Maria da Graça Carvalho participated in a workshop of the IDEA League and the Cluster on Horizon 2020. The session was organized by the President of the Technical University Delft in cooperation with MEP Van Nistelrooij.
Idea league and Cluster form a network across Europe of 18 universities of science, engineering & technology.
The discussion of session was focused in the opportunities that Horizon 2020 would bring for technical universities to gain excellence, to collaborate with counterparts and to build strong industry-academia partnerships within Europe. In order to realize these opportunities a dedicated and ambitious budget is needed.
Maria da Graça Carvalho made an intervention on tackling societal challenges through research and innovation: What is the role of engineering and design in tackling societal challenges?, How do technical universities stimulate interdisciplinary research cooperation?, How to build new partnerships to tackle the societal challenges? and The role of international cooperation in tackling societal challenges.
Board members of Technical Universities from Cluster and Idea League, Members of the ITRE Committee of European Parliament, Permanent Representation of different countries, and members from the European Commission attended the meeting.
Background information: Horizon 2020 is the new EU programme for research and innovation, presented by the Commission as part of its EU budget proposal for 2014 to 2020. In order to give a boost to research and innovation as a driver of growth and jobs, the Commission has proposed an €80 billion budget, up from the €55 billion of the current programme (Framework Programme 7). Horizon 2020 stimulates excellence in research and innovation in order to tackle societal challenges and to create industrial leadership. The European Council and European Parliament are currently negotiating on the EU-budget and on the proposal for Horizon 2020.