Horizon 2020 voted name of new EC research programme
‘Horizon 2020 – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation’ will be the name of the new European Commission Research Programme, following a ballot on three shortlisted choices last month. Over 8,300 votes were received in the ECs ‘You Name It’ competition, which was launched on 28 March this year.
“The new name marks another step in our endeavour to establish research and innovation where it belongs, at the centre of EU policy making,” said Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.
The early part of the competition saw the public suggesting names – with two teachers, Marcela Endlova from the Czech Republic and Beata Zyngier from Poland, having both put forward the winning entry.
As a prize, the two winners will travel to the European Innovation Convention, in Brussels, in December, to meet with Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and other leading political, scientific and business figures.
Horizon 2020 will form a new, integrated system, encompassing all funding currently given by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and the Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development. It is hoped that this will serve to boost excellence, while creating economic growth and new employment opportunities.
Of the shortlisted options in the vote, Horizon 2020 received 3,055 votes, with the others, Discover 2020 and Imagine 2020 and getting 2,478 and 2,785 votes respectively.
“It is fitting that the new programme should have a name with an optimistic ring that evokes vision, new possibilities and an ambitious view of what EU-funded research and innovation can achieve,” said Geoghegan-Quinn, “because it is only at an EU level that we can mobilise sufficient resources to tackle societal challenges.”
For more information, please visit the European Commission website.
