Tag Archives: horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 update from UKRO

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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.

EU agrees top-up for 2013 programmes

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Image EU agrees top-up for 2013 programmes

By Laura Greenhalgh

15 May 13

European finance ministers have pledged to provide an additional €7.3 billion of funding this year, to pay bills for EU programmes including Framework 7.

At a meeting on 14 May, member states gave their political agreement to the funds, stating they would be used for “measures to support economic growth, create jobs and tackle unemployment”.

The €7.3bn-allocation is the first batch of money designed to top up this year’s budget, and meet payments already committed under EU programmes. The Commission has previously estimated that €11.2bn will be needed in total, including €678 million for Framework 7 and €126m for education and the Erasmus programme.

Finance ministers said they would consider a second payment to make up the funds in mid-October. The first tranche of additional money was agreed under qualified majority by the member states, although five countries—the UK, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands—opposed the move.

The Council of Minister’s positive signal on the 2013 budget means discussions on the 2014-20 budget framework can continue as planned. MEPs had previously stated they would be unwilling to agree a package for the next seven years, until member states agreed to honour commitments for this year.

However, at yesterday’s meeting, finance ministers said the formal vote on the extra €7.3bn will be postponed until the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament reach an agreement on the overall seven-year budget.

At a press conference following the meeting, the Irish minister for finance Michael Noonan said: “As you know, these discussions [on the 2013 budget] have been linked by the European Parliament to the discussions on the multiannual financial framework. Whilst we regret this link, we acknowledge this is a political reality.”

“Both the European Parliament and the Council have agreed to the principle that ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’”, stated the Council.

Discussions on the overall budget from 2014-20 began on Monday 13 May. EU representatives have said a swift agreement will be vital to prevent delay to programmes such as Horizon 2020, set to begin in 2014.

The president of the Committee of the Regions, Ramon Luis Valcárcel, welcomed the announcement of an extra €7.3bn, but emphasized the importance of a second top-up later this year. “Regions and cities need to be reimbursed for the money they have already spent on EU-funded projects,” he said.

However, MEP Ivailo Kalfin referred to the agreement as a “no-go” on Twitter, criticising the finance council for only agreeing to part of the additional budget and making it conditional on the Parliament’s consent on the MFF.

“Ridiculous, these are funds legally due,” he wrote.

Source: http://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/europe/framework-7/2013/5/eu-agrees-top-up-for-2013-programmes.html

 

The biggest ICT event in Europe: ICT 2013 – Create, Connect, Grow in Vilnius on 6-8 November, 2013

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More than 4000 researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, industry representatives, young people and politicians are expected in Vilnius.

The “ICT 2013 – Create, Connect & Grow” event combines a conference, an exhibition, networking sessions, an investment forum and activities for students and young researchers.

The conference will address a range of issues across the ICT sector varying from cloud computing, broadband and ICT infrastructures to ICT skills, cyber security and long term visions on the future.

The plenary sessions are organised thematically:

  • Create: Disruptive and inspirational ICT research and innovation;
  • Connect: Breaking silos, building bridges, exploiting synergies; and
  • Grow: Start-ups, SMEs and the role of clusters.

Experts will present details on how to participate in the three parts of the Horizon 2020 programme through dedicated sessions on ICT for Excellent science, ICT for Industrial Leadership and ICT for Societal challenges.

The exhibition will showcase latest findings in advanced research, technologies, new systems, innovation in services & business and ICT products just coming to market. The exhibition runs under five themes:

  • Digitally empowered citizen;
  • Smart and sustainable cities for 2020+;
  • Industry and business for tomorrow;
  • Intelligent connecting intelligence; and 
  • Culture, science and creativity.

Register for the ICT 2013 http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/events/cf/ict2013/register.cfm

Practical information https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/ict-2013-practical-information

EU budget discussions update

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Official negotiations between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament regarding the overall EU budget for 2014 to 2020 are finally scheduled to start on Monday 13 May, to try to reach agreement on the budget before the end of the Irish presidency on 30 June. These Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations will continue on the basis of the EUR 960 billion budget agreed at the European Council meeting in February 2013. The negotiations are looking to agree final budgets for the next generation of EU programmes due to be launched in 2014.

MEPs ponder veto of EU budget

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12 Feb 13

MEPs from four political parties have threatened to veto the overall budget package for 2014-20 agreed by the EU Council on 8 February, arguing that it does not provide sufficient support for growth and investment in Europe.

In a cross-party statement published immediately after the deal was announced, MEPs representing the Greens/EFA, EPP, S&D and ALDE parties of the parliament said: “The European Parliament cannot accept today’s deal in the European Council as it is.” According to the parliament leaders, “The core priority behind Parliament’s choices is the ambition to promote growth and investment in the EU… this agreement will not strengthen the competitiveness of the European economy but weaken it.”

On 8 February, European heads of state agreed a compromise on the budget from 2014 to 2020, which must now be approved by the Parliament to enter into force from the beginning of 2014.

In the early hours of Friday morning, during the summit of EU leaders, European Parliament’s president Martin Schulz said the compromise would “not secure the approval” of the parliament. “We cannot agree to cut back on research, innovation and education – these are going to be cut drastically, and this simply doesn’t match the Europe 2020 goals,” he said.

The deal approved by the Council indicates the budget for the Horizon 2020 research programme will be around €69bn, if all unspecified areas of competitiveness spending receive equal reductions. Previously, the Commission said Horizon 2020 should receive €80bn, whilst the parliament has argued the research and innovation programme needs €100bn to provide a much-needed boost to growth and innovation.

Schulz also expressed concerns that the gap between the two levels of spending in the budget—commitments, the upper ceiling for spending, and payments, the amount predicted to be spent—was too large. He said this could only contribute to an ever-increasing structural deficit in the EU budget and risk annual payment crises for programmes such as Horizon 2020 unless budget shortfalls are met by supplementary budgets.

Schulz said he had been informed of plans by leaders of the four main parties to ensure MEPs vote via a secret ballot, which would make it more likely that the parliament would reject the budget proposal, as members would be less likely to be swayed by national influences ahead of upcoming elections. Signatures from 151 MEPs would be needed for the vote to be conducted anonymously, said Schulz.

However, Martin Callanan, the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists party — a centre-right group dominated by the British Conservative Party — said that a secret vote would constitute a “highly cynical and unaccountable act” on one of the parliament’s most important votes.

Callanan said that undertaking the procedure would undermine the credibility of the European Parliament, arguing that MEPs must remain accountable to their voters and explain why they do not support their national governments.

“If MEPs want to reject an agreement made by their own prime ministers then they should have the courage of their convictions and not try to cower behind a procedural technicality,” said Callanan.

by Laura Greenhalgh

Science lobby set for verdict on Horizon 2020

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Lobby groups renew efforts in the face of funding fears

07 Feb 13

Scientists and university groups have launched a late push against cuts to the Commission’s plans for Horizon 2020, ahead of a meeting of EU leaders that could seal the next seven-year budget for research.

The scientists’ group Euroscience, the European Research Council and the League of European Research Universities have made fresh pleas urging decision makers to secure a budget of at least €80 billion for Horizon 2020. In letters to the EU Council, the groups say the money will be vital to ensure the success of the programme, promote economic growth and prevent the departure of talented researchers from Europe.

Their call comes as heads of state prepare to meet in Brussels today to try to reach a compromise on the overall EU budget for 2014-20. In November, inconclusive talks discussed a scenario indicating a Horizon 2020 settlement of around €70bn, despite a pre-emptive campaign by science groups supported by Nobel laureates and a petition of 153,000 signatures.

Peter Tindemans, secretary-general of Euroscience, admits the research lobby may not do any better this time. “I’m not really optimistic, I must confess, because from what I’m hearing, on the key subdivisions of the budget, the agreement is very close,” he says. A senior Commission official also confirmed leaders were close to a compromise on spending allocations, but that other technical areas, such as member-state rebates, remained a problem.

In its letter, Euroscience tells leaders they should give Horizon 2020 €85bn using funds from the two largest budget areas—agriculture and cohesion. Otherwise, the rhetoric by leaders on the importance of research spending “once more threatens to be a matter of lip service,” the letter says.

Euroscience has attempted to gain traction via the Irish presidency of the Council, by briefing on the implications of a €70bn scenario, and it has lobbied the Dutch prime minister through the Royal Netherlands Society of Arts and Sciences.

The ERC has teamed up with the European Round Table of Industrialists, a group of industry chief executives, to make its case. “I am what I call a realistic optimist, so I want to try whatever seems possible until the very end,” says ERC president Helga Nowotny.

However, Nowotny says a fundamental change in the EU system is needed to better support research and innovation. “We are in a structure that has a historical antecedence, with a common agricultural policy but no common R&D policy,” says Nowotny. “Most policymakers believe that research is key for Europe’s future, but if you don’t have the structure in place then we end up where we are now.”

Other Brussels sources have told Research Europe that national leaders will struggle to justify increased spending on research to their governments, in part because the competitive nature of the funding allocation means they cannot quantify how much they will get back.

A senior Commission official points out that “there is no unconditional support for Horizon 2020” among member states. “France is unconditionally for agricultural subsidies. The Group of 12 are unconditionally for structural funds. The UK is for Horizon 2020, but … there always has to be a ‘but’.”

Kurt Deketelaere, secretary-general of Leru, says the outlook for Horizon 2020 could be even more bleak. At a meeting with Scottish university officials on 29 January, he said he fears extra commitments to large projects could subtract as much as €15bn from it—leaving just €55bn for the work streams.

According to Deketelaere, money for projects such Galileo, Copernicus and the Iter nuclear fusion reactor will now “probably” be taken from Horizon 2020—leaving the research programme in “a complete mess”. However, others believe that there will be a ring-fenced allocation of €12.8bn for the three projects, as included in the latest document being discussed by the Council.

If leaders do not agree this week, the Commission says it will prepare a budget for 2014 based on this year’s spending plus two per cent inflation.

by Laura Greenhalgh

Update on Horizon 2020

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Horizon 2020 is the successor research and innovation funding programme to Framework Programme 7.  Horizon 2020 will operate from 2014-2020 with a proposed overall budget of €80 billion. This programme will support three pillars of activity – Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges. 

Each legislative part of Horizon 2020 implementation must be approved by the European Parliament, Council and Commission.  These discussions are scheduled  to be completed by summer 2013, before the end of the Irish presidency.  Current issues to be resolved include the rules and rates for cost reimbursement, the detailed structured for the societal challenges pillar and widening the participation potential across all member states.  Once these issues have been resolved the first calls are expected in early 2014.

This all depends on the budget negotiations, which are part of the overall EU budget for 2014-2020 (the Multi-Annual Financial Framework), subject for the summit meetings this week.  Our UKRO annual visit on 13th February will provide more detailed information following on from these budget discussions. To register for this event contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk.

UK Research Office Visit – 13th Feb – Book your place now!

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The External Projects Team are delighted to be hosting the Annual UKRO event on the Wednesday 13February 2013

The event is aimed both at colleagues who have experience of, and those who would like to know more about EU funding

This is an opportunity to hear about the new EU Funding Programmes (2014-2020) with UKRO European Advisor Jo Frost as well as first-hand experience of running EU partnerships and projects from Professor Nachi Chockalingam and Enterprise Reader Jon Fairburn

Programme – All sessions are being held in BG21 Brindley Building, Leek Road, Stoke Campus

Session 1

9.00am Horizon 2020: the new EU research and innovation funding programme (2014-2020)

Jo Frost, European Advisor, UKRO

11.00 am Coffee/ networking

Session 2

11.30am Working with EU partners: Staffordshire University experience Nachi Chockalingam, Professor of Clinical Biomechanics, School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise; Faculty of Health Sciences

Session 3

12.00pm How to make the most of UKRO services (repeated at 3.00pm)

Jo Frost, European Advisor, UKRO

Session 4

2.00pm Erasmus for all: replacing the Lifelong Learning Programme, includes education funding and funding related to Sport  

Jo Frost, European Advisor, UKRO

Session 5

2.30pm Working with EU partners: Staffordshire University experience Jon Fairburn: Enterprise Reader, Business School – Research & Enterprise. Faculty of Business, Education and Law

Session 6

3.00pm How to make the most of UKRO services (repeat of 12.00pm)

Jo Frost, European Advisor, UKRO

Session 7

3.30pm-4.30pm Marie Curie Individual Fellowships: session for all or 1-2-1 individual slots.

Jo Frost, European Advisor, UKRO

Please register by 6 February via externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk , specifying which sessions you wish to attend.

Social sciences to get dedicated challenge in next EU Framework

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 An additional societal challenge to fund social sciences and humanities research is to be added to Horizon 2020, the EU’s next funding research programme set to run from 2014-2020, officials from member states and the European Commission have said.

The Commission has made preparations to split the existing sixth challenge in Horizon 2020’s societal challenges pillar—inclusive, innovative and secure societies—into two, creating one challenge for humanities and social challenges and one for security research. The new sixth challenge will be called Europe in a Changing World, and will include research on “inclusive, innovative and reflective societies”, says a Commission official.

The seventh societal challenge will be called Secure Societies, and will cover the “freedom and security of Europe and its citizens”, according to the Commission’s proposal. This will include security and defence research, as well as some research related to politics and diplomacy.

Within the sixth challenge, three fields will cover research into media, history, culture, philosophy, European identity and linguistics, the Commission official says. “The Council of Ministers and the European Parliament both wanted this, so we have plans to turn the six challenges into seven,” he says.

There won’t be any extra money for social sciences or the humanities as a result, but the change is likely to be welcomed by researchers in these fields, some of whom feared that being grouped together with security research would skew research priorities towards counter-terrorism and other security-related problems.

Funding for social sciences across the other challenges will remain as previously proposed, says the Commission official, but the Commission is still undecided about how this will be done.

The European Alliance for the Social Sciences and Humanities called the proposal a “pragmatic proposition”, while saying that the creation of a special funding pot for such research would help scientists in the field to collaborate more and improve the circulation of ideas and people. Rüdiger Klein, a co-founder of the alliance, says the separation from security will increase the scope of contributions of social sciences and humanities research to Europe’s society and economy.

However, Klein thinks that the research dimensions within the Innovative Societies part of the sixth challenge need to be further clarified. This part includes funding for initiatives such as ICT support, international cooperation, Science in Society and links between structural funds and Framework Programme funding.

“The current lumping together, under this heading, of all sorts of components familiar from Framework 7 carries severe risks for diluting the research agenda of this challenge,” he says.

 Click on link to see the structure of the 3 Pillars of Horizon 2020

by Inga Vesper, researchprofessional.com, 16 Jan 2013