A review of project management practices in EU-funded Horizon 2020 Projects

The current global economy is extremely competitive and it requires an efficient funding of public projects, especially when it comes to research and development. Project Management (PM) are intended to increase such an efficiency. The objective of this work is to explore the usage of PM methodologies and practices in projects funded by the European Union as part of the "Horizon2020"research framework program from 2014 to 2020. To this end, this research uses of a survey-based data retrieval to investigate the level of perceived PM maturity in Horizon 2020 projects. The results show that Project Managers involved in Horizon 2020 projects hold a high level of maturity, especially in the areas of cost management, communication and stakeholders management thus confirming that PM standards, which are imposed by the EU commission as a binding process, are effectively enforced. In conclusion, this work extends the results to provide useful feedback, suggestions, and opportunities for improvement to be implemented in future programs.