Horizon Europe, the largest and most ambitious research and innovation (R&I) programme in Europe, was recently launched in Malta at an online event organised by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) in conjunction with the European Commission. Succeeding Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe will have a budget of €95.5 billion.
Signe Ratso, deputy director for R&I at the European Commission, provided an overview of the Horizon Europe programme, outlining the three main pillars: Excellent Science, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, and Innovative Europe. She said the programme aims to promote excellence, provide valuable support to top researchers, and help innovators drive the systematic changes needed to ensure a green, healthy, and resilient Europe.
New instruments, such as missions and partnerships and the services of the National Contact Points (NCPs) were also presented during the event. NCPs can assist Maltese researchers and entities that are interested in participating in the new programme.
The event was also addressed by Owen Bonnici, Minister for Research, Innovation and Co-ordination of Post-COVID-19 Strategy, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, MCST executive chairman, and Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, who gave a video address marking the start of the Horizon Europe programme in 2021.
Alongside the launch of Horizon Europe, the winners of the Horizon 2020 Malta Awards were announced, recognising the efforts of Maltese beneficiaries that successfully participated in research and innovation projects under the previous R&I programme, Horizon 2020.
The Best Innovative SME award was won by BrianTrip, while that for Best Impact on Health, Security or Smart Mobility Award was won by AcrossLimits for the project Bio2Excel Centre of Excellence for Computational Biomolecular Research.
The Blue Award for projects that were impactful in marine science was won by the project Venture by Naval Architecture Services, while the Green Award went to the project SIM4Nexus by Epsilon Malta for its impact on environmental sciences.
The award for Best Promotion of STEM Award was presented to ERA4STEM by Acrosslimits while the Best Technological Innovation Award went to iFishIENCi by AquaBioTech Ltd.
Prof. Georgios N. Yannakakis was awarded The Most Active Researcher Award for his success and active contribution to academic research under the Horizon 2020 programme in Malta.
For details on Horizon Europe, visit the site below.
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