WIREDGOV

The UK Government has announced that from 7 September UK scientists will have access to the world’s largest research collaboration programme after a three-year hiatus.

Horizon Europe is the European Union’s funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion.

The programme facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research while tackling global challenges. Its current five missions include mitigating climate change, beating cancer, restoring ocean and waters, climate-neutral smart cities, and the transition towards healthy soils.

Alongside these missions, Horizon Europe supports the creation and better dispersal of knowledge and technologies alongside providing critical infrastructure for research and innovation, including its EuroHPC scheme

This, in turn, creates jobs, better engages the EU’s talent pool, boosts economic growth, promotes industrial competitiveness and optimises investment impact within a strengthened European Research Area.

Membership of Horizon Europe will give UK companies and research institutions unrivalled opportunities to lead global work around the development of new technologies and research projects, in areas from health to AI. This will not only open up cooperation with the EU, but also Norway, New Zealand, and Israel, which are all part of the programme – as well as countries like Korea and Canada which are looking to join, too.

Crucially, UK researchers will be able to lead consortia in the next work programme of Horizon Europe projects.

The new bespoke deal means that the UK will not pay for the period in which UK researchers have been excluded (since 2021), with costs starting from January 2024. This additional breathing space should boost the participation of UK researchers in open calls for grants before we start paying into the programme.

The full Government release can be found here.

Click here for the full press release