On 30 November, Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announced an EUR 80 billion package of proposed measures that aim to give European research, innovation and competitiveness a much-needed boost. If accepted by the Council and the European Parliament, Horizon 2020 will be a key cornerstone of the EU's Innovation Union initiative, a Europe 2020 flagship policy that aims to secure Europe's science and technology base and industrial competitiveness.

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The European Commission has today presented a package of measures to boost research, innovation and competitiveness in Europe. Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has announced Horizon 2020, an €80 billion programme for investment in research and innovation. Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has put forward a Strategic Innovation Agenda for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which will receive €2.8 billion of funding under Horizon 2020. In parallel, Vice-President Antonio Tajani has announced a complementary new programme to boost competitiveness and innovation in SMEs, with an additional budget of €2.5 billion. The funding programmes run from 2014 to 2020.

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The European Commission's 2011 "EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" shows that R&D investment by top EU companies recovered strongly in 2010, with a 6.1% rise following a 2.6% decrease in 2009. However, data for the world's top 1400 companies show EU companies as a whole lagging behind major competitors from the US and some Asian economies on R&D growth. There was a general positive trend in 2010, as global R&D investment increased by 4%, a robust up-turn after the 1.9% drop observed in 2009. The global top 50 in terms of total R&D investment includes 15 EU companies, 18 US firms and 13 from Japan. Two pharmaceutical companies occupied the top spots: Roche from Switzerland (€7.2bn) followed by Pfizer from the US (€7bn). Volkswagen (€6.3bn), in sixth place, is the biggest EU investor in R&D, followed by Nokia (11th with €4.9bn), Daimler (13th with €4.8bn) and Sanofi-Aventis (14th with €4.4bn).

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Higher education, research and business organisations strongly support the mission of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to drive more and better cooperation between the worlds of academia, entrepreneurship, research and innovation. This is the result of a public consultation to which nearly 200 organisations and individuals responded. According to respondents, the EIT should play a distinctive role in 'Horizon 2020', the future EU Programme for Research and Innovation, and forge closer links with other European and national efforts. A majority of respondents praised the way in which the EIT ensures the participation of businesses in its work and urged the Institute to step up its outreach activities. The consultation will feed into a 'strategic innovation agenda' for the EIT which the Commission is due to propose by the end of this year.

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An invitation to public and private actors to join forces at European level to apply research and innovation solutions to major challenges facing society has been issued by the European Commission today. The Commission Communication draws on first experience from pilot projects and outlines steps that will lead to more, and more effective, public-private and public-public partnerships.

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The scientific community and other interested groups and individuals are today being asked to help redefine the research landscape in Europe. The European Commission has launched a public consultation to find out how the European research environment can be radically improved. The goal is to achieve the European Research Area (ERA) by 2014, creating a genuine single market for knowledge, research and innovation. This will enable researchers, research institutions and businesses to circulate, compete, and co-operate across borders, increasing growth potential.

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The European Commission is releasing its yearly financial report this 30 September. The report presents detailed information on what the EU money was spent on and how was it managed. "As 90% of the EU budget is dedicated to projects in the 27 Member-States or in partner countries abroad, it is essential that EU taxpayers are provided with the fullest possible information", says the Commissioner responsible for Financial Programming and Budget Janusz Lewandowski. Apart from traditional comparative tables and diagrams the booklet contains numerous examples on how the EU budget helped to create jobs, enhance nuclear safety or curtail illegal immigration. In 2010, the implementation rate of the EU budget reached 97%.

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Top R&D investing companies based in the EU expect their global research and development (R&D) investments to grow by 5% annually from 2011 to 2013. This is more than double last year's expectations, and represents a significant upturn from the 2.6% R&D cuts in investment implemented by these companies in 2009. The companies surveyed also revealed that an average of 27% of their annual sales comes from innovative products introduced in the past three years, demonstrating again that innovation is the key to commercial success and to job creation.

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1) Budget execution by year
Click on a specific theme in the list below to see the development of expenditure for that theme over the years
Click on a thematic chart for more information on that theme (opens in a new window or tab)
Clicking on the Capacities budget execution chart will take you to more detailed budget breakdown for that programme

2) Budget execution by theme

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As part of its strategy for boosting employment, the European Commission is aiming to nearly double the number of young people, teachers and researchers who get EU grants for study and training abroad, from 400 000 recipients per year now to almost 800 000 in future. This is one of the key objectives behind the significant increase in EU investment for education, youth and creativity proposed by the Commission in its budget plan for 2014-2020, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou, told a press conference today. Improving education and training and helping people acquire the right skills is crucial for meeting future job needs and fighting poverty. Investing more in the creative industries will also boost job opportunities in a sector which represents 4.5% of EU GDP and 3.8% of employment.

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The task force set up by the European Commission on the future of the European Research Council (ERC) has recommended from 2014 a quasi-full time role for the President of the ERC, who chairs its Scientific Council, which sets the organisation's scientific and research policy. The President would be based in Brussels. It also recommends an enhanced role for the Director of the ERC's Executive Agency, which administers the ERC's funding for the leading researchers in Europe. In its report issued today, the task force proposes a number of other changes designed to reinforce the ERC's flexibility, efficiency and autonomy - without compromising its accountability - and to make it easier for researchers to apply for and manage ERC grants. The task force concludes that the ERC should remain an executive agency as the best way for it to deliver its expected major contribution to the forthcoming Horizon 2020 programme.

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Women continue to prove their prowess on Europe's research scene, developing, managing and commercialising the results of myriad studies that impact sectors across the continent. Despite their successes, however, a vacuum in the development of innovative enterprises still exists. Europe, and the world at large, needs women to stay at the top of their game and lead groundbreaking studies that could potentially resolve, or at least mitigate the growing concerns for some of the planet's biggest headaches: global warming, energy and resource efficiency, transport safety and health.

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Research is set to remain high on the EU's political agenda as Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announces the release of nearly EUR 7 billion for stimulating European innovation through research funding. As the biggest ever European Commission funding package, it is hoped that this money will go some way to creating around 174,000 jobs in the short term, as well as 450,000 jobs and nearly EUR 80 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) growth within the next 15 years.

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Europe will need at least 1 million new research jobs in the near future to meet its ambitions of being one of the most innovative regions of the planet. Therefore, young women and men wanting to become researchers are desperately needed. The European Commission encourages and fosters an understanding of science among young Europeans, and in turn helps them follow related careers. Both the ERA-NET scheme and the Article 185 Initiative are helping drive this objective.

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Statement by Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn on the outcome of the competition to name the future EU funding programme for research and innovation.

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Researchers and entrepreneurs across the EU welcome the Commission's concept of a Common Strategic Framework for future EU research and innovation funding. This is the interim conclusion based on over 470 responses received so far to the consultation launched by the Commission with its February 2011 Green Paper. Nearly all respondents stress the importance of simplifying procedures for applying for funding and accounting for its use. The Common Strategic Framework will cover funding currently provided through the Framework Programme for Research (FP7), the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) (IP/11/138 and MEMO/11/76). Over 420 completed online questionnaires have so far been received and over 50 position papers have been posted and can be read online by anyone interested. Many more responses are expected as stakeholders still have until 20 May 2011 to respond. 28 500 people from 134 countries have visited the consultation web site: http://ec.europa.eu/research/csfri/index_en.cfm.

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The European Commission has announced the launch of a new website for the MASIS ('Monitoring policy and research activities on Science in Society in Europe') project, which has been established as one of the strategic activities under the Science in Society (SiS) umbrella of the 2008 Capacities Work Programme. The overarching aim of the MASIS project is to develop and maintain structural links and interaction opportunities between scientists, policymakers and society in general.

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Researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators, students and other creative individuals have until 10 May to suggest a relevant, appealing and catchy name for the new EU research and innovation programme which will be introduced post-2013. The competition launched by the European Commission today is linked to the ongoing stakeholder consultation on the Commission's Green Paper on the new programme (see IP/11/138), MEMO/11/76) which will be at the core of the Innovation Union initiative (IP/10/1288, MEMO/10/473) and of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Commission is proposing 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. The new programme will be based around a "Common Strategic Framework" with different types of funding brought together in a coherent and flexible manner. This will make it possible to better align research funding to addressing global challenges and to making a central contribution to the EU's overall Europe 2020 strategy. Needless red tape will be cut out and participation made simpler. So the Commission is looking for a new name and enlisting the help of distinguished judges to draw up a shortlist of possibilities from the suggestions received. Those will then be put to an online vote.

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Finnish researchers have created an innovative new microscope that responds to hand and finger gestures on a giant touch screen. The 'multitouch microscope' is the fruit of collaboration between researchers from the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), and the Finnish company Multitouch Ltd, who specialise in professional multitouch displays and software platforms that support multi-user environments. The microscope works like a giant interactive touch screen and can be operated by multiple users, bringing new opportunities to teaching and research.

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The European Commission today launches a public consultation on the "Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative" which aims at boosting the funding of projects with long-term revenue potential in line with the Europe 2020 policy priorities. This follows the announcement made by President José Manuel Barroso in his State of the Union Address. Its objective is to help the private project companies to attract capital market funding from investors such as pension funds and insurance companies. The Europe 2020 Project Bond initiative has been identified in the Annual Growth Survey as a priority measure to enhance growth.

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The European Commission today launches a consultation on major improvements to EU research and innovation funding to make participation easier, increase scientific and economic impact and improve value for money. The proposed "Common Strategic Framework", set out in a Green Paper, would cover the current Framework Programme for Research (FP7), the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). This will create a coherent set of instruments, along the whole "innovation chain" starting from basic research, culminating in bringing innovative products and services to market, and also supporting non-technological innovation, for example in design and marketing. The Commission's Green Paper also provides the basis for far-reaching simplification of procedures and rules. The changes aim to maximise the contribution of EU research and innovation funding to the Innovation Union and the Europe 2020 Strategy. Stakeholders have until 20 May 2011 to respond.

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Providing easier access to funding is key for intensifying research and innovation in Europe, and in turn helps bolster participation, boosts value for money and makes a bigger impact on both the scientific and economic spheres. The European Commission on 9 February got a consultation off the ground on ways to revamp the EU's research funding schemes and ensure a solid future for European research and innovation. Officials have proposed the 'Common Strategic Framework' that is set out in a Green Paper. Two key frameworks are covered - the current Framework Programme for Research (FP7) and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) - as well as the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which is designed to link up the three sides of the 'knowledge triangle', namely research, education and innovation.

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