“Horizon 2020″ is the winner of our “You Name it” online vote to name the future EU-funding programme for research and innovation. Three names were shortlisted. Horizon 2020 received 3,055 votes against 2,785 for Imagine 2020 and 2,478 for Discover 2020. 8,318 votes were received in total.
The full name that will be put forward towards the end of this year as part of the legislative proposal for the new programme will therefore be: “Horizon 2020 – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation”. The competition winners Marcela Endlova, a teacher from the Czech Republic, and Beata Zyngier, also a teacher, from Poland both suggested the name. The new name marks another step in Europe’s endeavour to place research and innovation at the centre of EU policy making.
Horizon 2020 is not just a new name for the same Framework Programme. It is the name for the new, integrated funding system that will cover all research and innovation funding currently provided through the:
- Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development
- Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)
- European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
These different types of funding are to be brought together in a coherent and flexible manner. Hence the future versions of Eco-Innovation and Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE), are likely to form part of Horizon 2o2o.
Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research and Innovation says “….this will be a smarter way to support researchers and innovators in Europe – so as to further boost excellence and to help ensure that good ideas reach the market and generate sustainable economic growth and new jobs. Research and innovation funding will focus more clearly on addressing global challenges. Needless red tape will be cut out and participation made simpler.
However, there is also, in the longer title, a certain continuity. We will not lose sight of the fact that the Framework Programmes have been a big success and that there has been much to be proud of. We are not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Europe is currently facing very serious economic challenges. But there are reasons for optimism. High on that list is the enormous and still largely untapped research and innovation capacity that we have in Europe”
What improvements should the Commission embrass, as it develops the scope and structure of Horizon 2020?
Posted on July 30, 2011