The UK Research Office have advised that they understand the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation is planning to complete internal drafts of the first Horizon 2020 work programmes by the end of June 2013. This timetable is extremely ambitious and reliant on the budget discussions progressing, but if all goes as planned an indicative list of topics could be available in July, with consultations underway in Autumn.
The Horizon 2020 Strategic Programme for 2014-2016 is expected to be published alongside the first work programmes to set out the overall objectives of the first two years of the programme and a number of ‘focus areas’ which are expected to be the main thematic driver for the first work programmes. Early indications suggest these could include:
- Sustainable food security
- Blue growth: unlocking the potential of the oceans
- Smart cities and communities
- Competitive low-carbon energy
- Energy efficiency
- Mobility for growth
- Waste: a resource to recycle, reuse and recover raw materials
- Water innovation: boosting its value for Europe
- Overcoming the crisis: new ideas, strategies and governance structures for Europe
- Disaster-resilience: safeguarding and securing society, including adapting to climate change
- Digital security
- Personalising health and care
The full article is available from the UKRO subscriber services via www.ukro.ac.uk, or contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk for further information.
