Industry groups seek more Horizon Europe funding

A coalition of industry groups has called for a bigger proportion of the EU’s next R&D programme to be allocated to their interests, alongside an overall budget increase.

The coalition of 93 European associations said in a joint statement on 16 September that it wanted the 2021-27 Horizon Europe programme to have a budget of €120 billion in 2018 prices, rather than the €94.1bn proposed by the European Commission.

At least 60 per cent of the budget should be allocated to the programme’s second pillar, on Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, the coalition said. This pillar will include funding for collaborative projects under thematic clusters such as health, digitisation, energy and food, as well as for the missions being introduced to increase Horizon Europe’s impact and public support.