• Posted 23-Jun-2021

European Research and Innovation Days kicked off to shape the future of research and innovation together

The European Research and Innovation Days, Europe’s annual flagship event on the future of research and innovation, started on 23 June. The two-day event took place online until 24 June.

It featured more than 60 live sessions, over 200 speakers, and connects around 20.000 participating policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and citizens. The event provided an interactive platform to co-design next steps to strengthen the European Research Area as well as European research and innovation policies that will lead the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the green and digital transitions. This year’s edition marked the launch of Horizon Europe, the new EU research and innovation programme (2021-2027).

Next to the policy conference, the virtual European Research and Innovation Exhibition showcased over 100 EU-funded projects that have made an impact on people’s daily lives. An interactive digital space named the Horizon Europe Village allowed participants to meet with Commission officials to express priorities and ask questions about funding opportunities.

These two days also included key events such as:

• The launch of co-programmed European Partnerships in a Memorandum of Understanding signature ceremony;
• The launch of the Coronavirus Global R&I Collaboration Portal;
• The launch of the EU Knowledge Valorisation Platform;
• The award ceremony of the 2020 EU RESPonsible Island Prize;
• Previews of upcoming policy reports, such as the ‘She Figures’ publication that provides indicators on gender equality in research and innovation at pan-European level.

The event will be closely followed by the Horizon Europe Information Days, from 28 June to 9 July. These Info Days give the opportunity to prospective applicants, and other stakeholders of EU research and innovation, to receive information and ask questions about the novelties, main funding instruments and processes of Horizon Europe.

European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event having its third edition this year. Last year’s online event attracted over 35000 registered participants from 188 countries in 146 panels. The event is open to anyone who wants to get involved or is interested in the future of research and innovation. Registrations remain open until the 24 June, the last day of the conference.

Source: Europrean Commission I Research and Innovation (https://bit.ly/3dp3jNZ)