Horizon 2020 – General overview
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.
Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. Seen as a means to drive economic growth and create jobs, Horizon 2020 has the political backing of Europe's leaders and the Members of the European Parliament.
The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation will be complemented by further measures to complete and further develop the European Research Area. These measures will aim at breaking down barriers to create a genuine single market for knowledge, research and innovation.
For the first time, the Commission has stated its funding priorities over the next 2 years, to give more certainty about the direction of EU research policy. The fund will focus on 12 fields in 2014-2015, including personalised healthcare, digital security and smart cities.Compared to previous EU research programmes, the application procedure for Horizon 2020 has been simplified so that participants can get prompt decisions on funding and focus on getting new projects off the ground as quickly as possible.
Find out more about Horizon 2020 in this three minute animation clip which will give you a general overview of the programme specifics.
Horizon 2020 open calls