Following Parliament’s adoption of its position on the EU’s long-term budget, the Industry, Research and Energy committee voted to increase the Horizon Europe research programme budget 2021-2027 to EUR 120 billion, instead EUR 83.5 billion, as the European Commission has previously proposed.
MEPs also voted to increase the support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by reintroducing the possibility of grants for incremental innovation, with a ring-fenced budget of EUR 2.5 billion. Also, MEPs voted to introduce innovative measures, such as widening fellowships to strengthen European Research Areas, and reduce the scientific and technological divide. In addition, MEPs also voted to give priority to programmes that include women, SMEs or participants from lower-performing EU countries when deciding on two equally strong applications.
Horizon Europe, which follows Horizon 2020, will be launched on 1 January 2021.
The currently Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme with EUR 80 billion of funding available for 2014 – 2020.
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