More news on the future Horizon Europe programme

By Ingemar Pongratz

Kungstradgarden av Ingemar Pongratz

The planning process for the Horizon Europe programme is ongoing and there are many discussions running in parallel. The  new Horizon Europe programme is scheduled to start in 2021 once Horizon 2020 ends.

There are of course still a lot of areas that need to be settled, the budget is one of the. The European Commission and the Parliament have suggested a total budget of 100 billion EUR. This figure represents a hefty increase compared to Horizon 2020 budget (80 billion) however, the discussion with the European Council may lead to reductions on the Horizon Europe budget. More news on the future Horizon Europe programme include other areas as well.

There are other discussions ongoing as well. One rather recent news is regarding the large FET Flagship project. The European Commission issued a call to establish new FET projects in different areas and several consortia received funding to start the application process. However, earlier this year Science Magazine reported that the European Commission has decided not to continue with the programme and not to fund new FET Flagship projects.

This is a sad decision, but at the same not very surprising. Funding few very large projects is always associated with considerable criticism.

In addition, there are other channels to fund specific areas. In Horizon 2020, the Commission has established collaboration with industrial actors and with member states to support specific areas. Currently, there are several collaborations ongoing, such as the Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI), the Bio-based Industries (BBI) and other.

All or most of these collaborative undertakings are expected to continue their activities in the future Horizon Europe programme.

These collaborative funding areas will provide funding in a wide spectrum of sectors such as Medicine, Food, Manufacturing, Car, Battery technology among others.

We can also expect other communities through the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KIC) which are part of the European Institute of Technology.

Ingemar Pongratz founded Fenix Scientific AB / Pongratz Consulting. Through Pongratz Consulting we help enterprises and universities to apply for funding from different public sources such as the European funding programmes. Please contact us if you wish to discuss how we can help you with your application process. Please use the Online Contact Form or send an email to:

Ingemar.Pongratz () pongratzconsulting.com

Stockholm 2019 by Ingemar Pongratz