Author: Marie Latour, Head of Office, Zabala Brussels

This week, the EU research ministers have agreed on the final details of Horizon Europe:

To begin with, they agree on a linear cut across its programmes to reflect the outcome of the July budget summit (from €94.4 billion to €80.9 billion in 2018 prices) this represents a decrease of more than 14% from the European Commission's (EC) original proposal. In current prices, this is equivalent to a budget of €90.9 billion, of which €5.4 billion comes from the Next Generation EU budget, as part of the recovery plan.

Yesterday, the European Commission published the results of a stakeholder consultation in the report “A Robust Innovation Ecosystem for the Future of Europe.”

The report summarises the outcomes of 8 workshops held between October 2019 and February 2020, attended by approximately 350 participants. Resulting in a conference “A Robust Innovation Ecosystem for the Future of Europe” held in Brussels on the 18th of February, 2020, the report was produced by the Directorate General for Research and Innovation, European Innovation Council (EIC) Task Force and the Unit of Innovation Ecosystems. It gathers the insights from various stakeholders, including investors, companies, start-up communities, universities, local, regional and national authorities linked to innovation policy. Recommendations from the report will be considered by policy makers shaping EU innovation ecosystems.
 
In view of enabling the development of Horizon Europe, and in addition to collecting and analysis the feedback from the consultation phase, the report aims to

• identify the challenges faced by specific stakeholder groups,
• encourage exchange on good practices and successful strategies and,
• pinpoint how the EU can achieve the most substantial impact on the innovation ecosystem.

​Online questionnaire results on challenges identified in the innovation ecosystem can be found in the report. These challenges are grouped in 3 major pillars: connectedness of stakeholders, competence and talent, and capital.
 
To provide an overview of the challenges and main action lines for Horizon Europe’s implementation, throughout the report, stakeholders’ feedback is analysed, structured, and summarised into many interesting insights on the European innovation ecosystem.

Read more here.

One year has passed since fifteen European Innovation Consultants united during the R&I days in Brussels on the 24th of September 2019, launching what has now become the European Working Group of Innovation Consultants (EWGIC).

At EWGIC, we are proud to say that over the course of the past year, although life has changed drastically with the current global health crisis, we have stayed busy and grown, accomplishing several milestones, some of which we would like to recap here:

• 24 September 2019: creation of EWGIC with 15 members
• 25 September 2019: Manifesto release, to support Professional project management in Horizon Europe
• 21 November 2019: launch of EWGIC’s LinkedIn account
• 27 March 2020: launch of EWGIC’s website www.ewgic.eu
• 31 March 2020: launch of EWGIC’s Twitter account
• 7 April 2020: publication of “EWGIC Calls for an EIC Airdrop” Position Paper
• 11 June 2020: publication of EWGIC’s Code of Conduct which promotes best practices, mutual respect and basic competition rules among European Innovation Consultants
• 24 July 2020: publication of “EU Recovery Needs Innovation” Position Paper
• 8 September 2020: publication of “EIC Accelerator: 15 recommendations to reduce the part of luck vs skills in the selection of future European deeptech champions” Position Paper

​In addition, EWGIC currently counts
​

• 41 member companies and organisations, representing over 18 European countries
• Over 160 Manifesto signatures
• 3 Position Papers that include challenges and recommendations related to the Innovation ecosystem in Europe.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our members and all those that have supported and contributed to our work with innovative ideas and professional insight.
This year has been challenging but we are excited about the future and looking forward to launching new initiatives.

We are pleased to announce our latest member from Spain: Vector Horizonte has just joined us, following our monthly call this September. Welcome to EWGIC!

This week EWGIC released its position paper on EIC Accelerator under Horizon Europe in view of the ongoing Horizon Europe negotiations. Created in 2014 under the “SME instrument” name, the EIC Accelerator has become the largest and most competitive public funding scheme for deeptech startups in Europe.

The European Commission (EC)  is launching a survey on Horizon Europe’s first Strategic Plan, which will guide the work programmes and topics for the next four years. All stakeholders with an interest in EU research and innovation are invited to participate in this consultation, which will end on 18 September 2020.

In view of Horizon Europe's launch in 2021, this Strategic Plan is being developed through a co-design process, for which over 9000 people have contributed, making it the largest consultation ever led by the EC.

The survey’s results will be discussed in the virtual European Research and Innovation Days on 22-24 September 2020, and we look forward to hearing your feedback there.

Find out more here.