The European Commission proposed a €100-billion budget on Thursday in Brussels for research and innovation. This budget for the Horizon Europe 2021-2027 is approximately 23% higher than the budget for the ongoing Horizon Programme (2014-2020).
Many are calling it the EU’s “most ambitious” research and innovation programme in the history. Most of the budget, around €20 billion, will be devoted to projects that aim to deal with Climate Change and to promote “inclusive and secure societies”- which is appropriate considering how Europe still struggles to deal with a large number of refugees. Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas was quoted as saying, “Horizon 2020 is one of Europe’s biggest success stories. The new Horizon Europe programme aims even higher. As part of this, we want to increase funding for the European Research Council to strengthen the EU’s global scientific leadership and re-engage citizens by setting ambitious new missions for EU research. We are also proposing a new European Innovation Council to modernize funding for ground-breaking innovation in Europe”. (Source: European Commission Press Release)
While the Budget sounds pretty spectacular, what’s even more exciting about this government funding programme is that for the first time, any country in the world will be allowed to contribute and take part in the programme, this will include the post-Brexit United Kingdom. Of course, just like all EU proposals, this will also undergo a large round of negotiations before its final implementation especially since the Commission expects countries like Switzerland and Norway to join the programme.