European Commission commits €100bn for research and innovation
The European Commission has proposed that the next long-term EU budget (2021-2027) includes €100 billion ($117.55 billion) for research and innovation, in what it calls the most ambitious such programme yet.
In an announcement yesterday, June 7, the Commission said a new initiative—Horizon Europe—would comprise increased funding for the European Research Council (ERC), a public body that finances technological and scientific research, and include the creation of new features to boost innovation.
The main new initiative is a European Innovation Council (EIC), which would be a “one-stop shop” to bring promising and breakthrough technologies from lab to market.
Commission vice-president Jyrki Katainen, responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, said EU funding has allowed teams across countries and scientific disciplines to work together and make “unthinkable discoveries”. With Horizon Europe, “we want to build on this success and continue to make a real difference in the lives of citizens and society as a whole”.
The proposal would build on Horizon 2020, the current research and innovation programme (2014-2020), which has nearly €80 billion of funding available. The Commission said that as of May 2018, the programme has supported more than 18,000 projects with €31 billion awarded.
Horizon 2020 has been one of Europe’s biggest success stories, according to Carlos Moedas, commissioner for research, science and innovation, but the new plan “aims even higher”.
As one of the programme’s main elements, the new EIC would help identify and finance “fast-moving, high-risk innovations with strong potential to create entirely new markets” by providing funding to innovators at either an early stage or later on, during development and market deployment, the Commission said.
New research and innovation missions would tackle issues “that affect our daily lives”, including the fight against cancer, the Commission added.
Other elements of Horizon Europe include doubling the support available to member states “lagging behind” in their efforts to make the most of their research and innovation potential, while the Commission also wants to encourage open access to publications and data.
The budget must be approved by the European Council and the Parliament, and the Commission urged for “swift” agreement as delays “would force Europe's brightest minds to look for opportunities elsewhere”.
It concluded: “An agreement on the next long-term budget in 2019 would provide for a seamless transition between the current long-term budget (2014-2020) and the new one and would ensure predictability and continuity of funding to the benefit of all.”
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