The Horizon Europe program began with the Horizon 2020 framework program, established in 2014 by the European Union. It is the world's largest publicly funded R&D program, with a budget of 80 billion euros. The program supports research and innovation through non-dilutive grants.

The new Horizon Europe program introduces new possibilities and features, such as the European Innovation Council framework, to support SMEs and research groups in bringing deep tech innovations to market. In addition, the program will promote operational synergy through stronger links with other EU programs, such as Cohesion Policy, the Digital Europe Program, and the new European Defense Fund.

The main goals of the current program are strengthening science and technology, industrial cultivation, competitiveness, and the implementation of sustainable development goals in the Union.

What do you get in the program?
Grants for financing long-term R&D
High financing percentages for the project up to 125%
Grant without waiver of intellectual property or royalty obligation

All programs and tracks in Horizon Europe are measured according to three criteria -

• Excellence - technological excellence, degree of compliance with the request of the calling voice
• Impact - impact on the market in Europe - to mediate short, medium and long
• Implementation - applicability of the project - who are the selected organizations, why are they the right ones to carry out the project, who are the staff members in each organization, what experience do they have

For Israeli entities, participation in the program is a gateway to strategic integration into the research, development and marketing frameworks of Europe, and for many years it has been the flagship program for academia and industry in Israel. When an Israeli company wins a financial grant from Horizon, it receives much more than full funding. The European Union's R&D framework program has become a significant growth engine for the Israeli economy, and winning it provides Israeli organizations with access to innovative knowledge, collaborations with leading researchers, and proximity to the European market.

Participation in the program is carried out through the publication of "calls for projects," a TOP-DOWN approach to submitting research proposals across all fields detailed in the work plan, including nanotechnology, information and communication technology, energy, and health. The research is conducted within the framework of research groups that collectively submit their proposals directly for approval at the program's headquarters in Brussels. Thanks to the joint and close research in the research groups, numbering between 6-12 partners, the members of the group benefit from the discovery and creation of technological knowledge, from joint work with European suppliers and customers, from building a reputation and from the use of facilities and unique R&D centers of the European Union. All these and more make the investment in the program worthwhile for all companies, research bodies and supporting governments. In addition, to help and promote small and medium-sized companies, Horizon allows these companies to compete and apply for a grant on their own, not within the framework of a research group or the EIC program.

The plan includes an overhead component of 25% and at the end of the day for the company it is undiluted funding at a rate of up to 70% from the approved budget. The program focuses on the entire "value chain" - from the basic research phase to the product's arrival on the market. The core of the previous R&D programs was generic research, but in Horizon 2020, two significant changes were introduced: on the one hand, the budget for pure basic research was doubled, and on the other hand, the technological programs should be closer to the market. This approach encourages innovation in both basic research and technological development, and therefore this program suits the R&D community in Israel even more than the previous programs. Nereus is ready to support you in all the different programs - contact us.