Horizon Europe detailed proposal for next EU R&I programme published

On 7 June 2018 the European Commission published the proposed structure of the European Union’s next Framework Research and Innovation Programme: Horizon Europe. The proposal makes it the largest European Union Research and Innovation programme to date with an estimated budget of approximately €100 billion for the period 2021 – 2027.

Horizon Europe is set to be the EU’s biggest ever research and innovation funding programme and is designed for greater impact. 


The proposed budget allocation of €100 billion for 2021-2027 includes €97.6 billion under Horizon Europe (€3.5 billion of which will be allocated under the InvestEU Fund) and €2.4 billion for the Euratom Research and Training Programme. The innovation window of InvestEU will allow the use of loans, guarantees, equity and other market-based instruments to mobilise further public and private investment in research and innovation.

The Commission says, and SusChem agrees, that investing in research and innovation is investing in Europe’s future: helping Europe to compete globally while preserving the region’s unique social model. It improves the daily lives of millions of European and global citizens and helps to solve some of our biggest societal challenges.

Horizon Europe aims to strengthen EU science and technology through increased investment in highly skilled people and cutting-edge research. It will foster the EU’s industrial competitiveness and its innovation performance, notably supporting market-creating innovation via the new European Innovation Council (EIC) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). And it will deliver on the EU’s strategic priorities, such as the Paris Agreement on climate change, and tackle global challenges that affect the quality of our daily lives.

What’s new?
There are several new elements in Horizon Europe. There will be increased support for breakthrough innovation through the EIC funding, mission-orientated research and innovation will deliver more and faster impact from project results and openness will be reinforced – an open science approach will be the norm. The programme will review and shape a new generation of European Partnerships in research and innovation and also look to simplify the rules for participation to reduce the administrative burden.

The structure of Horizon Europe will be based around three ‘pillars’: Open Science, Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness and Open Innovation.

The Open Science pillar, with €25.8 billion funding proposed, supports frontier research projects defined and driven by researchers themselves through the European Research Council (ERC) which will receive funding of €16.6 billion, funds fellowships and exchanges for researchers through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

The Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness pillar with funding of €52.7 billion directly supports research relating to societal challenges, reinforces technological and industrial capacities, and sets EU-wide missions with ambitious goals tackling some of our biggest problems.

The Open Innovation pillar with €13.5 billion funding aims to make Europe a front runner

in market-creating innovation via the European Innovation Council (€10 billion of funding). It will help develop the overall European innovation landscape, including through further strengthening the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to foster the integration of business, research, higher education and entrepreneurship (€3 billion).

Sustainable Chemistry ready to respond
The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) reacted positively to the Horizon Europe announcement commending the level of ambition and commitment for Research & Innovation in the European Commission’s proposal and applauding the anticipated budget allocation for 2021-2027.

Marco Mensink, Cefic Director General said: “When the EU unravels the next financial framework, the Horizon Europe proposal should remain untouched, or even be increased in size. Sharing innovation efforts is one of the true values of Europe. We call upon member states and European Parliament to reflect this in the final negotiations and decisions.”

Cefic praised the European Commission for clearly recognising the innovative and enabling role of the industry by placing the pillar of the Global Challenges & Industrial Competitiveness at the heart of the Horizon Europe programme. The Commission’s ambition of making Europe an unparalleled global innovation hub is essential for global competitiveness.

The chemical industry also welcomed the Digital technologies and Industry cluster in Horizon Europe. A structural combination with industrial processes, materials development and new business model creation is key for investment and growth of the European chemical industry. SusChem will be well placed to contribute to this area (see below).

SusChem and KETs
Cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral partnerships through open innovation are essential in the new R&D programme to align the entire innovation ecosystem, including start-ups, and to bring innovation faster to market. This reflects the current approach of the SusChem innovation ecosystem.

In preparation for Horizon Europe, SusChem outlined its position on what can be achieved by Key Enabling Technologies (KETs). In a White paper on KETs and Horizon Europe published earlier this year the technology platform outlined the major technology developments and initiatives needed to:

• create Advanced Materials for use in energy efficiency (e.g., light weight), renewable electricity production and energy storage (e.g., batteries elements), or smart functionalities responding to stimuli (e.g., self-repair),
• develop Advanced Process Technologies, including Industrial Biotechnology, for more sustainable production including through utilisation of alternative carbon feedstock (waste, biomass, CO2) and alternative energy sources, and
• leverage Digital Technologies for use in advanced process control and materials modelling, to enable disruptive business models and to create new customer experiences.

You can read the full paper here.

Innovation in these areas is essential for the EU to grow a low carbon, circular and digital economy and to continue generating jobs and attracting investments and will be at the heart of the Horizon Europe programme in the Digital technologies and Industry cluster and other areas.

Help shape the SusChem contribution in these three areas at our Annual Stakeholder event in Brussels on 20 June and celebrate a fruitful future in Horizon Europe!

The European Commission press release announcing the Horizon Europe structure is available here and a detailed annex giving much more information on the proposal is available here.

Commission proposes R&I Budget Boost for Horizon Europe (FP9)

On 2 May 2018 the European Commission published its proposal for the European Union’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) covering the period 2021-2027. You can find details of the proposed MFF here.

Despite the potential financial consequences of the departure of the UK from the EU, the Commission has proposed an increase in the budget for Research and Innovation activities to EUR 97.9 billion EUR for the next Research Framework Programme 2021-2027 provisionally named FP9 and now officially entitled ‘Horizon Europe’. Horizon Europe will be the EU’s biggest ever research and innovation funding programme.

The reasoning behind the naming of  'Horizon Europe' is explained by Commissioner Carlos Moedas here.

Funding for research and innovation and for the ERASMUS programme are the only budget lines being increased compared with the current MFF. This proposal will now be subject to extensive discussions within and between the Commission and the European Council and European Parliament.

Chemical Industry positive
The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) reacted positively to the proposal, commending the level of ambition and commitment for Research & Innovation in the European Commission’s proposal

Increasing the budget foreseen for Horizon Europe sends a clear message: Europe wants to continue to be one of the leading continents in a global innovation race.

Innovation is essential for the EU to grow a low carbon, circular and digital economy and to continue generating jobs and attracting investments. Cefic will be happy to work with the EU institutions to ensure that funding will be used to further strengthen Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) to develop high value-added products and processes.

Marco Mensink, Cefic Director General said: “This ambitious funding for research and innovation under the MFF is a good start. It shows that the European Commission is serious about making the EU a global innovation hub – a vision that we hope the Council and the European Parliament can only support”.

Sustainable KETs
In preparation for Horizon Europe, SusChem has outlined its position on what can be achieved by Key Enabling Technologies (KETs). In a White paper on KETs and FP9/ Horizon Europe published earlier this year the technology platform outlined the major technology developments and initiatives needed to:

• Create Advanced Materials for use in energy efficiency (e.g., light weight), renewable electricity production and energy storage (e.g., batteries elements), or smart functionalities responding to stimuli (e.g., self-repair),
• Develop Advanced Process Technologies, including Industrial Biotechnology, for more sustainable production including through utilisation of alternative carbon feedstock (waste, biomass, CO2) and alternative energy sources, and
• Leverage Digital Technologies for use in advanced process control and materials modelling, to enable disruptive business models and to create new customer experiences.

You can read the full paper here.

European Commission publishes its priorities for the EU Budget Post-2020

On 14 February the European Commission published a Communication outlining the various options and their financial consequences for the next long-term EU budget (the Multi-annual Financial Framework or MFF) after 2020. The Communication, entitled ‘A new, modern Multiannual Financial Framework for a European Union that delivers efficiently on its priorities post-2020’, was prepared ahead of an informal meeting of EU Leaders that takes place on 23 February 2018.

The Communication argues that the first step for reforming the EU budget is to define what Europe wants to do together and agree on priorities. Secondly, the EU needs the right instruments to be able to act quickly in response to external developments.

Commenting on the Communication, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: "Budgets are not bookkeeping exercises – they are about priorities and ambition. They translate our future into figures. So, let's first discuss about the Europe we want. Then, Member States must back their ambition up with the money to match. And whilst we all need to understand that business as usual is not an option for this upcoming discussion, I firmly believe that we can square the circle and agree on a budget where everyone will be a net beneficiary.”

The Commission is contributing to the MFF discussion in three ways: First, by providing the necessary facts about the EU budget, its benefits, achievements and added value. Second, by drawing up scenarios which illustrate the financial impact of various possible policy choices. And third, by showing the consequences for students, researchers, infrastructure projects and others should the adoption of the new EU budget be delayed.

EU added value for innovation 
The Communication covers numerous areas of interest to innovation and sustainability and argues that investment is increasingly focused on programmes directly managed at European level and in areas such as research and innovation, trans-European transport and energy networks, mobility programmes for young people and Europe's external action, and that the principle of European added value should shape the future MFF.

Research and innovation and digitisation – clear SusChem priorities - are high on the Commission’s list. The EU currently spends close to EUR 80 billion on the Horizon 2020 programme. The Commission states that maintaining or lowering this budget post 2020 would not address the problem of underfunding, while an increase by 50% to EUR 120 billion would create an estimated 420,000 additional jobs by 2040. Doubling the Framework Programme to EUR 160 billion would create an estimated 650,000 jobs by 2040.

For digitalisation the current EU spend for data infrastructure, connectivity and digital skills is around EUR 35 billion. The Commission notes that maintaining or even lowering current investment levels would risk compromising the EU’s ability to remain competitive while doubling the amounts invested in the digital economy to around EUR 70 billion would deliver strong progress.

Modernisation and financing
The paper also examines how the EU ‘can do more with less’ and sources of finance for the budget.
One option to improve the efficiency and impact of instruments aiming at investment support would be to integrate them into one single investment support instrument. This would further reinforce the European Fund for Strategic Investment and have a positive impact on investment levels, economic growth and employment across the EU. The Commission foresee that wider uptake could more than double the investments mobilised over the next MFF up to EUR two trillion.

Ideas for sources of finance for the MFF include a revamped EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) that could generate revenues up to EUR 105 billion over seven years; access to VAT-based resources, and a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base.

Other areas covered in the Communication include mobility of young people, specifically the ‘Erasmus+’ programme; Economic and Monetary Union; Cohesion Policy; the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP); external borders and defence.

Next steps
The European Commission will table its formal proposal for the next long-term EU budget in the coming months, at the latest in early May 2018. In the meantime, the Commission will continue listening to all stakeholders, including via the public consultations on the priorities of the EU that were launched in January 2018.

For more detailed information on the MFF process and to access ongoing stakeholder consultations on the shape of the MFF post 2020, please visit the DG Budget website.