The European Commission announced on 30 November its ambitious plans for the EU's new research funding programme post 2014.
Horizon 2020 will see the EU contribute over EUR 80 billion over this seven year period to: support the EU’s position as a world leader in science with a dedicated budget of EUR 27 billion; help secure industrial leadership in innovation with a budget of EUR 20 billion; and fund EUR 35 billion towards addressing major concerns shared by all Europeans.
The latter societal challenges cover six key themes, including: Health, demographic change and well-being; Food security, sustainable agriculture, marine and maritime research and the bio-economy; Secure, clean and efficient energy; Smart, green and integrated transport; Climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials; and Inclusive, innovative and secure societies.
Health, demographic change and well-being
As with the current FP7 funding programme, Horizon 2020 will be the main EU funding programme of relevance to the NHS, with opportunities throughout the three key areas mentioned above.
The 'Health, demographic change and well-being' theme alone has an indicative budget of EUR 9 billion to cover the seven years, providing significant financial support for associated European research and innovation work.
The Commission's plans outline in broad terms how it intends to target its funding, with activities including: understanding the determinants of health (including environmental and climate related factors), improving health promotion and disease prevention; understanding disease and improving diagnosis; developing effective screening programmes and improving the assessment of disease susceptibility; improving surveillance and preparedness; developing better preventive vaccines; using in-silico medicine for improving disease management and prediction; treating disease; transferring knowledge to clinical practice and scalable innovation actions; better use of health data; active ageing, independent and assisted living; individual empowerment for self-management of health; promotion of integrated care; improving scientific tools and methods to support policy making and regulatory needs; and optimising the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare systems and reducing inequalities by evidence based decision making and dissemination of best practice, and innovative technologies and approaches.
We also expect other funding opportunities of interest, in particular around ICT research.
Next steps
The proposals for Horizon 2020 now have to be discussed and agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. It is expected that the proposed EUR 85 billion budget will come under severe scrutiny and the final agreement may be lower than this total.
For more information contact jenny-lee.spencer@nhsconfed.org