Tagged / horizon 2020

Initial draft proposal for Horizon 2020

Draft proposals for Horizon 2020 have been released. These are in no way the finalised documents so please bear that in mind when you’re reviewing this information! The latest proposals suggest that objectives will be focused on three areas:

1. Tackling Societal Challenges: focusing on health, demographic changes and wellbeing; food security and bio-based economy; secure, clean and efficient energy; smart, green and integrated transport; resource efficiency and climate; and inclusive, innovative and secure societies.

2. Creating Industrial Leadership & Competitive Frameworks: focusing on  leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (ICT, nanotechnology, materials and production, biotechnology, and space); innovation in SMEs; and access to risk finance.

3. Raising Excellence in the Science Base:  European Research Council (ERC); Future and Emerging Technologies (FET); Marie Curie; and European research infrastructures.

There are likely to be a range of funding schemes, used across the whole of the programme, including:

  • Research and innovation grants covering all sizes and types of projects)
  • Training and mobility grants
  • Programme co-funding grants
  • Support grants  
  • Prizes
  • Grants to public procurement of innovation
  • Procurements
  • Debt finance and equity investments

When I have further updates on the possible structure of FP7 I will add to the blog.

Horizon 2020: Will it take us from basic research to innovation?

Horizon 2020 signals a range of big changes to the way research is funded in Europe. The biggest change is the increased focus on the full innovation cycle – from research to market uptake.

The EU wants to annihilate USA and Japan in the research innovation stakes and wants to ensure Brazil, Russia, India and China stay behind them.
By removing barriers between the former programmes for Cohesion, Competition, and Innovation and Research the EC hope to improve the innovation pathway by covering all areas.

Naturally we’re all concerned that the balance of funding between research and innovation is appropriate, and wonder what influence and impact the concept of full-cycle funding will have across the new programme. This does of course also raise concerns for the social sciences, where ‘products’ to sell to market aren’t often produced. Rise is a European group of higher-education institutions formed to act as an independent voice for the social sciences, conscious of the need to look beyond the traditional view that innovation is about technology.

All developments on what the future Horizon 2020 will look like will be posted on the blog.

SME involvement in Horizon 2020: new report from EC

The EC has published a report of two recent workshops on Innovation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) within Horizon 2020. The workshops were held to gather ideas and feedback on how Horizon 2020 could benefit and be accessible to the widest range of SMEs in their efforts to innovate and be competitive. The first workshop looked at which type of support SMEs need from the EU and the second on options for implementing an SME strategy which would facilitate their involvement Horizon 2020.  Key messages from the workshops are below:
  • Overwhelming support exists for SMEs as important players within Horizon 2020
  • All innovative SMEs should be able to benefit from support at EU level
  • Adequate SME involvement should be ensured  through dedicated actions corresponding to SME needs (including all forms of innovation and the entire innovation cycle from idea to market)
  • This innovation capacity of SMEs should be strengthened 
  • Strong support for a bottom-up approach of the SME specific measures exists
  • Support  exists for more demonstration and market replication activities and links to financial instruments which close the gap to the market
  • For SME’s, simple rules and administrative procedures (e.g. open calls) and a short time-to-grant corresponding to the short innovation cycles of smaller companies should be in place
  • It is important to ensure a clear delimitation and definition of EU action based on European added-value
  • Proliferation and overlaps of programmes should be avoided; but cooperation and pooling of resources needs to be continued and reinforced

Smart, Green & Integrated Transport: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

The EU’s proposed Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation will run from 2014-2020, replacing FP7. Over the coming months, the EC is preparing the proposals for the Programme and as part of this, holding stakeholder workshops on the proposed ‘societal challenges’ of Horizon 2020.  The workshops took place in order to gather input from more than 100 stakeholders on what they would like from the next Transport programme; the first meeting was for stakeholders from all sectors including industry and academia and the second event was for national representatives, in order to get the view of Member States. Delegates were happy with Transport having its own ‘societal challenge’, but recognition is needed that it still contributes to excellence in the science base and to innovation and competitiveness. The next Programme should create effective transfer paths from research to industry, and act as an ‘integrator’, enabling technological development in other fields like ICT, energy and materials. Stakeholders agreed with the proposal of having the transport challenge built around ‘solution paths’: ‘Green transport’; ‘Integrated transport’; and ‘Competitive transport’. Delegates were also happy with the challenge focusing more on ‘research for industry’ and on electric vehicles but also stressed that the next Programme should still keep options open for other technological developments like hydrogen and fuel cells.

Inclusive, Innovative & Secure Societies: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

Horizon 2020 will replace FP7 in 2014. Stakeholder workshops on the proposed ‘societal challenges’ have been held, including one on Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies. The workshops confirmed that the strand will encompass research currently funded under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and Security themes of the FP7 Co-operation programme, as well as the Science in Society and Coherent Policy Development strands of FP7 Capacities and the ICT for society aspects of the ICT theme. 

The overarching conclusion from the two workshops was that although most of these areas could work together together to make a cohesive social sciences theme, the security element was a less comfortable fit (felt by both the security and the social sciences and humanities community). A new challenge entitled ‘Protecting the freedom of Europe and its citizens’ was suggested.

Resource Efficiency & Climate Action and Raw Materials Challenges: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

The EU’s proposed Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation will run from 2014-2020, replacing FP7. The EC is preparing the proposals for the Programme by holding stakeholder workshops. Two workshops with 50 representatives from the scientific community and government representatives were held on the Resource Efficiency and Climate Action Challenge. Key points that emerged from the discussions are:

  • More clarity is needed on how the transition from FP7 to Horizon 2020 will work; it will be important to identify new and emerging needs as the situation will change up to 2020.
  • Innovation which promotes societal change should be supported as it should be driven by technology and regulations as well as stakeholders and policy makers. There should be co-operation with non-EU countries to address common concerns.
  • Cultural heritage; urban environment; natural hazards; earth observation systems; air quality; and land use and landscape were areas all missing from the proposals but which should be included.
  • A balance between covering a comprehensive range of themes and focussing on a reduced number of priorities needs to be implemented. Stakeholder involvement and the indirect/intangible impacts should also be part of the peer review criteria.

Marie Curie Actions: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

Horizon 2020 will replace FP7 in 2014. Stakeholder workshops on the proposed ‘societal challenges’ of Horizon 2020 have been held, including one on Marie Curie Actions. The new structure will comprise of four strands:

  • Initial Training of Researchers
  • Career Development of Experienced Researchers
  • Research and Innovation Staff Exchanges
  • Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes.

The majority of participants welcomed the streamlining of the programme down to four actions, and supported the proposed extension of co-funding across the three other programmes. They also emphasised the importance of simplification and consistency of rules.

Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy Challenge: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

The EU’s proposed Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation will run from 2014-2020, replacing FP7. Over the coming months, the EC is preparing the proposals for the Programme and as part of this, holding stakeholder workshops on the proposed ‘societal challenges’ of Horizon 2020.  The discussion focused around these questions:

Are there new and emerging  areas in addition to those identified in the EU’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan that should be supported? It was agreed that a systematic approach will be used when analysing the future development of energy technologies, taking into account EU energy and climate policies and ways to enhance Europe’s global competitiveness. The Challenge should cover the whole innovation cycle (basic research, applied research, demonstration and market introduction) and more support is needed for energy storage, renewable heating and cooling, marine energy, geothermal energy and materials. 

How can research, demonstration and innovation targeting energy efficiency be reinforced and how can ICT contribute most effectively? It was agreed that better coverage of the energy efficiency deployment chain, work on risk management and research combining technology, market and social aspects of energy systems were seen as important. ICT is important to support smart grids, energy efficient buildings and neighbourhoods. European research can be made more attractive to industry through measures related to ‘technology push’ and ‘demand pull’. Having a stable environment in Europe, in terms of policy objectives, regulation and support, was seen as important. European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) could be a possible way forward. The need to optimise the interaction between EU and national programmes was also emphasised, for example through Joint Programming.

 A summary report of the stakeholder workshop on the ‘Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy Challenge’ has been published.

EU Blog Special: next week dedicated to Horizon 2020 future funding directions

Horizon 2020 will be the next major Framework Programme of funding from the EC when FP7 ends in 2013. Horizon 2020 will be shaped around several major themes and the EC have held Stakeholder consultation meetings over the last few months to discuss these further and help shape the direction of funding. Everyday next week I’ll post the salient points of the meetings and links for further info.

  • Monday will feature ‘Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy’
  • Tuesday will feature ‘Marie Curie Actions’
  • Wednesday will feature ‘Resource Efficiency & Climate Action and Raw Materials’
  • Thursday will feature ‘Inclusive, Innovative & Secure Societies’ (which includes Humanities and Social Sciences)
  • Friday will feature ‘Smart, Green & Integrated Transport’

Just a reminder that all of the FP7 Work Programmes for this year which feature Calls for Proposals have been summarised for you to take a look at and can be found on our EU webpages

A look at Horizon 2020….

A  workshop this week on the new Horizon 2020 outlined the main objectives of the new programme. These are proposed as:
*To move from different priorities in each programme and initiative to common strategic priorities focusing on societal challenges, competitiveness and research excellence;
*To move from gaps between the stages (R & D, demonstration, market take up, etc) to coherent support for projects and organisations across the innovation cycle from research to retail;
*To move from a strong focus on research and technological development to stronger support for innovation, including non-technological innovation and market take-up.

The societal challenges will include 5 main strands that he explicitly linked to existing FP7 activity:

  1. Inclusive societies (Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities);
  2. Responsible Research and Innovation (Science in Society);
  3. Secure Societies (Security research);
  4. Digital Societies (ICT to improve inclusion and equal participation, ICT for trust and confidence/security);
  5. Knowledge base for research and innovation policies (Coherent Development for Research Policies)

Commission proposes €80bn for Horizon 2020

The next Framework Programme – Horizon 2020 –  will be worth €80.2 billion if the European Commission gets its way, the proposal for the 2014-2020 EU budget has shown.  This would represent a 46 per cent increase on the budget of Framework 7, which runs from 2007 to 2013 and is worth about €56bn. In a statement announcing the budget proposal, the Commission said that the increase is meant to boost Europe’s economy and shows a lasting commitment to research, science and innovation.