The European Commission plans to spend €2.2 billion on clean energy projects during 2018-2020 period through its EU research and innovation funding program Horizon 2020.
The €2.2 billion earmarked for clean energy projects will be split across four interrelated areas of renewable energy, energy efficient building, electro-mobility and storage solutions.
This also includes €200 million to support the development and production in Europe of the next generation of electric batteries, the European Commission said.
The total of €30 billion of Horizon 2020 funding available for the 2018-2030 includes plans to launch the first phase of the European Innovation Council.
Between 2018 and 2020, the European Commission said it would mobilize €2.7 billion to support high-risk, high-gain innovation to create the markets of the future.
At the same time, Horizon 2020 will continue to fund ‘curiosity-driven science’, according to the European Commission.
The annual Work Program of the European Research Council for 2018, adopted in August, will enable support for excellent researchers with nearly €1.86 billion.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, which fund fellowships for researchers at all stages of their careers, received a boost with €2.9 billion in total over three years.
Carlos Moedas , Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “Europe is a world leader in science and technology and will play a major role in driving innovation. The Commission is making a concerted effort – including with the European Innovation Council which takes its first steps – to give Europe’s many innovators a springboard to become world leading companies.”
Horizon 2020 is the EU’s biggest ever research and innovation framework program with a budget of €77 billion over seven years (2014-2020).
As of October 2017, Horizon 2020 has in total funded more than 15,000 grants to the tune of €26.65 billion, of which almost €3.79 billion went to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the European Commission said.