Horizon 2020: a swift guide and beneficial tips to apply

Horizon 2020 - the 8th European Framework Programme for Study and Innovation - offers quite a few fantastic possibilities for academic researchers and aspiring entrepreneurs. Dr Eva Servoli, University of Geneva, presents Horizon 2020 vision and ambitions and provides us a swift guide and a few useful recommendations for preparing the application. Get much more information about Horizon Europe 2021-2027

With Horizon 2020 and its EUR 80 billion budget in grants, the European Commission empowers scientists and research-intensive companies of any size to produce a concrete influence around the scientific, societal and economic progress of European countries, Switzerland integrated. The final aim is offering and implementing effective solutions for the benefits of citizens dealing with the challenges of our fast-changing world. Personalized medicine, cleaner atmosphere, new models for inclusive societies, user-friendly and secured processes covering all aspects of daily life are only handful of examples of how Horizon 2020 can resolve societal challenges and transform the game in Europe and beyond.

The philosophy of Horizon 2020

How can these ambitious - even though needed study goals - be achieved? By changing the way we perform R&D and by involving citizens and policy makers as essential components of the innovation process, until novel technologies, products and services become part of a better everyday life.

The philosophy of Horizon 2020 opens up the opportunity of making the best use of the enormous amount of knowledge and talents of our academic institutes and innovative companies. The calls are designed to foster international collaborations, integrate soft and hard sciences, share and consolidate available data, set common targets between the public and private sector though keeping in mind the central role of the citizen and the end beneficiary. The future competitiveness of European science and economy will strongly depend on how academia and industry will be able to meet this challenge.

Knowledge is power

Yes but true knowledge, combined with trustful and transparent information, can only be achieved by sharing. That’s why Horizon 2020 stresses on the value of exchanging ideas without borders (Open Innovation, Open Science, Open to the World). It goes in the same direction as the recent implementation of the Open Data policy for funded projects, which aims at making available to everyone data and results generated during the execution of European projects.