Following a provisional agreement by the European Parliament and the Council on the Horizon Europe package, the European Commission launched a ‘co-design’ consultation which intends to foster greater debate and encourage feedback from a variety of stakeholders and from citizens. The feedback received will be used to evaluate how Horizon Europe can better be targeted and what the future investment priorities should be.
EuChemS’ response to the consultation emphasises that Horizon Europe should continue to support excellence and international collaboration in order to best benefit Europe’s science and innovation base. Excellent discovery research is a vital component of a successful research and innovation sector and should remain a key focus of Horizon Europe’s Excellent Science pillar through instruments such as the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. EuChemS has moreover underlined that need to enable broad third country participation to preserve and enhance international collaboration, just as has been successfully done in previous framework programmes.
Finally, EuChemS urges the EU and other international programmes to align in order to tackle the global challenges that we face. The overlap of the European Commission’s proposal for ‘Missions’ with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals illustrates the way international collaboration and alignment can help achieve progress on tackling today’s global challenges.