The European Commission has announced an investment of across 7.3 billion euros through the new work program Horizon Europe For 2025. The goal is to strengthen the role of Europe in research and innovation, promoting the green and digital transition and increasing the global competitiveness of the continent.
Strategic priority of the EU
The Horizon Europe 2025 program aims to support European Union priorities in different areas:
- competitiveness;
- defense;
- safety;
- citizens’ health;
- digital and spatial technologies;
- environmental sustainability;
- reduction of emissions.
35% of the Horizon Europe 2025 budget will be dedicated to goals climaticin line with the EU’s commitment to become the first continent with zero climatic impact by 2050. Among the funding expected:
- 1.14 billion euros for climate, energy and transport projects;
- 833 million euros for biodiversity, natural resources, agriculture and environment;
- 1.6 billion euros for the development of artificial intelligence.
The Automotive Sector
Specifically the sector automotive It will receive support to encourage the transition to cleaner and more competitive transport solutions, through new generation electric vehicles, digitization, cybersecurity and circular economy practices.
The main actions include support for the development of new generation battery electric vehicles. The program also encourages the adoption of advanced production techniques for automotive components, with the intention of improving their efficiency and sustainability.
Another area of intervention concerns the digitization of vehicles, with investments intended to integrate digital technologies into on -board systems. This is accompanied by projects dedicated to the strengthening of cybersicacy, to ensure the protection of data and the operational security of connected vehicles.
Finally, the program promotes circular economy practices within the automotive industry and supports the creation of intelligent mobility systems, capable of effectively responding to the environmental and technological challenges in the sector.
Attract talents
The Horizon Europe program also includes formulas to attract and retain the best researchers in Europe in the field of artificial intelligence and automotive. The Commission also simplified the program to make it more accessible and intuitive than what happened in previous years.
The goal is to offer a greater number of flat -rate subsidies and the possibility of initially presenting shorter proposals and preparing complete proposals only if selected for the second phase. This will reduce administrative charges for applicants.
How to apply for Horizon Europe
Depending on the technical nature of the sector, the available budget and the expected number of proposals, the procedure of candidacy ad Horizon Europe can include one or two phases:
- With the procedure in a phase, a complete application is submitted at the beginning of the process.
- With the two phases procedure, it is necessary to first submit an initial summary proposal and if it is selected, you are invited to submit a complete application in the second phase.
The specific suitability criteria are established in each financing program and in every single call. Most of the financing opportunities concern collaborative projects. Obviously it is possible to apply for financing as a single researcher, team or organization.
All documents and models to be used will be listed in the guidelines of the chosen call. To be taken into consideration, the application must:
- be presented before the specific closing date;
- be complete with the administrative modules, the description of the proposal and all the specified justification documents;
- be concise, with a maximum number of pages indicated in the announcement.
