Politicians meet in Ireland to agree H2020

Ministers have gathered in the Irish capital for an informal meeting of the EU’s Competitiveness Council in an attempt for a final political arrangement on Horizon 2020.

Ministers from all 27 of the EU’s member states were invited to Dublin by Seán Sherlock, the Irish Minister for Research and Innovation. The two-day meeting, which concludes on Friday, is discussing how to maximise job creation from EU investment in research and innovation. Also in attendance was European Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.

Commenting on the content of the discussion, Sherlock said: “Our discussions touched on a number of important issues, including achieving higher levels of participation in R&D programmes and how best Europe’s universities can promote innovation. We also discussed best practice for ‘innovation management’ for SMEs and improving the effectiveness of public innovation supports for SMEs.”

The minister said he hoped final agreement on Horizon 2020 funding could still be found before the conclusion of the Irish Presidency at the end of June.

Also meeting addressing ministers was Professor Fergus Shanahan, chairman of University College Cork’s Department of Medicine, who provided an insight to academics involved in innovative research, and Professor Dr Martin Curley, director of Intel Labs Europe, who informed the politicians about commercialising research and innovation.