International collaboration ‘top priority’ for Horizon Europe

The European Commission is taking steps to make the EU’s next R&D programme, Horizon Europe, more open to participation from countries around the world, its leading research official has said.

The Commission is being “very ambitious” in changing the association agreements that will enable non-EU countries to participate in the programme, Jean-Eric Paquet, the director-general of its research division, told the Science Business conference in Brussels on 5 February.

These changes should make association to Horizon Europe “much more agile” and more “palatable” for countries, he said. Making Horizon Europe open for international collaboration is “a top priority” for the Commission.