Strengthen economic fairness and resilience of active labour market policies and address high unemployment

Call updates

Jun 14, 2024 3:46:38 PM

FLASH EVALUATION results

HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01

Published: 07/12/2022

Opened: 04/10/2023

Deadline: 07/02/2024

The total budget for the call was EUR 96.000.000.

The results of the evaluation for each topic are as follows:

HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-02

Budget for the topic: EUR 10.000.000

Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls): 6

Number of inadmissible proposals: 0

Number of ineligible proposals: 0

Number of above-threshold proposals: 2

Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals: EUR 5874238,75

Number of proposals retained for funding: 2

Number of proposals in the reserve list: 0

Funding threshold: 10,5

(Proposals with the same score were ranked according to the priority order procedure set out in the call conditions (see in the General Annexes to the Work Programme or specific arrangements in the specific call/topic conditions).

Ranking distribution:

Number of proposals with scores lower or equal to 15 and higher or equal to 14: 0

Number of proposals with scores lower than 14 and higher or equal to 13: 0

Number of proposals with scores lower than 13 and higher or equal to 10: 2

Summary of observer report:

The independent observer was appointed by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) to observe the evaluation process of the single stage calls:

• HORIZON-CL2-2024-HERITAGE-01

• HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01

• HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01.

The same independent observer reviewed the evaluation of the three calls. This enabled the observer to follow the entire process, to identify strengths and areas for possible improvements specific to the single stage evaluation, and to compare procedures and practices of a fully online evaluation with online consensus meetings and online discussions.

REA staff ensured that for the topics associated to these 3 calls, all actors involved were fully informed about the background guidance and legal documents, procedures and standards of quality. The organization and management were very challenging because of the large number of topics and proposals. Interdisciplinarity embedded in the call texts added layers to the overall complexity.

The overall evaluation process was executed in full compliance with the procedures, code of conduct, and guiding principles of fairness, transparency and equal treatment of proposals. The rules and guiding principles for the procedures concerning each evaluation step were known in advance to the applicants, the evaluators and all the persons involved in the evaluations. The briefing materials made available to the external experts were of the highest quality as they provided all the relevant information in a clear and comprehensive way. Experts were asked to declare any potential conflict of interest and to ensure confidentiality of all information. The evaluation process was robust. No preferential treatment of any proposal was observed by the observer or reported by any expert. The discussions were fair and consistent with open and detailed online deliberations covering all the criteria and sub criteria to ensure clarity of issues (both in remote discussion meetings and/or in written communications within the evaluation system) arising and providing impartial feedback to applicants. REA continues putting significant effort into assigning proposals to evaluation groups that cover all the key disciplines relevant to the topic and provides structured training to moderators on how to help experts bridge barriers between disciplines through informed discussions that leave sufficient space for each discipline.

We recently informed the applicants about the evaluation results for their proposals.

For questions, please contact the Research Enquiry Service.

Feb 8, 2024 6:53:40 PM

PROPOSAL NUMBERS

The call HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01 has closed on 07.02.2024.

272 proposals have been submitted.

The breakdown per topic is:

HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-02: 6 proposals

Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in June 2024.

Oct 4, 2023 12:00:01 AM

The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-02(HORIZON-RIA)

Strengthen economic fairness and resilience of active labour market policies and address high unemployment

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-02

Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Call: A sustainable future for Europe (HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01)
Type of action: HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Type of MGA: HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]
Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 04 October 2023
Deadline date: 07 February 2024 17:00:00 Brussels time

ExpectedOutcome:
Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

Improved understanding of macro effects of labour market policies on general equilibrium including displacement and substitution effects;
Improved skills strategies and skill development, also at sectoral level, during periods of economic downturn benefitting from lower opportunity costs;
Improving policy design to increase labour market participation and employment in a context of high unemployment and high number of job vacancies, notably in low and high skilled jobs.
Scope:
Active labour market policies are widely used by European countries to improve the functioning of their labour markets by addressing skill mismatches, labour market segmentation, and by promoting the integration in the labour market of those facing difficulties in accessing it. Policies aimed at skill development could be effective in periods of low economic activity at the macroeconomic level, given that the opportunity cost of training programmes is lower in times of recession. These policies could facilitate the reallocation of labour, prepare the ground for a fair economic recovery, and facilitate transitions towards the green and digital sectors.

However, there have been studies post the 2007 recession arguing that training programmes have so far had only a modest effect in generating post-programme employment. Furthermore, researchers found that responses of adult learning and training to the business cycle are different for employed and not employed workers, with the participation of the latter group diminishing in times of economic downturn due to credit constraints preventing them from investing in education.

In light of such studies, more research is needed to survey the different types of active labour market policies enacted by the Member States, especially in the area of skills development during economic downturns, and their effects on people facing economic challenges, e.g. people at risk of poverty or workers whose job is at risk of automation or at risk of transformation due to transition to a decarbonised economy. Proposals should focus on the ways in which active labour market policies can be strengthened to provide economic fairness and resilience.

Research activities may focus on the response of public authorities to the COVID-19 crisis and estimate their effectiveness including displacement and substitution effects. Alternatively, research could also focus on the participation of persons coming from a vulnerable socio-economic background or from regions with a high degree of unemployment (e.g. people at risk of poverty, people coming from rural communities) to active labour market policies with an aim to mapping barriers and policy responses to increase their participation. Research could also focus on the impact of active labour market policies while incorporating a gender dimension. Another research avenue could be analysing the role of active labour market policies within broader exercises to rethink employment and income protection with an aim of underpinning synergies that enhance their effect, e.g. the interplay between active labour market policies and housing allowances in the housing first approach.

Where relevant, activities should build upon existing research, draw lessons from recent policy interventions in a contextual and transdisciplinary manner and propose adjustment measures, or test them through social innovation experiments. Clustering and cooperation with other selected projects under this call and other relevant projects are strongly encouraged.