreed to set up a Co-Funding Mechanism on research and innovation to support joint projects between European and Chinese universities, research institutions and companies.

Different Chinese governmental agencies are responsible to provide co-funding to Chinese organisation that apply to an H2020 call.
For example, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) will provide co-funding for the flagship initiative on biotechnology for the environment and human health and the ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has been providing co-funding for the topic “LC-MG-1-6-2019: Aviation operations impact on climate change”.

The ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) offers the most significant funds to support collaboration in Science, Technology and Innovation. It is primarily used for EU-China Flagship initiatives and other Horizon 2020 topics targeting China but it is also opened to other areas of Horizon 2020, especially those linked to MOST priority areas (New generation information networks; Intelligent and green manufacturing; Safe, clean and efficient energy; Advanced effective, safe and convenient health technologies; Marine equipment; Space; New materials; Large science facilities research; Public security).The exact terms and conditions of MOST co-funding mechanism calls are published by MOST in their website twice a year.

This mechanism is a great tool to allow the collaboration between European and Chinese, and to ensure the further participation of Chinese organisation to H2020 calls. Nonetheless, there are some challenges that you need to keep in mind:

  • A Grant Agreement of H2020 with the EC is necessary for the Chinese organisations to submit an application for the co-funding.
  • The application submitted to the MOST must match the Chinese priorities. This means that the project submitted to the Chinese authorities can be a different one than the project submitted to the EC.
  • In fact, only 60% of the proposals funded by H2020, are then funded by the MOST.
  • The application process is long and time consuming. Most certainly, your Chinese partners will not be funded by the beginning of your project and that is an important consideration to take into account.

If you now wish to collaborate with Chinese partners on an H2020 call related to health, do not hesitate to contact us and look at our Capacity Building activities!