Today marks the first meeting and official start of the newly constituted expert group entrusted to support the interim evaluation of the Horizon Europe programme. The Group will be chaired by Manuel Heitor, professor at Instituto Superior Técnico. The evolution of the EU framework programme for research and innovation is expected to be defined by the end of the year.
The group is made up of 15 experts, selected from 359 applications taking into account technical skills and previous knowledge of European funding programmes, and also reflecting a commitment to diversity and ensuring a balance in gender, age, and geographical representation. The group will meet monthly throughout 2024 to complement the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe with expert advice. The Group’s report is expected to contain both strategic advice and concrete suggestions on how the programme can stay flexible to changing needs, and how it can stay attractive to researchers and innovators from the EU and beyond.
“It is an honour to chair the expert group that will provide recommendations on how the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation can continue to add value for the remainder of Horizon Europe (2025-2027) and in the future”, said Manuel Heitor. “Europe is at a turning point, facing a series of critical challenges and opportunities. To enable science and technology to fully solve them, it is necessary to strengthen the overall R&D budget, along with better coordination between the EU and the member states and the various regional funding lines for research and innovation”, he added. The Técnico professor also stresses the need to “ensure that citizens are at the centre of future developments”, through new approaches to science-society relations, citizen involvement and science-economy relations, and to “promote a new ‘wave’ of science-based innovation”. “It is important to boost the quality of research and innovation jobs and to improve research careers in Europe. In this respect, the EU and its framework programme for research and innovation can and must play a leading role in guiding potential developments at national and regional level,” he concluded.
The Horizon Europe programme is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of 95.5 billion euros from 2021 and 2027. It focuses on four pillars: excellent science, global challenges and industrial competitiveness, innovative Europe and widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area.
