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The UPC is the leading university and the third research institution in Spain in volume of EU funding received through H2020, according to the report Research and Innovation Performance, published on 10 November by the European Commission. The report covers the period from January to September 2016. Only the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Tecnalia Research & Innovation Foundation receive more funding from this programme than the UPC. Behind the UPC are the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), an organisation linked to the UPC.

According to the latest figures for the period from January to September 2016 (see table below), 55 of the H2020 projects in which the UPC participates receive €28 million in funding from the European Commission and 37 of the ICFO’s projects receive almost €24 million.

 
H2020, which has a budget of over €74 million for the period 2014-2020, is the main instrument for funding research, technological development, demonstration and innovation in Europe. It aims to increase the level of excellence and ensure the long-term competitiveness of Europe in science and technology. 

Since the programme started, the UPC has participated in a total of 81 projects funded by H2020. Of these, it is currently leading 26 and is the third organisation in another six. The UPC is particularly active in 'Excellent Science', which includes 33 of these projects, five of which have received one of the prestigious scientific grants of the European Research Council.

The UPC is currently undertaking 15 other projects funded by other European programmes, bringing the total volume of European funding to €38 million. Here, the UPC is particularly active in projects that have received some of the distinctions of the European Research Council, projects funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme and projects in the fields of information and communications technology, energy, space, environment and health.

In a study by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) dated April 2016, the UPC was the top Catalan institution in number of H2020 projects during the period 2014-2015. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) and the ICFO, linked to the UPC, were also among the top 10. (Read the article: UPC, Catalan first institution in European Horizon 2020 for the period 2014-2015).