Participation in the Framework Program is based on competing with the best and most of the time with consortium activities (research groups, companies and users) with the exception of the European Research Council (ERC) and some mobility actions and SMEs.

The financing rate of the activities is around 20%, the duration of the projects is about 3 years and the budget is greater than €2 million, with exceptions. The objective is that the beneficiaries can start their work in an average of 8 months from the closing of the calls. The financing conditions are, in general, 100% of the direct costs for all types of entities and 70% in the case of companies working in the innovation phases; 25% of the direct costs will be considered as indirect costs.

Most of the activities are carried out through competitive annual calls managed by the Commission with pre-established priorities in the work programs that are public. In addition to the traditional calls managed by the Commission, the number of large initiatives, both public and private, has increased significantly.

Among the public ones, note the joint activities of the R&D&I plans of the countries (JPI) that may receive significant funding from H2020 for their own calls depending on their degree of integration: from ERA Nets to their possible articulation through legal entities.

Among the private ones and from an industrial perspective, the Public-Private Partnerships led by companies (contractual PPPs) or institutional Public-Private Partnerships (JTI) stand out. Both establish R&D&i priorities; its difference is that the management of public funds and their calls is carried out by the Commission or by the initiatives themselves, which could even modify some of the common participation rules of Horizon 2020.