FP9 will be called "Horizon Europe"
He explains in his recent blog post that this brings together the current brand name that stands for excellence with Europe, which is to signal that the EU is "proud of our collective strength". Horizon Europe is also supposed to be a bridge between the "past and the future of research and innovation in Europe".
What is to be expected?
Until now, the programme was referred to as FP9. While the proposal for Horizon Europe is not expected to be published until early June, rumours and leaks on plans for the programme's design have been increasing recently with the publication date coming nearer. Alongside the EU budget proposal, the European Commission also published an annex which provides more clarity on the plans for Horizon Europe. The programme is expected to provide continuity from Horizon 2020, maintain a three-pillar structure and will continue to support research and innovation under the same programme umbrella. After the publication of the European Commission proposal in June this year, the European Parliament and the Council will begin discussions with a view to agreeing the final programme. Once agreed, Horizon Europe is to start in 2021.
1. Pillar: Open Science - bottom-up and excellence focus
Within the three pillars, the first is probably the one that is most similar to the Excellence Pillar in Horizon 2020. This includes the European Research Council (where no major changes compared to the existing programme are currently expected), the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and funding for Research Infrastructures. The main change under this pillar is that the current Future Emerging Technologies (FET) programme is likely to reappear in a different form and under a new name in the new Open Innovation Pillar.
2. Global Challenges and industrial competitiveness - combining the current Societal Challenges Pillar and elements of the Industrial Leadership Pillar
This pillar is designed around clusters - the aim is to have five clusters which combine the current seven Horizon 2020 Challenges, as well as elements from the Horizon 2020 Industrial Leadership Pillar such as Space, ICT and the Key Enabling Technologies. It is also expected that this pillar will be closely linked to the planned Horizon Europe missions.
3. Open Innovation - the European Innovation Council
The third pillar is labelled as the "one-stop shop for high-potential innovators, aiming to put Europe at the forefront of market-creating innovation through a "bottom-up" approach." It promises fast and flexible grants and will have schemes involving private investors.
Furthermore, co-funding partnership instruments continue to feature in Horizon Europe both around the types of partnerships and the basis on which they are maintained or discontinued, and a potential secretariat, or board, that is to oversee the instruments in the future.
There is also the objective to streamline the EU Research and Innovation funding landscape further, improve proposal submission and evaluation processes and the creation of stronger synergies with other EU programmes such as the Structural Funds or Digital Europe, but also Erasmus+.
Erasmus+
Erasmus+ will continue to be built around three strands, namely mobility, cooperation and support to policy development. Capacity building in and cooperation with third countries is also to be maintained.
What else will the EU fund in research and innovation in the future?
The annex to the EU budget also provides details on other areas of research and innovation, which will receive funding. These include the Euratom Research and Training Programme, ITER - the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the Connecting Europe Facility, and the Digital Europe Programme.
The new InvestEU Fund is a mechanism to mobilise public and private financing and builds on the current European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The Single Market Programme combines the current COSME programme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with internal market governance tools and the Your Europe portal.
