The European Commission has published the proposal for the next research and innovation framework programme Horizon Europe which will succeed the current programme Horizon 2020. The proposal foresees a budget of € 100 billion for 2021-2027 for Horizon Europe and the Euratom Research and Training Programme.
The new programme should be implemented under three pillars:
• Pillar 1 – Open Science
• Pillar 2 – Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness
• Pillar 3 – Open Innovation
€ 25.8 billion are foreseen for pillar 1 which will support frontier research projects which are defined and driven by researchers.
€ 52.7 billion will be put into pillar 2 which directly supports research related to societal challenges, reinforces technological and industrial capacities and will set EU-wide missions with ambitious goals to tackle some of the most important problems.
Finally, € 13.5 billion will be dedicated to pillar 3 which aims to bring Europe into the leading place in market-creating innovation.
In its proposal the European Commission mentions Photonics as a Key Digital Technology under pillar 2 Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness.
The new framework programme will further reduce administrative burden and introduce simpler rules.
In the following process the Council and European Parliament will negotiate and subsequently adopt the programme. Horizon Europe will be officially launched on 1st January 2021.
You will find any further details on Horizon Europe at the European Commission website.
You can further download a factsheet on the new research and innovation framework programme.