No, they are subsidies for uncompetitive R&D teams. They are spectacularly inefficient, for all the reasons you mention. Teams specialise in Horizon funding, not actual progress.
> Lastly, I don't get the grant money. It's just deposited to institution account. I have no monetary or material gain from this.
Aha, so your team is funded by Horizon. What's the old saying about people and understanding where their paycheques come from?
I'm not entirely convinced...
Plus, I'm not here to convince anybody. I'm just sharing my own experience. It's up to you to dig further if you're so interested in this thing.
Have a nice day.
Well, I think it's safe to say mission accomplished.
Your comments here are why entities have media policies. Probably thousands of peoples will have read your comments and the responses to them and many will have formed their first impression of Horizon from this thread.
There are other criticisms for the system, and I didn't either answer them, or answered more broadly. Again, what I have seen is the system was working for the parts I was in, and may not be working for the others, and I'm not defending the contrary.
Every coin has at least two sides, and I'm not a god. I can only comment on what I can see and experience.