The first funding schemes for research and innovation are open, 7,8 billion Euros available in 2014 at EU level

The first project requests in the Research-Innovation Programme of the European Commission – Horizon 2020 – have been launched on Wednesday, December 11^th, in Brussels. Around 3,8 billion Euros will be destined towards young researchers, 1,8 billion Euros for supporting the leader position in the European industrial sector in several sector, 2,8 billion Euros for innovative projects aimed towards the 7 societal challenges targeted by Horizon 2020.

You can find detailed information about all of the financing lines opened on Wednesday, December 11^th, here.

Only the request for the budget of 2014 represent a total of 7,8 billion Euros, the financing being oriented towards the three fundamental pylons of Horizon 2020:

Scientific excellence: around 3 billion Euros, including 1,7 billion for grants of the European Research Council for famous researchers and 800 million for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grants, for young researchers (check out MEMO/13/1123)
Leader position in the industrial sector: 1,8 billion Euros for supporting the leader position in the European industrial sector in fields such as IT&C, nanotechnologies, advanced fabrication systems, robotics, biotechnologies and space.
Societal challenges: 2,8 billion Euros for innovative projects aimed towards the 7 societal challenges in the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme: health; agriculture, maritime sector and bioeconomy; energy; transportation; climate policies, efficient use of resources and raw materials; reflexive societies; security.

Horizon 2020, European Union’s framework programme for research and innovation, with a budget of 80 billion Euros. The financing, which in the first two years reaches 15 billion Euros, is aimed towards stimulating the European knowledge based economy and takes on aspects that will have a great impact on the lives of citizens. This includes 12 domains on which actions in 2014-2015 will be concentrated on, including sectors such as personalized medical assistance, digital security and intelligent urban projects (MEMO/13/1122).

The context of the framework programme

The financing opportunities in the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme are settled in the work programs published on the digital portal for research financing, which has been reorganized in order to allow the application of faster procedures, done on electronic support. The participants will benefit, as well, of a simpler structure of the programme and financing, a single set of rules and a reduction of tasks for financial controls and audits.

The requests for 2014 – 2015 include 500 million Euros for a period of 2 years, aimed towards small and medium innovative enterprises (SME’s), through a new instrument for SME’s. The inclusion of related aspects into most of the projects is expected; also, there still are funds for the stimulation of debates regarding the role of science in society, Moreover, there are new rules for transforming the “free access” in a request of Horizon 2020, in order for the results of the projects to be accessible to the wider audience.

Read the press release of the European Commission here

Access the website dedicated to the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme

Online manual for the preparation of financing documents for Horizon 2020

List of national contact persons, on various sub-domains targeted by the framework programme