Horizon Europe: Where does the EU now stand on international access?

After the huge disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, there is a sense that research and innovation (R&I) policy makers, both in Europe and beyond, enter 2023 with renewed solidarity and a growing desire to consolidate alliances and resources with like-minded partners. With New Zealand becoming the first major non-EU country to associate to Horizon Europe – news understandably welcomed in many circles – there are high hopes that the year ahead will see similar agreements reached with Japan, Canada and other significant R&D nations.

Against this backdrop, on March 28 Science|Business will convene a high level roundtable discussion with senior representatives of its Network, the EU institutions and candidate countries for association to discuss three important, interconnected questions. First, to what degree have the swirling geopolitics of last year boosted the value proposition for partner countries to align more closely with Europe’s flagship programme? Second, what are the prospects for additional candidate countries to commit to Horizon in the months to come? And third, as Horizon enters its interim evaluation process, are there potential ways in which the programme may embrace more flexible arrangements, beyond full association, to increase the scale of cooperation with countries such as the US and South Africa through to 2027?