A consortium of Europe's top research institutes are gathering support signatures for a larger research budget in EU's next Multianual Financial Framework (MFF). Since its launch in the beginning of May, the manifesto was already endorsed by 2500 public and private research and innovation stakeholders, 300 of which are from industry.
By defining in which areas the EU should invest more or less over the seven years, the MFF is an expression of political priorities as well as a budgetary planning tool.
Many research stakeholders are already catalysing the general public attention in order to underline the need of a larger budget over the next period. Despite its high ambition and targets, Horizon 2020 has been severely underfunded, as the mid-term report published in July 2017 clearly evidenced.
It is now the right time for recognizing research and research-based innovation as the main drivers of EU competitiveness and growth. This opportunity will be pivotal to rethink research and innovation policies and investments in Europe, putting research and innovation at the forefront, towards full economic recovery, while aiming at a better welfare for EU citizens.
The manifesto briefly describes the current EU landscape and underlines the need of a more competitive Europe. We hope you could endorse it and share with your colleagues.
To endorse the manifesto, visit www.mff4researchandinnovation.eu
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