On Wednesday 20 December, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Iliana Ivanova, announced at a remote event with the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and the Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lissovyi, that the European Commission had launched three new initiatives to strengthen Europe’s cooperation with Ukraine in the field of research and innovation.
The Commission confirms the opening of a new Horizon Europe Framework Programme office in Kyiv. This opening was announced in February (see EUROPE 13114/12). The new office, hosted by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, will enable the Commission to provide research stakeholders in Ukraine with information on the opportunities offered by Horizon Europe.
The office will also provide support to Ukraine’s national contact points for Horizon Europe.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) is launching a new EIC4Ukraine action to support the Ukrainian deep tech community. The EIC is launching a new €20 million initiative to support at least 200 Ukrainian start-ups active in the deep tech sector, in particular to facilitate their integration into the European innovation ecosystem.
These start-ups will each receive up to €60,000 to develop their innovation activities and grow the business.
The action will be implemented by a European network of start-up associations.
Finally, the Commission is announcing the opening of a regional centre for the European Institute of Technology and Innovation community (EIT community) or ‘hub’ in Kyiv. This hub will be hosted by the Ukrainian Startup Fund. It will serve as a one-stop shop for informing innovators in Ukraine about the opportunities offered by the entire EIT community and for networking players.
The new centre is part of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS) designed to reduce the regional innovation divide in Europe. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)