Technopolis Group strongly believes in the positive contribution of Horizon 2020 to the future of Europe. We have supported the European Commission (EC) in the design and evaluation of the Framework Programme (FP) for some twenty years. Our position paper aimed to contribute to future evaluations of H2020 and successive FPs. Good design and evaluation of the FP depends not only on administrative procedure but crucially on the Commission’s ability to function as a knowledge organisation. Our position paper gave some recommendations to the European Commission to grasp the opportunity to be at the forefront of evaluation approaches in research and innovation policy.