European Research developments

By Ingemar Pongratz

The European Parliament and the European Council have reached a preliminary agreement regarding the budget for the upcoming Horizon Europe funding scheme. Horizon Europe will start 2021 after the current Horizon 2020 programme. The original Horizon Europe funding request from the European Parliament was at 120 billion EUR, a considerable increase compared to the Horizon 2020 scheme. However, due to budgetary constraint the budget was decreased to 100 billion EUR. This figure still represents a considerable increase compared to Horizon 2020. European Research developments include other aspects as well

There are new interesting aspect in the coming Horizon Europe programme. One is the new concept of mission. The agreement between the European Council and the European Parliament opens up for the establishment of specific research areas within the Horizon Europe funding scheme. These areas will be focused on specific topics. The mission concept aims to make it easier for the European public to appreciate the value of research and on the research investment. In addition, the missions aim to maximize the impact of the investments on well defined global challenges.

The agreement between the Parliament and the Council confirms the concept and has laid out the main areas that the mission will target:

• Climate Change
• Cancer
• Oceans
• Smart cities
• Soil and agriculture

These areas represent important global challenges that need new and disruptive solutions. In addition. European Researchers are expected to provide key global impact in these fields.

Furthermore, the Council and the Parliament have agreed on partnership areas. This would include new partnership model that should be established to maximize the impact of EU funded research.

These collaborative partnerships will be set up to support specific areas such as to provide support for research intensive small and medium sized SMEs, bio-based solutions, artificial intelligence, global health energy storage among others

The recent agreement between the European Council and the European Parliament thus allows the planning process for Horizon Europe to continue as planned and to avoid delays and gaps between Horizon 2020 and it successor.

Ingemar Pongratz is owner of Fenix Scientific AB / Pongratz Consulting. We help public and private organizations to plan and write proposals to apply for funding from public sources. These applications include the European funding schemes. Please contact us if you like to benefit from our experience. Write us to:

Ingemar.Pongratz (a) pongratzconsulting.com

Stockholm Spring 2019 by Ingemar Pongratz