• H2020
• Policy & Research

Following adoption of the Parliament’s amendments by the Council, the final legislative text of Horizon 2020 has now been sealed.

At a meeting of the Competitiveness Council chaired by Professor Dr Dainius Pavalkis, ministers voted to pass the changes made by MEPs during last month’s plenary session. Horizon 2020 will replace the EU’s Seventh Research Framework Programme and will formally begin on 1 January 2014. Compared to its predecessor, the new framework programme is expected to further eliminate fragmentation in the fields of scientific research and innovation.

Horizon 2020 will have a final collective budget of €78.6bn and underpin the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs. It will aim to strengthen the scientific and technological base of Europe by contributing to the European Research Area in which researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate freely.

Horizon 2020 comprises three pillars, namely generating Excellent Science in order to strengthen the Union’s world class scientific excellence and make the EU research and innovation system more competitive; fostering Industrial Leadership to speed up the development of technologies that will support businesses and innovation, including for SMEs; and tackling Societal Challenges in order to respond to the priorities identified in the Europe 2020 strategy by supporting activities covering the entire chain from research to market.

Excellent Science will receive 31.73% of the budget, equal to €24.4bn; Industrial Leadership, which will receive 22.09% or €17bn; and Societal Challenges, which will have 38.53% or €29.6bn. The pillars will be supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology which will continue to reinforce the innovation capacity of the EU and its member states; it will benefit from a budget of €2.7bn. The Joint Research Council will also receive financing under Horizon 2020, worth €1.9bn for its non-nuclear direct actions. Other areas of investment include ‘Spreading excellence and widening participation’ and ‘Science with and for society’ and will benefit from a budget of €816m and €462m respectively.

The new framework programme will be further complemented by EURATOM’s Research and Training Programme, which will have access to funds worth of €1.6bn for 2014-2018.