HORIZON BLOG: Research and innovation in the next EU budget (Archived)

The European Defence Fund could be a big casualty of the coronavirus crisis, with concerns that it will see a deep cut from €13 billion to around €6 billion. 

This fund, announced with great fanfare two years ago, is requiring member states to work together on designing and building tanks, ships and other new technologies. But the costly effort by governments to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic will leave less money for defence in the coming years, and require greater cooperation than before among member states, says the European Defence Agency’s (EDA) new chief executive.

Jiří Šedivý, who took up his post at the start of this month, says, “Chances are high that COVID-19 will lead to cuts in national defence spending. The best response to shrinking national budgets for defence research is to join forces and resources and to engage in more cost-effective collaborations at EU level.”

Europe's largest business association says the EU should target its upcoming multiannual budget towards investments in energy, environment, digital and climate technologies.

"In terms of the Commission’s long-term budget, investment in energy, environment, digital and climate technologies are key, while at the same time we must foster strategic value chains and support crucial industrial ecosystems, as they will play a central role in re-launching and modernising Europe’s economy," said BusinessEurope director general Markus Beyrer.

In an open letter to European leaders, research heavyweights call for the EU to at least maintain, if not increase, funding levels for the European Research Council (ERC).

The signatories, organised under the banner of "Friends of ERC" , fear cuts across all areas of Horizon Europe in the EU's proposal for the 2021-2027 multiannual budget and  anticipate that a potential budget shave would also impact the ERC.

"Protecting and improving the ERC budget will secure continued investments in research that pushes the boundaries of our knowledge and continues to strongly support Europe as a dynamic knowledge society," the letter says. 

An online petition to show the widespread support for the ERC has gathered over 6,500 signatures.

Europe’s largest biotech association says the new strategies for food sustainability and biodiversity published today by the European Commission should “embrace” innovation.

The commission has published the first details on its ‘Farm to Fork’ and ‘Biodiversity’ strategies, two major policies that are part of a broader effort by the EU to push the economy towards a greener, more sustainable paradigm.

According to EuropaBio, some of the targets set out in these two strategies risk making European agriculture less productive, without the help of innovations in biotechnology and bio-based products.  

Agnes Borg, industrial biotechnology director of EuropaBio said Europe could help the food sector reduce its impact on the environment while maintaining agricultural productivity.

“By ensuring a science-based, proportionate, and predictable regulatory approach to biotechnology innovation, including new genomic techniques, the EU would also contribute to ensuring that the best tools are available to help effectively realize the ambitious Green Deal objectives,” said Borg.

The European Commission’s economic recovery package should include a strong support mechanism for public and private R&D investments, according to the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO).

Research organisations are calling on the EU to make sure that research grants play important role in the recovery package. In addition, the EU should safeguard its technology leadership and production sovereignty by developing a European strategy on technology infrastructures needed by key EU industrial ecosystems, EARTO says in a policy paper.