‘Many universities prefer’ separate civil and defence EU R&D funds

EU urged to not “overtly promote” military research in Horizon Europe successor

Many higher education institutions would prefer to keep EU support for civil and defence R&D separate, a university group has said in response to moves to bridge the gap between the two fields.

Last month, the European Commission launched a consultation on three options to improve synergies between the EU’s main R&D programme, Horizon Europe—which funds only civil applications of research—and the European Defence Fund, which is dedicated to military R&D.