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The European Commission is working on a new proposal for its 2021-2027 multiannual budget, which is to be paired with a recovery plan aimed at helping the EU come out of the looming recession set in motion by the coronavirus pandemic.
Here, we gather the latest news and reactions to how the EU is planning to fund its research and innovation programmes during the difficult period ahead.
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The European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) yesterday sent a letter to the European Council President Charles Michel expressing disappointment with his latest EU budget proposal, which foresees a lowered budget for Horizon Europe.
The letter says the new proposal, allocating €5 billion less for the EU’s research programme than foreseen by the European Commission, is “counterproductive in our current economic context”.
In addition to increasing funding for Horizon Europe, EARTO believes the next EU research programme should put extra effort in fostering public-private research partnerships between European Industry and R&D sector. To do this, at least 60 per cent of Horizon Europe’s budget should be allocated to pillar 2, which bolsters strategic collaborative research projects, including public-private partnerships, says the group’s letter.
EARTO also disapproves of Michel’s proposal to lower funding for Digital Europe, a programme boosting investment in technology, and the Defence fund, as compared to the commission’s proposal.
“History will judge positively those who invested on making our future better than the past,” concluded EARTO’s letter. “We count on the European Council to take the necessary decisions this week.”
Reacting to the Council President Charles Michel’s latest EU budget proposal, the Scientific Council of the European Research Council yesterday issued a statement calling on European leaders to consider the importance of research before agreeing to the new proposal.
On Friday, Michel suggested the EU research programme, Horizon Europe, should have a budget of €89.4 billion, €5 billion under the European Commission’s latest proposal.
The Scientific Council’s statement says the ERC, a programme supporting fundamental research funded under Horizon Europe, “has given Europe a worldwide reputation for supporting ambitious researchers” and urges European leaders “not to miss the opportunity to reinforce such a success.”
“We cannot imagine that Europe’s leaders can agree to this, while at the same time relying on the dedication and skills of Europe’s researchers to fight the ongoing global pandemic, and be ready to address unexpected future challenges,” says the Scientific Council’s statement.
The ERC has many supporters calling for an increased budget for the programme. An online petition launched by a group organised under the banner ‘Friends of the ERC’ and demanding a higher budget for the fundamental research programme has already garnered over 15,000 signatures.
European Commission’s special committee has started its search for potential candidates to join the European Research Council’s Scientific Council and is asking the European research community to put forward nominations.
Nominations from European research organisations are welcome until 30 September 2020. After the date, the committee will recommend selected candidates to the commission, which will then appoint the successful nominees.
The new members will serve for four years, beginning at the start of Horizon Europe, the EU’s next research and innovation programme.
The Scientific Council is the ERC’s governing body composed of 22 scientists representing the European research community. The Council's main role is defining the ERC’s funding strategy and methodologies.
The Guild of European Research Intensive Universities is calling on EU policymakers to use the momentum COVID-19 has brought to research to reinforce the European Research Area's (ERA) focus on basic research as it reissues its recommendations for the future of the partnership.
“The pandemic has shown the need for ERA to raise the profile of research policy in high-level policy-making, to build stronger ties and dialogue with other policy areas, and to address the attractiveness and working conditions of researchers in Europe,” said the Guild’s statement.
Reiterating its recommendations from March, the lobby group is also calling on European governments to increase public investment in fundamental research, while decreasing reliance on EU's economic development funds in financing R&D.
The ERA is a partnership between Horizon 2020 countries, which enables free circulation of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology between its members.
EU Council President Charles Michel’s new proposal for the EU’s next seven-year budget foresees €89.4 billion for Horizon Europe, €5 billion under the European Commission’s latest proposal.
Of the €89.4 billion, €75,9 million will come from the long-term budget, while an additional €13.5 billion will come from the special €750 billion recovery fund for which the commission will be borrowing money.
Michel's new overall proposal for the long-term budget is €1074 billion, €36 billion below the commission’s proposal from May. The recovery fund, however, is in line with the commission’s proposal of €750 billion.
EU leaders will debate the new proposal for the 2021-2027 EU budget during the European Council summit next week.
Eleven innovative urban development projects from eight countries have been awarded more than €45 million under the Commission’s Urban Innovative Actions programme.
The topics of the winning projects include culture, heritage, air quality, circular economy and demographic change.
The Urban Innovative Actions, managed by the French Regional Council des Hauts-de-France, enables urban areas around Europe to try out new ways to address various urban challenges. This is the fifth and last round of grants handed out under the programme, which has rewarded a total of 75 projects in the last seven years.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a €20 million loan to NavVis, a global market leader in digital twin technology, to help the company grow.
NavVis uses digital twin technology, which uses sensors to digitally replicate a physical entity, to help manufacturing companies optimise their performance.
Renewable hydrogen will play a key role in Europe’s green energy transition by helping decarbonise industry, transport and power generation across the continent, according to the European Commission’s new energy strategy.
In the energy systems strategy released today, the commission set out 38 actions that will help create a more integrated energy system in the EU. The actions are clustered around three pillars: creating a more ‘circular’ energy system, doubling the share of electric power, and promoting clean fuels, especially hydrogen, in sectors where electricity cannot be used.
Supporting the third pillar, the commission also released a separate hydrogen strategy, which outlines the plans and goals for the future of hydrogen in Europe. The plan is focused on renewable hydrogen, which is produced when surplus energy from wind and solar power is run through water separating hydrogen and oxygen, a process called electrolysis. Presenting the strategy, Frans Timmermans, commissioner responsible for the green deal, called clean hydrogen “the rockstar of new energies” and promised it "will receive premium support.”
Between now and 2024, the aim is to produce up to one million tonnes of renewable hydrogen. By 2030, the goal is ten million tonnes. “It is an ambitious plan, but it is achievable,” said Kadri Simson, EU’s energy commissioner.
To support the plans, the commission launched the Clean Hydrogen Alliance, which will coordinate EU hydrogen investment projects and help invest along the entire hydrogen value chain, from production to worker training.
To streamline research in the area, the strategy proposes establishing a Clean Hydrogen Partnership, a public-private partnership funded under Horizon Europe, which would focus on advancing renewable hydrogen production, storage, transport and distribution.
The European Research Council (ERC) today announced the three winners of its first Public Engagement with Research Awards 2020, which aim to highlight ERC grantees that inspire the public with their research.
The three researchers to receive awards are Professors Anna Davies from Trinity College Dublin, Kontantinos Nikolopoulos from the University of Birmingham, and Erik Van Sebille from the University of Utrecht.
The 2020 Award had three categories: Public Outreach, Press and Media Relations, and Online and Social Media. Contestants submitted a total of 138 entries across all categories. The three winners will receive trophies and tailored communication training sessions.
Two European networks uniting 28 light and neutron sources today announced a strategic partnership in hopes to anchor their position in the EU’s five research missions planned under Horizon Europe.
The two networks, the General Assemblies of the League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources (LEAPS) and the League of advanced European Neutron Sources (LENS), hope the partnership “will help to further leverage the decades of European investment these large-scale photon and neutron sources represent.”
This is the first high-level coordination between the two networks. The new partners’ first joint position paper on the five Horizon mission areas, produced in cooperation with five other research infrastructures, will be released later this month.
LEAPS is a network of European synchrotron radiation and free electron laser facilities, serving more than 30,000 researchers in Europe. LENS is a nine-member consortium that promotes collaboration between European neutron sources and offers transnational user programmes to researchers.
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