ATTRACT as a funding experiment for innovation (2/4)

Professor Sergio Bertolucci, Chair of the ATTRACT R&D&I Committee (IC), enlightens us on ATTRACT as a funding experiment for innovation

In a previous piece from the October 2021 issue of Open Access Government, we set the scene for further elaboration, proposing to discuss the following topics:

1. What key elements are necessary to consider for sustainably integrating ATTRACT into the EIC?
2. What key elements are necessary for transferring the ATTRACT funding model to grant-based national funding schemes?
3. How could ATTRACT in both cases create entry points for public and private investment?

It is clear that governance (and governance adaptation) plays a key role in any possible extension of the ATTRACT scheme to different environments. The current governance of ATTRACT is designed for a minimum level of complexity and to be able to take and implement decisions rapidly and efficiently.

The main components of the governance include:

• The Project Consortium Board (PCB) comprises one representative from each member institution of the ATTRACT consortium. It provides direction for the project, decides on its implementation actions and approves them.
• The Research and Development and Innovation Committee (IC) is an independent committee, not linked to the PCB or any of the ATTRACT consortium institutions. It includes top-level experts from the scientific community, industry and private sector. Its main function is to submit for PCB approval, after internal consensus, the ranked and recommended list of projects to be funded.
• The Project Advisory Committee (PAC) is also an independent committee, and not linked to the PCB or any of the ATTRACT consortium institutions. It consists of top-level experts from the scientific community, industry and private sector. Its main function is providing long-term strategic advice to the PCB, in particular, concerning private investor involvement.
• The Project Administrative Office (PAO) is a body dealing with the daily management of ATTRACT. It also interfaces with the EC and the funded projects for monitoring and administrative matters.

In the following sections, an evolution of this governing structure is considered with the boundary condition of maintaining its simplicity and efficiency.

ATTRACT: Potential integration into the EIC

The working hypothesis (scenario) is that ATTRACT (Phase 1 and Phase 2) runs as a funding instrument embedded within the EIC Pathfinder (see further), acting as a pipeline of breakthrough projects.

The EIC in a nutshell

The European Innovation Council (EIC) has been introduced by the European Commission (EC) to support the commercialisation of high-risk, high-impact technologies in the European Union (EU). The EIC will generate rapid impact through its integration of two highly successful existing programmes: The Future and Emerging Technologies (now Pathfinder) and the SME Instrument (now Accelerator). The EIC Pathfinder will offer grants of up to €4 million to promote collaborative, inter- disciplinary research and innovation in science-inspired and radically new future technologies. These grants are for consortia of at least three entities from three different Members States and associated countries. The scheme features ‘targeted calls’ based on topics or challenges identified in its Work Programme along with an open bottom-up call for proposals.

The EIC Accelerator builds on the SME Instrument Phase II and provides grant-only support as well as support in the form of blended finance (combining grant and equity). The scheme supports high-risk, high-potential small and medium-sized innovative enterprises willing to develop and commercialise new products, services and business models that could drive economic growth and shape new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and worldwide.

Integration of ATTRACT at the governance level

From a governance level perspective, the integration of ATTRACT will not require significant changes in its governing structure. The main ones envisioned are as follows:

• Inclusion of an EIC representative in the ATTRACT PCB with the same mandate as the ATTRACT PCB members and attributions.
• Inclusion of an EIC representative in the ATTRACT IC as the co-chair, with the same mandate as the ATTRACT IC members and attributions.
• Inclusion of an EIC representative in the ATTRACT PAC as the co-chair, with the same mandate as the ATTRACT PAC members and attributions.

The ATTRACT PAO would absorb the administrative functions without the need of the EIC to allocate personnel unless deemed so by the EIC.

Funding dynamics

The following figure depicts the potential funding dynamics (Figure 1). The operational working mode is that the EIC Pathfinder would launch calls under the label EIC-ATTRACT on a first-round according to the ATTRACT Phase 1 scheme. The projects selected by the IC would be running according to the ATTRACT Phase 1 timeline (12 months). Subsequently, the IC will perform a second selection among the funded projects identifying those opportunities worth receiving a new round of funding, in accordance with the ATTRACT Phase 2 scheme. This type of implementation brings the benefit of the ATTRACT operational philosophy inside the EIC.

1.4 Entry points for national, private funding and/or EIC accelerator funding

The previous funding dynamics open three interesting pathways for the entry of national, private and/or EIC Accelerator funding (Figure 1).

Pathway 1: This route could be followed for those projects that do not get selected for funding in ATTRACT Phase 1, although possibly receiving the qualification of being excellent. These projects could be interesting for national funding agencies and possibly also for private investors (although more unlikely due to their high risk). The EIC-ATTRACT funding instrument could potentially grant them a seal of excellence, which might give them a competitive advantage in national funding programmes and/or EC-National programmes such as Eurostars or EUREKA. Such a seal of excellence could also contribute to facilitate the attraction of private capital.

Pathway 2: It could be followed by those projects from Phase 1 that do not advance to ATTRACT Phase 2. This could happen because they could not scale up, or they already received private funding or because national funding bodies have expressed deep interest to fund them. Eventually, some of the SMEs integrated into those projects could also be considered for funding from the EIC Accelerator. Programmes like EUREKA and Eurostars could also offer an alternative option. A seal of excellence for these projects could also be an interesting option.

Pathway 3: This third path could potentially be followed by those projects that finish successfully both ATTRACT Phases 1 and 2. In this case, the SMEs involved could consider applying for funding from the EIC Accelerator or receiving private funding from other sources. This pathway would be prone to get the interest of investors since the initial high risk has been both absorbed (ATTRACT Phase 1) and mitigated (ATTRACT Phase 2). National funding programmes could also offer additional options as well as Programmes like EUREKA and Eurostars. Also, private funding financing the project as a whole could be considered.

We will discuss these possibilities in the next instalments of this theme, and we look forward to comments and discussions.

Please note: This is a commercial profile

© 2019. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license. 

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Sergio Bertolucci

Chair of the ATTRACT R&D&I Committee (IC)

ATTRACT R&D&I Committee (IC)

Phone: +393488184395

Email: Sergio.Bertolucci@cern.ch