The European Parliament and the Council finally reached an agreement on the forthcoming EU’s R&I programme Horizon Europe. To finalize the deal, it needs to be approved formally by the European Parliament and the Member States. Moreover, Member States’ leaders reached a budget deal on EU’s recovery package and multiannual financial framework which brings the beginning of EU’s new budget period even closer.
The agreements
EU leaders reached a budget deal on EU’s multiannual financial framework and recovery instrument Next Generation EU that had been blocked by Hungary and Poland over the link of payments to respect of rule of law. The deal which was reached by the Member States leaders brings the budget package close to finalization.
The Council and the European Parliament have reached an agreement for the proposed regulation establishing Horizon Europe. The main elements that contained in the agreement were the budgetary issues that covered both internal breakdown of Horizon Europe’s budget and additional top-ups received in last month’s negotiations. Moreover, the agreement specifies how funds from EU’s recovery instrument Next Generation EU will be made available. The other agreed parts were synergies with other EU programmes supporting and complementing Horizon Europe and international cooperation and association with third countries.
Time to put focus on future opportunities
Horizon Europe is in many ways similar to its predecessor H2020. R&D funding is available for actors from the academia, SMEs to industry. Large share of the funding is allocated to collaborative projects that focus on health, manufacturing, circularity, bioeconomy, digital and climate transition among others. The emphasis of European competitiveness and transition to digital and green economy means that the progamme has many suitable calls for the industry’s needs.
If you have not been paying attention for the public funding options EU offers in the next years, now is the time to jump aboard and familiarize yourself with the opportunities. The deal puts the timely start of the programme one step closer, and we are expecting the calls to open before the end of March 2021.
Other programmes
Besides deal on Horizon Europe, EU institutions have been reaching agreements on other interesting instruments that are due to start in 2021. Among them is InvestEU Fund that supports strategic, sustainable and innovative investments in Europe. InvestEU functions as EU’s guarantee instrument that is designed to generate over 400 billion€ in additional investments. The instrument’s guarantees are divided to the following policy windows:
- Sustainable infrastructure: 37,8% (around 9.9 B€);
- Research, Innovation and Digitalisation: 25.1% (around 6.6 B€);
- SMEs: 26.4% (around 6.9 B€)
- Social investment and Skills: 10.6% (around 2.8 B€).
Moreover, the institutions reached a deal on EU’s regional and cohesion funding which will support regional R&D actions. In Finland, the new programme for regional and cohesion funds will be available from autumn 2021 onwards.
Do you want to learn more about Horizon Europe and other instruments and how you could find growth for your company? Feel free to contact us for a free consultation to hear how we can help you. We have also launched a new service which is designed to get the most out Horizon Europe instrument in a timely manner!
More information:
European Council press release