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112 Zeilen
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<title>European Commission responds to the FSFE's information request for Horizon 2020 </title>
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<h1>European Commission responds to the FSFE's information request for Horizon 2020 </h1>
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<p>The European Commission Directorate-General for Research
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and Innovation responds to <a href="/news/2017/news-20170110-01.html">
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a Freedom of Information (FOI) request about the use, development and
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release of software under Horizon 2020</a> - submitted by the FSFE on
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January 9, 2017.</p>
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<p>With this FOI request, the FSFE directly aimed at shedding light on
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how much money is spent on the use and purchase of proprietary software
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licences through the Horizon 2020 funding for the beneficiary projects.
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Respectively, it intended to figure if and what kind of data is collected,
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apropos of Free Software licences. The FOI request followed the publication
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of the FSFE's <a href="https://download.fsfe.org/policy/letters/20170105-horizon2020-position-paper.pdf">
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position paper for the endorsement of Free Software and Open Standards in
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Horizon 2020 and all publicly-funded research</a>.</p>
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<p>However, <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/PublicProcurementForNonFreeSoftware#The_response">
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the response by the Commission</a> revealed that no information is being
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collected on how the EU funds are being spent, when it comes to the
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software used and developed by the beneficiary projects within Horizon
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2020:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>"[...] we checked if the requested information existed and the competent
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Commission services informed us that the European Commission does not
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systematically collect information about open source software used or
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developed under Horizon 2020 grants, as this is not a reporting requirement
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in the Horizon 2020 legal basis. Consequently we are not in a position
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to provide you the information that you are looking for. The same applies
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to data concerning Horizon 2020 projects paying licence fees for software
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or developing software on their own."</p>
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</blockquote>
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<h2>Breaking down the EC's reply</h2>
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<p>The EC is justifying the lack of information with the argument that
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"it is not legally mandatory" to collect data concerning the use and
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acquisition of software licences.</p>
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<p>According to the Article 14(1) of the Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013
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establishing Horizon 2020, particular attention in the framework shall
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be paid to the development and application of key enabling and industrial
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technologies as well as future and emerging technologies; and shall
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contribute to the Digital Agenda for Europe initiative. Regarding this
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particular point, <strong>the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 shall assess
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the efficiency and use of resources, with particular attention to cross-cutting
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issues and other elements referred in the Article 14(1)</strong>. Software
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is no doubt falling under all of the points that Horizon 2020 is supposed to
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focus on when it comes to both industrial and emerging technologies, as
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well as part of the Digital Agenda for Europe. The absence of monitoring
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the use of resources Horizon 2020 projects are allocating to the use and
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development of software in Research and Innovation will not allow
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to assess the efficiency and use of resources of Horizon 2020 in its
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Interim evaluation.</p>
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<p>Indeed, in the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/news/horizon-2020-monitoring-report-2014">
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first Annual Monitoring Report 2014</a> which focuses on the implementation
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of the first year of the programme, information regarding the share of
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EU financial contribution to the Information and Communication Technology
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(ICT) Research and Innovation was missing. According to <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/pdf/archive/h2020_monitoring_reports/second_h2020_annual_monitoring_report.pdf">
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the second report for 2015</a>, however, preliminary data show that over one fifth
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of the EU funding in Horizon 2020 contributes to ICT Research and Innovation. </p>
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<h2>What "no information" means for Free Software and Open Science</h2>
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<p>The absence of data about the use of software within Horizon 2020
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beneficiary projects makes almost impossible the accurate estimation of
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the amount of both proprietary and Free Software, being used or developed
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under Horizon 2020 grants.</p>
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<p>Taking into consideration the fact that nowadays, scientists irrespective
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of their field of study depend on software in order to successfully conduct
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their research, it is indisputable that almost every beneficiary project
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spends a considerable amount of the hand-out grant in the purchase of
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software licences. The fact that the EC does not collect data on the
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spending of public money for software licences disregards an essential
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part of the modern research.</p>
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<p>Consequently, without relevant data, Horizon 2020 monitoring and evaluation
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processes cannot draw safe conclusions. Critical factors, such as the
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re-use of software being developed with Horizon 2020 funding, or the
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costs for re-purchasing the same licences cannot be scrutinized and therefore,
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cannot lead decision-makers to optimised funding solutions. Albeit, the most
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significant complication is the fact that the EC is not in position to
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prove with a degree of certainty that Open Access and subsequently
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Open Science, two of the Horizon 2020 most fundamental principles, are
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implemented in practice. As already argued in the FSFE's <a href="https://download.fsfe.org/policy/letters/20170105-horizon2020-position-paper.pdf">
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recent position paper</a>, Open Science can neither be achieved nor be
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sustainable in long-term without Free Software being its chief constituent.</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="openstandards">Open Standards</tag>
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<tag key="open-science">Open Science</tag>
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<tag key="policy">policy</tag>
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<tag key="european-commission">European Commission</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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