Shaping HORIZON EUROPE - EU RESEARCH & INNOVATION DAYS In Brussels
On 24 to 26 September the European Research and Innovation days organised by the European Commission took place in Brussels.
ETP Secretary-General Lutz Walter attended the 3 days of knowledge and experience sharing, policy co-creation, and networking to develop a better understanding of how HORIZON EUROPE, the next EU research, and innovation funding programme for 2021-2027 will look like.
Many known themes such as sustainability, circularity, digitalisation, and bio-based economy will be reinforced and should provide interesting opportunities for textile research and innovation. Some existing themes such as industrial or key enabling technologies will be newly packaged - as clusters. Some new concepts such as Missions remain vague in content, governance, and practical implementation.
A stronger emphasis will be put on linking innovation and skills and the support of innovation in the creativity-based industries Again two interesting themes for the textile and clothing sector.
A lot of work has still to be done until the launch of HORIZON EUROPE in January 2021. And the elephant in the room, the budget, will likely remain unaddressed until the EU heads of government will agree on the overall EU budget - also known as MFF - for the years 2021-2027, which will likely not happen before the 2nd half of 2020. The Textile ETP will keep monitoring developments and try to voice the needs and expectations of textile researchers and innovators with EU policymakers and programme managers.
