As the EU begins negotiations on the 10th Framework Program for R&I, which will succeed Horizon Europe in 2028, Guild FP10 warned that sufficient funding of more than €200 billion must be secured and a balance must be found between policy-driven research and scientific independence.
“The current geopolitical situation has led the European Commission and Member States to place greater emphasis on strategic autonomy, responsible internationalization and research security.
“We are concerned that this will have a serious impact on the openness of FP10 in working with non-EU partners,” Ole Petter Ottersen, the guild’s acting secretary-general, told The PIE.
Europe accounts for 18% of global innovation output. Hungarian Education Minister Balázs Hankó said this was a significant increase from 25% about 15 years ago. said at the meeting European universities in April 2024
“Europe has the talent to lead the world in science and technology, but it struggles to keep up with its main competitors in terms of research funding and high-quality scientific output, especially in emerging fields, and European industry is not specialized in the fastest-growing sectors. not. “Sector” European Research Council We were warned in January 2024.
Since Horizon Europe was founded seven years ago, global competitiveness has gained new momentum.
“FP10 can benefit from this new comprehensive policy narrative as long as competitiveness is narrowly understood and R&I investments are not focused on a few technologies currently considered strategic.
“It is important that the ambition to make Europe more competitive and resilient remains forward-looking,” Ottersen emphasized.
The guild has called for a budget of at least €200 billion for FP10, which is more than double the budget. 95.5 billion euros A budget has been allocated to Horizon Europe for 2021-27.
According to Ottersen, he recommended limiting funding to prevent sudden changes in budget allocations due to short-term policy goals, and reiterated that “patient investments in R&I yield the highest long-term returns.”
The Guild has advocated for the fine-tuning of Horizon Europe while maintaining successful projects such as the European Research Council and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions.
According to the guild, funding must be secured for bottom-up research tools that support “researchers’ unbridled curiosity and creativity” that will lay the foundation for “game-changing innovations.”
“It is important that the ambition to make Europe more competitive and resilient remains forward-looking.”
“Trust the researchers. They don't live in an ivory tower. They already know the challenges we face and how to solve them in the most effective way, so we don’t need to tell them what to do,” Julien Chicot, head of research and innovation policy at The Guild, told The PIE. said.
The Guild also emphasized the importance of the social sciences, arts and humanities being included in the new framework.
“Of course, these areas are important in their own right, but it is also important to ensure that new technologies can be safely introduced into society and their social impact can be seen,” Ottersen added.