European scientific research is set to get a boost as the European Commission announced nearly $8.2 billion (€ 6.4 billion) of funding for research and innovation. The aim is to advance scientific boundaries, increase European competitiveness, and help solve societal challenges ranging from climate change to keeping an aging population healthy.

The package, the biggest such commitment to date, is an economic stimulus expected to create more than 165,000 jobs. The European Commission called it a long-term investment in a smarter, sustainable, and more inclusive Europe. It is a key element within the 27-member EU's Europe 2020 Strategy and in particular the Innovation Union Flagship, which will be launched in the fall of 2010.

“Investment in research and innovation is the only smart and lasting way out of crisis and towards sustainable and socially equitable growth,” says E.U. Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. “This European package will contribute to new and better products and services, a more competitive and greener Europe, and a better society with a higher quality of life.”

Translating research into new technologies, products and services is at the heart of the investment criteria. The investment package, part of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme, includes over $765 million (€600 million) for health related research.

There will also be more than $1.7 billion (€1.3 billion) reserved for the best creative scientists selected by the European Research Council. Mobility grants worth $984 million (€772 million) will go to approximately 7, 000 highly qualified researchers through the Marie Curie Actions, a fellowship program designed to encourage cross-border collaboration.

Top priority is given to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which represent almost 99 percent of all European businesses. They will receive close to $1 billion (€800 million) in several areas, such as health, knowledge-based bio-economy, environment and nanotechnologies, SME participation must reach 35 percent of the total budget for a number of topics.

In health research alone, around $263 million (€206 million) – one-third of the overall budget for 2011 – will be spent on investigator-driven clinical trials to get new medicines on the market quicker.

The $344 million budgeted for nanotechnologies will focus on research that could lead to patenting and commercialization opportunities.

Environment research projects will get about $260 million (€205 million). This year the Commission is introducing steps to speed up sharing of environmental research results and beneficiaries of EU grants must commit to making freely available – after a certain embargo period - publications arising from their research.

The budget for the Seventh Framework Programme calls for proposals in 2011 is up 12 percent in comparison to 2010 (€5.7 billion) and 30 percent in comparison to 2009 (€4.9 billion). The Seventh Framework Programme is the largest single research program in the world, with a budget of more than $64 billion (€ 50.5 billion) for 2007-2013.

Europe’s political leaders have put research and innovation at the top of the European political agenda, making it the cornerstone of investment in sustainable growth and jobs.
Europe’s Innovation Union Flagship, which Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn will launch in autumn 2010, is central to the Europe 2020 Strategy, and aims to boost the whole innovation chain “from research to retail” and foster collaboration among EU members so that Europe remains competitive with the Unites States and the rest of the world.