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Hori­zon 2020 approv­al by Par­lia­ment a boost for European research and innovation

22.11.2013
Speak­ing fol­low­ing the vote, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Com­mis­sion for Research, Innov­a­tion and Sci­ence said: ​“This is a vote of con­fid­ence in the power of EU research and innov­a­tion fund­ing. It paves the way for more invest­ment in know­ledge and com­pet­it­ive­ness in Europe. The European Par­lia­ment’s sup­port for and input to Hori­zon 2020 has been very import­ant.” Androulla Vassili­ou, European Com­mis­sion­er for Edu­ca­tion, Cul­ture, Mul­ti­lin­gual­ism and Youth, in par­tic­u­lar wel­comed the sig­ni­fic­ant addi­tion­al fund­ing for the parts of Hori­zon 2020 under her respons­ib­il­ity: ​“With the European Insti­tute of Innov­a­tion and Tech­no­logy and the Mar­ie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Europe is invest­ing in people who have the know­ledge and tal­ent to innov­ate and change lives. This is excel­lent news for the research com­munity and the EIT’s entre­pren­eurs of tomor­row.” Hori­zon 2020 is a totally new type of research pro­gramme for the EU that has been designed to deliv­er res­ults that make a dif­fer­ence to people’s lives. Built on three pil­lars – Excel­lent Sci­ence, Indus­tri­al Lead­er­ship and Soci­et­al Chal­lenges — it will fund all types of activ­it­ies, from fron­ti­er sci­ence to close-to-mar­ket innov­a­tion. The pro­gramme for the first time brings all EU-level fund­ing for research and innov­a­tion under one roof, provides a single set of rules and will rad­ic­ally slash red tape. The over­arch­ing goal is a more coher­ent, sim­pler pro­gramme that will make it easi­er to par­ti­cip­ate, espe­cially for smal­ler research organ­isa­tions and small busi­nesses.

Back­ground

Hori­zon 2020, the EU’s next pro­gramme for research and innov­a­tion, will run from 2014 to 2020 with a budget of nearly EUR 80 bil­lion (cur­rent prices – adjus­ted for infla­tion). It replaces the Sev­enth Frame­work Pro­gramme for Research (FP7), which ran from 2007 to 2013 with a budget of around EUR 55 bil­lion (see MEMO/13/1034). The Hori­zon 2020 pro­gramme was first pro­posed by the European Com­mis­sion in Novem­ber 2011, for decision by EU Mem­ber States and the European Par­lia­ment. Nego­ti­at­ors for Mem­ber States, Par­lia­ment and the Com­mis­sion reached pro­vi­sion­al agree­ment on the final texts of the pack­age in June 2013. Fol­low­ing approv­al yes­ter­day by plen­ary vote in the European Par­lia­ment, EU Mem­ber States must sign off on the pro­gramme at Min­is­teri­al level.

Aside from the European Insti­tute of Innov­a­tion and Tech­no­logy and the Mar­ie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, some oth­er key ele­ments of Hori­zon 2020 are:

  • Increased fund­ing for the European Research Coun­cil, already one of the world’s premi­er fron­ti­er-research fund­ing agencies.
  • Innov­at­ive pub­lic-private part­ner­ships in areas such as new medi­cines, green­er air­craft tech­no­lo­gies, elec­tron­ics and bio-based industries.
  • Invest­ment in Key Enabling Tech­no­lo­gies (KETs) such as photon­ics, nan­o­tech­no­lo­gies and biotechnology.
  • A chal­lenge-based approach to key issues facing soci­et­ies, such as health­care, sus­tain­able agri­cul­ture, smarter and green­er trans­port, and cli­mate change.
  • A renewed focus on widen­ing par­ti­cip­a­tion in less well-per­form­ing EU coun­tries, includ­ing bet­ter syn­er­gies with European Struc­tur­al and Invest­ment Funds.
  • A ded­ic­ated SME Instru­ment, and a ​“Fast Track to Innov­a­tion” pilot scheme to speed up the time from idea to mar­ket, and to increase the par­ti­cip­a­tion of industry, SMEs and first time applic­ants in Hori­zon 2020.
  • A pro­gramme for ​“Sci­ence for and with soci­ety”, in order to engage European soci­ety, increase the attract­ive­ness of sci­ence careers and address gender imbal­ance in the field.
Source: European Commission
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