About Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation program ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). It is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a ''Europe 2020'' flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. Through Horizon 2020, the European Commission promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market. Horizon 2020 is open to everyone, with a simple structure that reduces red tape and time so projects can get off the ground relatively quickly. 

Funding Opportunities 

The selection of the projects that will receive funding is done through calls for proposals. These are options to launch EU-funded scientific projects on topics decided by the European Commission. Wether or not a project will receive a grant depends on the quality of the planned activities, the business plan and the degree to which the project fits into the chosen call for proposal. 
​The calls for proposals for 2016 and 2017 are already presented by the European Commission and will be accessible from a variation of selected dates, depending on the call.
The program is structured into three main pillars:
  • Societal Challenges.
    This covers calls for proposals based on health, climate action, food security, infrastructure, equality and other things that seek to structurally improve society or tackle societal issues. 
  • Industrial leadership
    This covers calls for proposals that support innovative small and medium enterprises, use financial instruments to stimulate innovation or encourage the development of enabling and industrial technologies.
  • Excellence in Science
    These calls of proposals are funding the best science through open competition. This is through four programs: the European Research Council; Research Infrastructures; Future and Emerging Technologies; and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie research grant scheme.
The list of calls for proposals is presented on the Horizon 2020 website. The link referring to this website can be found at the bottom of this page. 
Horizon Europe Presentation
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Possibilities for Aruban Proposals

Aruban initiatives are eligible for funding through the Horizon 2020 program as European projects. A proposal can be done through the electronic submission system on the Horizon 2020 website. A proposal generally consists of 2 main parts: administrative forms (structured information of the basic administrative data, declarations of partners, organizations and contact persons, etc.) and the technical annex, which is the detailed description of the planned research and innovation project outlining work packages, costs, etc. Further mandatory or optional annexes (e.g. supporting documents for ethics issues) can be required by the call and the given topic, as shown in the submission system.

The Office of EU and Kingdom relations (BEUK), subsequently Europe House Aruba, can provide assistance and information to help with planned Horizon 2020 proposals for Aruban projects.