In cutting-edge innovations to create new markets, the European Commission looks forward to the funding of research and innovation between 2018 and 2020, with a budget of EUR 30 billion recently decided.
Funding is part of the seven-year Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), of € 77 billion, which has already resulted in breakthroughs such as exoplanets and gravitational waves, and funded by Nobel laureates.
Artificial Intelligence, Genetics, Blockchain Technology: science is at the heart of today's promising cutting-edge innovations. Europe is a world leader in science and technology and will play an important role in promoting innovation, "said Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.
"The Commission," he added, "makes a concerted effort - including with the European Innovation Council, which is now taking its first steps - to provide many innovative European companies with a springboard to become world leaders".
Since its inception, the Juncker Commission has been working hard to give Europe's innovative entrepreneurs every opportunity to excel, the Commission notes. It is now launching the first phase of the European Innovation Council, which will provide € 2.7 billion from Horizon 2020 - from 2018 to 2020 - by supporting "high-risk innovations and high potential returns, for the creation of the markets of the future ".
Focus on political priorities
The work program for the period 2018-2020 will focus its work on a smaller number of issues with increased budgets, backing the Commission's political priorities:
· A low-carbon future with climate change resilience: € 3.3 billion
· Cyclical economy: 1 billion euros
· Digitization and conversion of European industry and European services: € 1.7 billion
· Union Security: 1 billion euros
· Immigration: EUR 200 million
An amount of EUR 2.2 billion will be allocated to clean energy projects in four interrelated sectors: renewable energy, energy efficient buildings, electrification and storage technologies, including EUR 200 million to support the development and production in Europe of the new generation of electricity columns.
Promotion of "blue sky" research
At the same time, Horizon 2020 will continue to fund "science that drives curiosity" (often referred to as "blue sky science" or "frontier research").
The annual work program of the European Research Council for 2018, adopted in August, will make it possible to support excellent researchers with nearly € 1.86 billion. The "Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions", which fund scholarships for researchers at all stages of their careers, receive a new boost of a total of € 2.9 billion over a three-year period.
Strengthening international cooperation
The new work program also strengthens international cooperation in the field of research and innovation. More than 1 billion euros are invested in 30 flagship initiatives, in areas of mutual benefit. For example, initiatives to co-operate with Canada in the field of personalized medicine, with the USA, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia in the field of road transport automation, with India to address challenges in the field of water, and with African countries in the areas of food security and renewable energy.
€ 460 million will also be earmarked specifically to support Member States and associated countries not yet participating in the program with their full potential. The aim is to exploit the untapped pockets of excellence in Europe and beyond. In addition, the program continues to promote closer synergies with the European Structural and Investment Funds.
Simplification of participation rules
Another innovation is the introduction of the lump sum pilot system, a new, simpler approach to providing financial support to participants. In this way, the center of gravity of the ex-ante controls will shift from financial controls to the technical and scientific content of the projects.
Open Science
The program marks a change in how to promote open science, moving from the publication of research results to scientific publications in the dissemination of knowledge earlier in the research process. An amount of EUR 2 billion will be used to support open science, and EUR 600 million will be allocated to the European cloud of open science, the European data infrastructure and high-performance computing.
It is recalled that Horizon 2020 is the largest Framework Program for Research and Innovation, with a budget of € 77 billion over seven years (2014-2020). While most of the research and innovation activities are still in progress or have not even begun, the program is already delivering results.
Horizons 2020 researchers have contributed to major breakthroughs such as exoplanets, the Higgs boson and gravitational waves, while at least 19 Nobel prize-winning researchers received EU research funding before or after they were awarded.
By October 2017, Horizon 2020 has funded over 15,000 grants totaling € 26.65 billion, of which almost € 3.79 billion was earmarked for SMEs. In addition, the program has provided companies, particularly SMEs, with access to high-risk financing of over EUR 17 million under the InnovFin - EU Innovation Funding program. In addition, 3 143 senior ERC researchers in host organizations and 10 176 scholars of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions have received grants amounting to almost 4.87 billion and 2.89 billion euros respectively.
Simultaneously with the adoption of the Horizon 2020 work program 2018-2020, the Euratom Work Program for 2018 was adopted, which provides for EUR 32 million in research into the management and disposal of radioactive waste. In addition, it is envisaged to develop a research roadmap on the safe decommissioning of nuclear power stations with a view to reducing environmental impacts and costs.
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