Alan Kennedy explains the background to the current petition calling for an increased EU budget for research and innovation.
Euroscience and the ‘Initiative for Science in Europe’ have created a petition to call for an increased EU budget for research and innovation.
As you probably know the European Commission, in its proposal for the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2021-2028, has proposed a budget of almost €100bn for research and innovation, of which €97.6bn is foreseen for Horizon Europe, the 9th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and successor to Horizon 2020. While the UK’s position regarding access to Horizon Europe is still not yet clear we are still a member state and still have a say.
Of this €97.6 bn, €3.5 bn is allocated to another programme, namely the InvestEU fund, the successor of EFSI (also known as the Junker Plan). Funding for the Open Science Pillar (formerly “Excellent Science”, which contains the funding for ERC and Marie Curie actions) sees a fall of 2.4% of the total budget. This is clearly a concern.
In a joint statement in March 2018, LERU and 13 other European associations of universities (of which we are a member of five) called for a doubling of the funding for Research and Innovation, which would lead to a budget of EUR 160bn.
While we realise that this figure is not very likely to be achieved, it is important to continue a strong call for more funding, even if it is to ensure that the currently proposed budget is not decreased by the European Council and the European Parliament.
You can sign the petition here: https://double-ri.eu/
Please share it among your colleagues around the university and around the globe.
Alan Kennedy is the European Funding Advisor in the European Funding Team within the Research Support Office.
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