The Commission welcomes the political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on Horizon Europe, the European Union's next research and innovation programme.
Despite the context of uncertainty in which we have lived during the year that is about to end, it seems that the European Union's commitment to promoting industrial leadership in Europe remains intact.
As we already mentioned in the note that we published In this regard, coinciding with the completion of the Horizon 2020 program, the European Commission is working on the launch of the program Horizon Europe with the same objective with which its predecessor was launched, support innovative activity in Europe and reinforce scientific excellence. To do this, it has a budget of 95.500 billion euros for the period 2021 – 2027, which makes it the largest transnational program ever carried out to support research and innovation.
After a few months of negotiations, on December 11, 2020, the institutions of the European Union reached a political agreement on the Horizon Europe program. Although The agreement is pending formal approval by the European Parliament and the Council, the Commission has been preparing its implementation in order to be able to start the program as soon as possible since the publication of the provisional agreement in March and April 2019.
According to the information included in the provisional agreement signed in March, Horizon Europe rests on three fundamental pillars: the promotion of scientific excellence, the promotion of projects aimed at developing technological solutions to challenges in critical areas such as health, climate change or mobility, and the promotion of innovation in all countries of the European Union. With the agreement about to be formally approved, the measures established by Horizon Europe to advance progress have been specified:
- The creation of European Innovation Council (EIC), a one-stop shop to develop the most promising ideas and support the most innovative SMEs, which is currently in a pilot phase and will complement the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
- The implementation of the EU missions, aimed at addressing the problems that affect our daily lives, from the fight against cancer to adaptation to climate change and care for the environment.
- One more approach simplified European associations, while encouraging broad participation from public and private sector partners.
- Strengthen international cooperation by granting the possibility of cooperating with non-EU countries (third countries) with good capacity in science, technology and innovation.
- Empowering openscience making access to publications and research data mandatory.
- Promote participation and reduce the gap in innovation in Europe, approving a wide spectrum of measures aimed at support countries with lower performance in innovation, to build centers of excellence and facilitate collaborative links.
- Increase the impact of R&D&i by creating synergies with other programs and policies of the European Union such as InvestEU, Erasmus +, EU Cohesion Policy, Digital Europe, European Structural and Investment Funds, among others.
- Increase legal certainty and reduce administrative burden for beneficiaries and program administrators.
According to Press kit published by the European Commission, with the application of these measures, the creation of 300.000 jobs is expected by 2040, of which 40% will be highly qualified, and the obtaining of up to eleven euros of GDP for every euro invested in R+ D over 25 years. Furthermore, it is estimated that more than 35% of Horizon Europe expenditure will be allocated to contributing to climate objectives.
Without prejudice to the measures that are finally adopted and the formalization of the agreement, there is no doubt that this new program, even more ambitious than its predecessor, will favor the consolidation of an innovative ecosystem in Europe, which must be taken advantage of by Spanish companies that invest in R&D&I.
In this sense, it is It is essential to approach the calls published within the framework of the Horizon Europe program with a expert planning and assistance that offers guarantees to companies to be able to qualify for this type of opportunities. In our task of accompanying Spanish companies and institutions in their innovation activities, we will be up to date with the news published about Horizon Europe, as well as the first calls launched within the framework of the program.
You can find other information of interest below:
- Press release published by the European Commission on December 10, 2020.
- Press release published by the European Commission on March 20, 2019 about the provisional agreement on the Horizon Europe program.
Authors: Alba Mª López y Marina Martínez
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