PRESS RELEASE: On 7 June, the European Commission launched Horizon Europe, the next European Research and Innovation Funding Programme. With a budget of 97.6 billion, Horizon Europe has the potential to become the biggest ever research and innovation funding. This proposal is part of the EU’s proposal for a new EU budget for the period 2021 till 2027, known as the Multi-Annual Financial Framework.
Horizon Europe is designed around three pillars, including the “Global Challenges Pillar”. This pillar directly supports research for addressing societal challenges such as clean mobility. It consists of five clusters, including a cluster on “Climate, Energy and Mobility”, with a yearly budget of € 2 Billion.
In a first reaction, SEA Europe’s Secretary General, Christophe Tytgat, said:
“SEA Europe welcomes that the European Commission foresees a larger budget for the future Research and Innovation Programme, including a simplification of the rules. It not only shows the importance of Research and Innovation for Europe and for its competitiveness. It will increase the success rate of applications as well.
SEA Europe also welcomes that the Waterborne Sector is included in the Global Challenges Pillar. This approach acknowledges that our sector is confronted with a series of global societal challenges, such as climate change, digitalisation of shipping and logistics’ operations or exploiting the oceans in a sustainable manner. An inclusion of the Waterborne sector in the other pillars of Horizon Europe will be debated in the period to come.
“For the Waterborne Sector, it is now essential to persuade EU policy-makers in the next period that our sector is essential for the future of Europe as well as for Europe’s global maritime and marine leadership”, added Mr. Tytgat. “For this very reason, it is of key importance that the Waterborne sector gets a strong position in the future Research and Innovation Programme. In this way, our sector can not only remain competitive globally but also ensure that it will fully cope with its global societal challenges and meet the political agenda of the International Maritime Organisation and the European Institutions”, he concluded.
Background Note: SEA Europe represents close to 100% of the European shipbuilding industry in 16 nations, encompassing the production, maintenance, repair and conversion of all types of ships and floating structures, commercial as well as naval, including the full supply chain with the various producers of maritime systems, equipment material, and services.
