Compensation scheme for research institutes' participation in Horizon Europe (Retur-EU)

The research institute accounts for a large part of Norwegian participation in HEU projects. The purpose of Retur-EU is to ensure that Norwegian institutes can participate in more such projects. The scheme works as a performance-based foundation permitting.

Which institutions does the Retur-EU apply to?

The Retur-EU applies to all institutions listed on  the Research Council's list of approved research organisations:

• Organisations covered by  the Guidelines for State Basic Funding of Research Institutes and Research Groups
• Other organisations are covered by the Government's Strategi for helhetlig instituttpolitikk (only in Norwegian)
• other units in the public sector that are required to carry out research
• research organisations approved after application to the Research Council

In the following, all of these are referred to as "institutes".

Aid rate and disbursement

Awarded funding from Retur-EU scales with the licensing process of the institute from Horizon Europe. The midlane for a given year will be disbursed in three equal instalments distributed over the following three years after the EU project was established.

• For research institutes covered by the Guidelines for State Basic Funding, the Return EU accounts for between 33.3 and 50 % of total EU funding. See "Calculation of differentiated share" below.
• For other approved research organisations, Retur-EU accounts for 33.3% of total EU funding.

The allocation from Retur-EU may not be higher than the institute's total income from the EU and Retur-EU does not exceed the institute's real, actual costs for implementing the EU projects.

Guidelines for the use of funds allocated from Retur-EU and reporting

Funds from Retur-EU must be used in accordance with the Guidelines for central government basic allocations to research institutes and research groups, cf. section 5.3 Allocation of basic allocations. This also applies to institutes that are not covered by these guidelines.

Departments covered by the guidelines will receive Return EU funds as a supplement to the basic permit. Other institutions will receive a midfield through a letter of contribution.

The institute must report on the use of the midlane within a closer set deadline.

Such HEU projects qualify for Retur-EU

The Research Council calculates the grants from Retur-EU for a given year at a time based on updated figures in the EU project database eCorda on the European Commission's contribution to approved project costs.

The main rule is that all project types in Horizon Europe trigger Return EU, including:

• Research and Innovation Actions
• Innovation Actions
• Coordination and Support Actions
• Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
• European Research Council
• European Innovation Council

Exceptions may apply. The Research Council's assessment will then be based on whether the institute has a real need to cover costs in the projects. For projects that receive partial funding from European Partnerships under Horizon Europe, the European Commission's contribution may also qualify for funding from the scheme.  

Retur-EU is not triggered for projects funded by co-funded partnerships or by costs related to membership of European Partnerships. Grants that cover the institute's real, actual costs do not trigger Retur-EU either.  

Collaboration with the industries and the public sector provides extra payoff, as does project coordination

The Retur-EU also includes funds to stimulate institutes to cooperate with Norwegian business and industry and the public sector and to coordinate EU projects. The annual framework amounts to 8% of the Retur-EU amount triggered by new projects in a given year (cf. the section above), divided by 4, 2 and 2 percentage points respectively between cooperation with Norwegian business and industry, cooperation with the public sector and coordinator responsibility.

These funds are in addition to the payments from Retur-EU described above, provided that the institute's total income from the EU and Retur-EU does not exceed the institute's real, actual costs for carrying out the EU projects. They are distributed proportionally to the departments' EU allocation in the projects that qualify. Payment is conditional on the actors from the private and public sectors being partners or coordinators in the EU project.

Calculation of differentiated share

The differentiation only applies to institutes that are covered by the guidelines for central government basic allocation. It is linked with the cost level of the department and only applies to departments where the basic allocation amounts to less than 17 % of net R&D operating revenues. Net R&D operating revenues are here equal to operating revenues less revenues transferred to others, financial income and so-called "other income". Note that the Research Council calculates the basic allocation's share of net R&D operating revenues as an average of the last three years, where the last year counts double.

The allocation to each individual institute for a given year is, before possible reduction (see above), equal to the institute's total support from the EU this year multiplied by two factors, called A and B, and is limited upwards and downwards to 50 and 33.3 % respectively of total support from the EU.

• The factor A is a ratio equal to the average weighted hourly rate for researchers at the department divided by the average weighted hourly rate for researchers in the fifteen departments with the highest hourly rate for their researchers, but is upwards limited to the number 1.The factor A is thus equal to 1 for departments with relatively high hourly rates and lower than 1 for departments with lower hourly rates. The weighted average hourly rate is calculated based on the department's registered (and budgeted) hourly rates, the number of full-time equivalents and the expected invoiced hours per researcher for the various categories of the department's researchers.
• The factor B is equal to 50 % for departments where the basic allocation amounts to less than 13 % of net operating revenues and equal to 33.3 % for departments where the basic allocation amounts to more than 17 % of net operating revenues. In the interval where the basic allocation's share is between 13 and 17 %, B varies linearly from 50 % to 33.3 %. In this way, we get a smooth transition of around 15 % so that institutes that are just below (or above) one year and the next year just above (or below) this limit for the basic grant's share of net operating revenues, will not have a very large change in the allocated support rate from one year to the next.