Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A research-intensive university coordinates a 12-partner Horizon Europe RIA, with a 0.5 FTE project manager and 0.2 FTE financial officer funded from WP1.
- Is an instance
A research institute coordinates a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Doctoral Network, including supervisor coordination and recruitment management.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A non-funded associated partner cannot coordinate.
- Not an instance
A subcontractor cannot serve as coordinator.
Editorial commentary
The coordinator submits the proposal, signs the Grant Agreement on the consortium’s behalf, receives pre-financing from the Commission and distributes it according to the consortium agreement, prepares and submits periodic and final reports, and manages amendments. Coordinator effort is typically budgeted as a dedicated work package. Coordinators are often experienced research-management offices at large universities or research-performing organisations; smaller partners typically prefer not to coordinate due to the administrative burden.
Vantage point: the EU-specific administrative lead
“Coordinator” is the Horizon Europe-specific term for the administrative-lead beneficiary among otherwise co-equal partners, all jointly party to one Grant Agreement. It differs from the general/US term prime award holder in structure, not just naming: a US prime typically stands as the sole party in contractual privity with the sponsor and issues separate subaward instruments to other organisations, whereas a Horizon Europe coordinator is one signatory among several beneficiaries who are all directly bound by the same single agreement — the coordinator’s distinguishing feature is its administrative-lead duties (single point of contact, pre-financing distribution, consolidated reporting), not a different legal relationship to the funder than its co-beneficiaries have.
Who typically coordinates
Given the administrative burden — reconciling periodic and final reports across every partner, managing amendments, and redistributing pre-financing per the internal Consortium Agreement — the coordinator role is usually taken by a partner with an established, well-resourced research-management office, most often a large university or research-performing organisation with prior Horizon Europe experience.
References
- European Commission Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement; Annotated Grant Agreement.
Also known as
Lead beneficiary · Project coordinator · Consortium coordinator
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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