3.2.

Besides the financial increase, there are a few new and innovative ideas that the EESC wants to highlight as points taken directly from the proposal that are important for this opinion. Therefore we would like to mention the following items in brief: a) The three-pillar structure of Horizon Europe: as stated by the EC, Horizon Europe is not a revolution but an evolution. Thus it is based on three main pillars: Open Science, which includes the ERC, MSCA and research infrastructure; Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness, which comprises five clusters: health; inclusive and secure society; digital and industry; climate, energy and mobility; and food and natural resources; and the Open Innovation Pillar, with the EIC, the European innovation ecosystems and the EIT. The three pillars will be underpinned by activities to strengthen the European Research Area. b) The creation of the European Innovation Council (EIC) to help the EU become a leader in market-creating innovation; Europe has been pursuing this objective for many years, yet despite these efforts, despite excellent ideas, and despite a very strong innovative and scientific community, the level of growth and job creation does not reflect the level of commitment. Thus, the Commission’s proposal will establish a one-stop shop to bring the most promising high-potential and breakthrough technologies from the lab to market deployment, and will help the most innovative start-ups and companies scale up their ideas. The new EIC will help identify and fund fast-moving, high-risk innovations with strong potential to create entirely new markets. It will provide direct support to innovators through two main funding instruments, one for early stages and the other for development and market deployment. It will complement the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The EESC believes that the EIC should focus on very innovative and breakthrough SMEs and start-ups. c) Within the EIT, proposals for future EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) will be indicated in the EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA). The EESC believes that these should not be significantly increased and should be kept to a limited number in line with the principle of simplification of the R&I landscape. In addition, the future KICs should guarantee the representation of different European countries, namely regarding the innovation hubs’ location. The entrepreneurship fostered by the academic pillar (e.g. entrepreneurial education; fostering strong non-disciplinary collaboration between industry and academia; and identifying prospective skills for future innovators) should be reinforced. d) The establishment of EU R&I missions focused on global challenges and industrial competitiveness. This approach might be a successful way to involve society and citizens in the missions that are to be identified and will create a sense of community that could be essential to achieving significant results and impact. Examples could range from the fight against cancer to clean transport, plastic-free oceans, or safe and clean water for all. These missions will be co-designed with citizens, stakeholders, the European Parliament and Member States. The EESC, as the representative of organised civil society, is open to actively contributing to this co-design process. e) Maximising the innovation potential across the EU and strengthening the European Research Area: support will be doubled for Member States that exhibit a low R&I performance potential. Moreover, synergies with European Structural and Investment Funds (e.g. Structural and Cohesion Funds) will make it easy to coordinate and combine funding and help regions embrace innovation and gain leverage at EU level. f) More openness: the principle of ‘open science/open innovation’ will become the modus operandi of Horizon Europe, requiring open access to publications and data. This will promote dissemination and exploitation, assist market uptake and increase the innovation potential of results generated by EU funding. g) A new generation of European partnerships and increased collaboration with other EU programmes: the expectation is that Horizon Europe will streamline the number of partnerships that the EU co-programmes or co-funds with partners such as industry, civil society and funding agencies, in order to increase their effectiveness and impact in achieving Europe’s policy priorities. Horizon Europe will promote effective and operational links with other future EU programmes, like cohesion policy, the European Defence Fund, the Digital Europe Programme and the Connecting Europe Facility, as well as with the international fusion energy project ITER. h) The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Commission’s science and knowledge service, will continue to contribute by means of scientific advice, technical support and dedicated research.