The €170M project will be a testbed for the new cohesion policy programmes for 2021-2027

Cohesion fund is shaping up as direct rival to Horizon Europe in fight for extra spending in the EU’s 2021 - 2027 budget

Decisions over research, farm and other EU budgets postponed to the end of 2019, as EU Council divides over top EU leadership jobs

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn appeals to research chiefs Carlos Moedas and Jean-Eric Paquet to keep R&D programme focused on excellence, rather than even spread of winners

New features in cohesion funding include incentives for cross-border investment and a dramatically scaled down rulebook

The seal of excellence is as much a signifier of the EU’s R&D funding shortfall as it is of Europe’s high quality science. Now, the EU wants money from the cohesion programme to fill the funding gap and translate research to market