RESEARCH/INNOVATION : HORIZON 2020 TO GRANT 15 BN EURO OVER NEXT TWO YEARS.

The European Commission published, on 11 December, the first calls for projects under the new framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon 2020. For the first time, the funding priorities are announced for a period of two years, enabling researchers and businesses to be more certain about the direction of the Union's research policy. Another novelty is the simplification of the application process and of the funding scheme.

Presenting the results of more than two years of intense political discussions and "endless negotiations," Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn said that "Funding for research is sorely needed: by researchers, who are finding national budgets squeezed, by businesses, which need to remain competitive on global markets, and by citizens, for whom we need to find solutions to a number of societal challenges". Horizon 2020 has a total budget of 78.6 billion over the period 2014-2020. Some 15 billion will be spent in the next two years. The first set of calls for participation presented by the Commission is actually just a start: more projects will follow, as some are still awaiting official approval, while others will depend on the approval of the 2015 annual budget.

For the next two years, the Commission will apply a different method than in the previous framework programme. "The EU badly needs new ideas. The real innovation of Horizon 2020 resides in our new challenge-based approach: we...