The final ‘Orientations towards the Strategic Plan’ of Horizon Europe integrate the results of the co-design phase and the priorities of the new Commission.
The European Commission (EC) published the final ‘Orientations towards the first Strategic Plan for Horizon Europe’. The document marks the conclusion of the co-design process for the next research and innovation framework programme, which the EC started last year after the partial general approach on the programme reached by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union after their interinstitutional negotiations. The EC published a first draft version of the document in June 2019 and subjected it to three different stages of consultation over the past months; a public online consultation, a discussion at the R&I Days in September and finally a consultation with umbrella organisations last autumn. The strategic planning process is part of the preparations for the content-wise implementation of Horizon Europe. Its results will cumulate in a multiannual strategic plan setting out the objectives and desired impacts for the programme.
The document published now includes the results and amendments of all three co-design consultation rounds. Compared to the first draft version, it integrates partnerships and missions better with the thematic clusters of Horizon Europe and identifies some common challenges, which could reinforce the impacts of the programme. The identified challenges can either be ‘science driven’ such as climate, biodiversity or artificial intelligence, or ‘policy driven’ such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, it aligns the underlying challenges and objectives for Horizon Europe with the priorities of the new von der Leyen Commission such as the ‘European Green Deal’ and a ‘Europe fit for the Digital Age’. The final document also takes the comments of EU Member States into account, which their delegates transmitted to the EC in the monthly meetings of the Shadow Programme Committee Strategic Configuration, where the document was regularly discussed.
The orientations document is neither the strategic plan itself, nor its draft, but it will serve as a basis for preparing the strategic plan and for drafting the first work programmes, which will happen over the coming months. The Strategic Plan will have to be formally agreed upon by Member States before the Horizon Europe programme can start. The EC expects the publication of the first work programmes for October this year.