€36m up market access of innovative projects
The European Commission is awarding €36m to help bring innovative ideas to market quicker.
A total of 16 innovative projects, involving partners from 19 countries, will receive up to €3m each under the first round of the Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) scheme, as part of Horizon 2020. The projects include launching an airborne wind energy system, protecting people from disease-carrying mosquitoes, making sustainable, renewable and cheaper plastics from wood, and developing intelligent needle tracking for anaesthetics.
Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “Across Europe, we need to nurture innovative ideas and make more of them become a reality. Today we are giving top innovative businesses a head start in the race to market by providing faster access to €36m in EU funding.”
The FTI scheme was launched in January 2015 and received 269 proposals by the first ever cut-off date for applications on 29 April. Among the consortia, 82% of all partners were from industry and almost half were SMEs. Independent experts have selected 16 proposals for funding; Germany leads 13 project partners, followed by France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom with nine each.
