Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, presented the next ‘Horizon Europe’ framework programme to European research ministers, on Thursday 17 July, at their informal meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. The ministers were satisfied with the €175 billion budget announced the previous day with the proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 13682/1, 13682/6).
“We are very happy that it [Horizon Europe] will survive as a standalone programme and even more so with a substantial and very ambitious budget”, said Christina Egelund, the Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science, in a press conference. “That is very promising for the negotiations that will start following this initiative by the Commission”.
According to her, the ministers did not however enter into more in-depth discussions on the structure of the programme or the different sums allocated to each pillar. For the Commissioner, doubling the budget is “not a luxury, it’s a necessity”. “Today, nearly seven in 10 high-quality proposals go underfunded due to the lack of a ‘Horizon Europe’ budget”, she lamented.
Four pillars. As anticipated by Agence Europe, this tenth framework programme is divided into four pillars: scientific excellence, competitiveness and society, innovation and the European Research Area (see EUROPE 13677/2).
The first pillar, which includes the European Research Council (ERC), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and the non-nuclear direct actions of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), has a budget of €44.079 billion.
“A strong independent European Research Council by scientists for science with a bottom-up approach with freedom of research without political interference and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions that support early career researchers. This is our calling card for European and global researchers to choose”, stressed the Commissioner.
€75.876 billion will be dedicated to the second pillar, which covers research and innovation (R&I) activities in support of policies under the European Competitiveness Fund.
The third pillar, which includes the European Innovation Council (EIC) and innovation ecosystems, accounts for €38.785 billion.
Finally, the fourth pillar, which covers the reform and strengthening of the European R&I system and infrastructures, has been allocated €16.262 billion.
‘European Competitiveness Fund’. Endowed with €589.6 billion, this fund is independent of ‘Horizon Europe’, but the windows of this programme are aligned with those of the ‘European Competitiveness Fund’, explained Ms Zaharieva. The framework programme funds R&I, which supports major projects in traditional industry so that these two areas can work together to achieve objectives such as the green transition and the digital transition.
“It is essential that this is not limited to projects that are close to the market. Strong support for excellent early-stage research must remain a clear priority in the two new components [of the second pillar]”, commented Amanda Crowfoot, Secretary General of the European University Association (EUA), while welcoming the new framework programme.
Read the proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/hxh ; https://aeur.eu/f/hxi (Original version in French by Anne Damiani, with Florent Servia and Nithya Paquiry)