Horizon 2020 is Commission’s ‘biggest achievement’ – Geoghegan-Quinn

Delivering the keynote address at the EuroScience Open Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has called Horizon 2020 “proof of member states’ immense trust in the scientific community”.

She said that Horizon 2020 has been the biggest achievement in how the European Commission plans to reform how it finances research and innovation and its intention to put research “at the heart of EU policy making”.

The commissioner said: “Research and innovation are at the heart of the Europe 2020 programme and heads of state and government have had two thematic discussions on these topics in the European Council. This new political impetus has been crucial in delivering our agenda.”

Geoghegan-Quinn announced the launch of “a wide-ranging public consultation to increase awareness of the issues, to understand the views and concerns of everyone involved and to fine-tune our own analysis”.

She concluded by saying that Europe is “on the brink of some very interesting and important changes – changes that I hope will strengthen and enhance the practice of science and that will cement its position at the heart of our society”.