On November 30, the European Commission unveiled its proposal for Horizon 2020, the EU’s €79,271 million ($105,713 million = €0.75 = $1) R&D program for 2014 through 2020. The program aims to unite existing EU research programs, simplify and streamline EU funding for R&D, and promote strategic priorities. The program encompasses major EU mechanisms for research investment, including the Framework Program for Research, the Joint Research Center and the European Institute for Innovation and Technology’s (EIT) Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). According to the European Commission, the budget for Horizon 2020 is a 46% increase compared with the EU’s 2007–2013 Seventh Framework Program.

A major goal of Horizon 2020 is to make funding easier to manage. Thus, one set of rules will apply for all Horizon 2020 programs. Direct costs will be funded 100%, with the exception of demonstration projects, which will be funded at 70%. Indirect costs will be funded at 20%. In addition, auditing and grant rules will be simplified.

The Horizon 2020 program is based on three priorities: Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges (see table, page 7). The focus on Excellent Science can be separated into four “objectives,” as the proposal calls them, aimed at developing Europe’s scientific research base and competitiveness. The European Research Council (ERC), the first objective, will provide long-term funding for researchers, with the aim of improving the EU’s share of the 1% most-cited scientific publications. The ERC’s budget under Horizon 2020 represents a 77% increase from its current budget. The second objective, Future and Emerging Technologies, will focus on collaborative research for high-risk areas, as well as multidisciplinary approaches and novel ideas.

Marie Curie Actions, the third objective, are designed to improve the EU’s training of researchers, with an emphasis on researcher mobility, collaboration and expanding the use of co-funding. The amount allocated to the Marie Curie Actions is a 21% increase over current funding. Research Infrastructure, the fourth objective, aims to further develop the EU’s research infrastructure through implementation of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, early adoption of technologies and partnerships.

The second priority of Horizon 2020, Industrial Leadership, is focused on technology development to advance competitiveness in European industries. One focus is on Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), which are microelectronics, nanoelectronics, photonics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, advanced materials and advanced manufacturing systems. Together, the KETs will receive €5,894 billion ($7,860 billion) in funding under the Horizon 2020 budget. The fields for which objectives and funding were laid out in the proposal were information and communication technologies (€1,588 million) ($2,188 million), biotechnology (€509 million) ($679 million), space (€1,536 million) ($2,048 million) and nanotechnologies, advanced materials and advanced manufacturing and processing (€3,797 million) ($5,064 million).

The Industrial Leadership objective also encompasses Horizon 2020’s emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To provide greater access to financing for them, the EU plans to create a debt facility and an equity facility. In addition, a funding instrument dedicated to SMEs, and modeled on the US’s Small Business Innovation Research program, will be instituted. An estimated 15% of the budgets for Societal Challenges and Leadership in Enabling and Industrials Technologies will be used to fund SMEs. The Commission estimates that a total of €8.6 billion ($11.5 billion) in funding will go to SMEs.

Society Challenges, the third objective, will address objectives in six areas from research through commercialization based on public policy. Specific focuses include improved health, development of bio-based products, support for sustainability, implementation of the EU’s Strategy Energy Technology Plan and nuclear energy research. In fact, with sustainability as an overarching objective, 60% of the total budget for Horizon is expected to go to what the proposal calls “sustainable development,” with the majority for climate and environmental goals. Approximately 35% of the total budget is estimated to be allocated to climate-related projects.

Horizon 2020 also provides increased support for the EIT. The EIT will receive an initial allocation of €1,360 million ($1,814 million), followed by an allocation of as much as €1,652 million ($1,930 million) on a pro rata basis following a review. This secondary allocation will be taken from the budgets for Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies and Societal Challenges. Out of the total budget for Society Challenges, €1,004 million ($1,339 million) is expected to go to the EIT, while €436 million ($581 million) from the budget for Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies is expected to go to the EIT. The EIT’s budget since its launch in 2008 has totaled €309 million ($412 million).

As part of Horizon 2020, the EIT plans to set up new Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), which are public-private partnerships. Three KICs currently exist. Three new KICs are planned by 2014, focused on Healthy Living, Raw Materials and Food for the Future. Three more are expected to be established by 2018: Urban Mobility, Added Value Manufacturing and Smart Secure Societies. The EU expects to provide 25% of the funding for each KIC.

The Horizon 2020 proposal is expected to be adopted by the EU Parliament and Council by the end of 2013, with the first calls for funding launched in 2014.

 Horizon 2020 Budget
 Excellent Science                                      € 24,598
 European Research Council                              € 13,268
 Future and Emerging Technologies                        € 3,100
 Marie Curie Actions                                     € 5,752
 European Research Infrastructures                       € 2,478
 Industrial Leadership                                  € 17,938
 Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies     € 13,781
 Access to Risk Finance                                  € 3,538
 Innovation in SMEs                                        € 619
 Societal Challenges                                    € 31,748
 Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing                € 8,033
 Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture, Marine and 
 Maritime Research and the Bio-Economy                   € 4,152
 Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy                      € 5,782
 Smart, Green and Integrated Transport                   € 6,802
 Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials   € 3,160
 Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies              € 3,819
 EIT                                                     € 1,360
 Non-nuclear Direct Actions of the Joint Research Center € 1,962