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Victoria Mindova

Countries with the least investment in new technologies and innovations development cope with the current European crisis with difficulty, is the conclusion of Theodoros Papazoglou, who is the head of the executive body of the European Research Council (ERC). He presented the framework of the new European Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020, which will come into effect from 2014 and will run until 2020.

Bulgaria and Greece are among the countries that have significantly lagged behind in investment in innovations, which is one of the main reasons for their extremely low competitiveness on the European and world markets.

Papazoglou said that the Commission’s recent studies show that the European economy is stagnant and things are getting worse. He stressed that experience and history teach that the countries that have invested in research with commercial, industrial and social purpose in the past have benefitted from positive results at a later stage. These are the examples of the 1980s in the USA and 1990s in South Korea, when massive investments in innovative technologies development were made, and which have brought added value and significantly improved the competitiveness of the producing countries.

In this context, Theodoros Papazoglou explained that Horizon 2020 is being developed to become a major pillar of the Innovation Union, which is a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aiming to strengthen Europe's competitiveness globally. He stressed that the European Union is a world leader in many technologies, but in recent years, it has faced increasing competition from both recognized market players and emerging economies. The Commission proposal for the new Programme is to be discussed by the Council and the European Parliament with a view to its adoption before the end of 2013 and launch in 2014.

The funding budget for Horizon 2020 is € 972.2 billion for seven years and it will be granted in stages if the programmes develop. Money under Horizon 2020 will be more accessible, unlike the old European subsidy programmes for innovation, thanks to the Programme's simplified structure of a single set of rules and significantly less bureaucracy, said Papazoglou. All approved will be eligible to funding and there will be no restrictions on entrepreneurs, researchers or universities regardless of whether they are operating within the European Union. 15% of funding will be directed to small and medium-sized enterprises, which have lost their creativity in recent years. The remaining funds will be distributed among various activities, such as funding the mobility of young researchers, developing green technologies, improving industry, including the processing industry, creating sustainable energy, and the funding of the European Research Council (ERC) will increase by 77 %.