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With an allocated budget of EUR 95.5 billion for the period 2021-2027, Horizon Europe is the new EU research and innovation funding programme, poised to develop sustainable solutions to tackle climate change, boost competitiveness and create jobs. Targeting public authorities, universities, research institutes, companies and other organizations, the Programme also facilitates collaboration, and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting, and implementing EU policies.

Throughout the years, the EU research and innovation (R&I) funding programmes (FP6, FP7, H2020 to name but a few) have been fueling Europe’s future and growth.  As Europe slowly emerges from the pandemic, R&I will become even more crucial to develop much needed solutions to tackle global and societal challenges, and build a more sustainable, secure and resilient European Union. 

While the European Commission fully-fledged #NextGenerationEU recovery plan aims to support and stimulate national economies, Horizon Europe targets solutions to turn our continent greener, more digital and more resilient leveraging on  the European Union excellence in research and academia, and its innovation and creativity capital among industry, SMEs, and entrepreneurs. 

With an allocated budget of EUR 95.5 billion for the period 2021-2027, the enhanced successor of Horizon 2020, is the EU’s vehicle to tackle climate change, boost competitiveness and create jobs. Targeting public authorities, universities, research institutes, companies and other organizations, the new Programme also facilitates the collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies. 

EU Space data based on Galileo, Copernicus and EGNOS is enabling the development of next-generation, innovative applications or technologies especially in the downstream sectors such as mobility, smart farming, shared economy, Consumer solutions, surveying, and leisure, among others. Horizon Europe will feature a set of calls to support R&I within the context of the new EU Space Programme.

Add Info Days to your calendar!

The European Commission is organizing the Horizon Europe Info Days 2021 with the objective to inform prospective applicants and other stakeholders, about the main funding instruments and processes, and the novelties of Horizon Europe. The Info-days will address 9 themes, each featuring a programme with discussions and hands-on sessions, and dedicated to individual clusters or parts of the new Programme.

Cluster 4 Digital, Industry and Space focuses on the following six destinations matching the Strategic Plan: 

1. Climate neutral, circular and digitised production; 
2. Increased autonomy in key strategic value chains for resilient industry; 
3. World leading data and computing technologies; 
4. Digital and emerging technologies for competitiveness and fit for the Green Deal; 
5. Open strategic autonomy in developing, deploying and using global space-based infrastructures, services, applications and data; 
6. A human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies

The destination five will provide first-hand information on EU Space related calls. 

This Info-day will take place on 29 June 2021 from 09:00 until 17:00 CET and no prior registration is required. Participants will have the opportunity to first attend a “Welcome and general presentation of the 'Digital, Industry and Space' 2021 Work Programme” while under Destination 5 they will be informed about “Open strategic autonomy in developing, deploying and using global space-based infrastructures, services, applications and data”.

More information can be found here.

There is more

To complement Horizon Europe Info Days 2021, the National Contact Points (NCPs), under Bridge2HE, ID2020 and Cosmos2020, are promoting three different Brokerage events to support the forming of consortia. Interested? Sign up at the links below:

Digital: 24-25th June 2021 https://digital2021.ideal-ist.eu

Industry: 1st July 2021 https://industry2021.b2match.io

Space: 28th June 2021 https://cosmos2020plus-heu-cluster4-space-brokerage.b2match.io

The Europe-Africa Space Earth Observation High-Level Forum held earlier in June examined the evolving roadmap for enhancing EU-Africa cooperation in satellite-based Earth Observation; the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) Executive Director, Rodrigo da Costa was there to highlight the role of the agency in unlocking the full potential of EO in Africa through EU Space synergies. 

Africa is a vast continent with a diverse geomorphology, a rapidly growing population and a home to a broad range of ecosystems. Experts have been looking into space-based solutions over the past decades, and in particular Earth Observation (EO) data, enabling solutions that help manage natural resources and better assess the impact of human activities on natural habitats. 

Africa’s EO community is blossoming, benefitting from geospatial data (EO and GNSS) deriving from regional space infrastructures but also relying on international cooperation initiatives. It was within this context that EUSPA Executive Director, Rodrigo da Costa, joined the “Europe-Africa Space Earth Observation High-Level Forum” earlier in June, to speak about the role of the Agency and how the EU Space Programme can help Africa unlock its full potential.

Read this: ASECNA provides Africa’s first early SBAS Open Service

EU Space Programme Synergies to the front

While talking about the role of the Agency in fostering applications and the use of EO and navigation data, da Costa emphasized “the need to involve users in the design of sustainable solutions,” to enhance EU-Africa cooperation from a space point of view”, adding that EO combined with satellite navigation and telecommunication offers a huge potential to develop innovative space products based on synergies between these. “Just to give you one example, Copernicus can provide soil moisture and fertility information on a given piece of land. With the accuracy provided by Galileo, farmers everywhere – and of course also in Africa - can seed precisely where the soil is the most fertile, and that contributes to a more sustainable farming”, he concluded.

The session gathered high-level space actors such as Mahama Ouedraogo from the African Union Council who set the tone by saying that Africa-Europe EO cooperation should go further and consider the new paradigm brought by New Space. The European Commission was represented by DG INTPA Director General Koen Doens, Patrick Child Deputy Director General of DG RTD and Augusto Gonzales, Advisor to the DG DEFIS Director General all of which presented the latest developments and work of their respective DGs in the field of EO. The panel was completed by EUMETSAT Director General Phil Evans who noted that EUMETSAT had been collaborating for more than 20 years with the European Commission and multiple African institutions to ensure access to satellite data and strengthen African capacities to exploit these data and provide added-value services to various socio-economic sectors.

And this: Spanish team wins Farming by Satellite Prize 2020

EUSPA successfully linking users’ needs in Africa

As regards the role of EUSPA, he said that the Agency, with the support of the European Commission, could help Africa accelerate its EO downstream industry. “EUSPA has a successful track record of working with stakeholders in Africa and more specifically with the Agency for Air Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA). Together we are developing the “SBAS for Africa and Indian Ocean” based on EGNOS technology. This was a first step to make African airports more accessible and create more commercial opportunities for airlines and new flight routes at a regional and international level, with minimum costs for ground infrastructure and its maintenance,” he said. 

EU leaders and policy makers are ready to strengthen cooperation between the European EO and Africa, and are looking forward to making use of the infinite opportunities offered by the EU Space Programme, all under the same sky.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).