How the EU spends money on research and innovation is one of the battlegrounds in negotiations between member states on the multiannual financial framework for 2014-20. 

The conflict is not just focused on the €80 billion budget that the European Commission has proposed for the seven years of the next framework programme, Horizon 2020, where the emphasis is on rewarding research on the basis of academic ‘excellence’ – favouring the best-performing research organisations irrespective of nationality.

Instead, attention is turning to separate financing for developing research and innovation capacity. No decision has been made on how much will be earmarked for this, but the Commission has suggested that the amount could be similar to the €60bn that was allocated under the 2007-13 financial framework.

There is strong political commitment in the Commission, the European Parliament and in some member states to ensure that all regions of the EU, especially those with weaker economies, have an opportunity to share in increased research activity. This requires a careful balancing act.

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the European commissioner for research, innovation and science, insists that the principle of funding top-quality research will be respected. “We need to nurture the very best scientists and the most innovative companies in Europe,” she says.

“Horizon 2020 will continue to allocate funding on the basis of competitive calls and through independent and merit-based peer review, selecting only the best projects.” But at the same time, she says, the EU should “complement this approach with measures that allow researchers and innovators across Europe to achieve excellence”.

She speaks of the need “to tackle the ‘research and innovation gap’ and to maximise the contribution of all countries and regions”. No single member state or research institution has a monopoly on excellence, she says. “It can grow anywhere. It requires member states, their regions and local communities to pursue national targets and an ambitious reform agenda for their public research and innovation base,” she says.

Increased funding

Maria Da Graça Carvalho, a Portuguese centre-right MEP who drafted a report on the simplification of research programmes, says 30% of structural funds should be devoted to research and innovation. This would provide almost as much funding as the framework programme itself.

Carvalho acknowledges that this competition for a share of the EU’s budget will not be easily settled. “This is going to be one of the most difficult points” in the negotiations, she says.