The European Commission has recently approved the second strategic plan for the flagship EU science initiative, "Horizon Europe." This strategic plan aims to set the direction for research and innovation in the EU from 2025 to 2027, addressing challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, digital transformation, and an aging population, while providing funding to support these efforts. Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, stated, "By funding research and innovation in the EU and setting key strategic directions, we can guide investments in frontier research and innovation breakthroughs."
The second strategic plan, endorsed by the European Commission, outlines three key strategic directions: green transformation, digital transformation, and building a more resilient, competitive, inclusive, and democratic Europe. The Commission emphasized a greater focus on biodiversity conservation, allocating 10% of the total budget for biodiversity-related research within the Horizon Europe program for 2025-2027. Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said, "The second strategic plan of the Horizon Europe program ensures that our research and innovation funding supports our ambitions in climate, biodiversity, and digitalization, while also helping us tackle emerging challenges."
The "European Partnerships" serve as a crucial implementation tool for the Horizon Europe program, bringing together the European Commission with public or private partners to jointly fund and plan new research areas. In the first strategic plan, there were 49 projects under the European Partnerships, covering four major areas: health, digitalization, industry and space, climate, energy, and transportation, food, natural resources, agriculture, and environment. The second strategic plan adds 9 new projects to the European Partnerships, including brain health, innovative materials, raw materials needed for green and digital transformations, solar photovoltaics, virtual worlds, among others.
The second strategic plan also introduces the "New European Bauhaus" initiative, aiming to gather citizens, municipalities, experts, businesses, universities, and research institutions to contribute innovative solutions for sustainable and inclusive growth in European architecture and communities.
The Horizon Europe program is a major funding initiative launched by the EU following "Horizon 2020" to support scientific research and innovation. The program runs from 2021 to 2027. In December 2020, an agreement was reached on the program with a total budget of €95.5 billion. In 2021, the Horizon Europe program was officially launched, and the European Commission approved the first strategic plan for the program. According to the European Commission's projections, for every €1 invested in the Horizon Europe program, there will be up to €11 in economic returns. By the end of 2027, the program is expected to create approximately 100,000 jobs in the research and innovation sectors.
(Report from Berlin)
