Bespoke deal to join Horizon Europe will boost UK research and innovation
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.
techUK has previously called for the UK to join Horizon Europe with the aim of removing uncertainty for UK research and innovation whilst opening pathways for collaboration.
In response to the announcement that the UK will join Horizon Europe, techUK CEO Julian David has said:
The UK’s association with Horizon Europe is a welcome and important milestone for the scientific community. The Horizon Europe project has been integral in fostering groundbreaking research, technological advancements, and international partnerships. With the UK’s joining, we can look forward to seeing our talented scientists and researchers making an even more vibrant and impactful collaboration to address the world’s most pressing challenges, from the climate crisis to healthcare innovation. This important partnership will help supercharge UK research and innovation in the years to come.
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The Horizon Europe info days give to prospective applicants and other stakeholders of EU research and innovation the opportunity to get information and ask questions about the main funding instruments.
You can register for these upcoming days now:
- Cluster 2 - Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Societies
- Cluster 4 - Digital, Industry and Space
- Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility
- Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment
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Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
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This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
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Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
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Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
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A digital ethicist and musician, Tess holds a MA in AI and Philosophy, specialising in ableism in biotechnologies. Their professional journey includes working as an AI Ethics Analyst with a dataset on corporate digital responsibility, followed by supporting the development of a specialised model for sustainability disclosure requests. Currently at techUK as programme manager in digital ethics and AI safety, Tess focuses on demystifying and operationalising ethics through assurance mechanisms and standards. Their primary research interests encompass AI music systems, AI fluency, and technology created by and for differently abled individuals. Their overarching goal is to apply philosophical principles to make emerging technologies both explainable and ethical.
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Laura is techUK’s Associate Director for Technology and Innovation.
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Elis joined techUK in December 2023 as a Programme Manager for Tech and Innovation, focusing on Semiconductors and Digital ID.
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