• H2020
• Policy & Research

The European Commission has published early details on funding opportunities for the next three years under its Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) research stream.

The commission says it wants to receive game-changing proposals for new candidate megaprojects, or flagships, which will each receive €1bn.

The paper appeared on a commission website, which generally does not publish draft materials.

Proposals must target ‘a visionary unifying goal’ within one of three main areas of ICT, health and life sciences, and energy, environment and climate change.

The publication does not commit to how many new flagships will be financed, but says up to €1m in seed money is available for promising ideas on topics ranging from robotics and artificial intelligence, to renewable energy production, conversion and storage devices, and projects that offer new insight into the functioning of human cells.

It also gives new information on plans for the EU Quantum Flagship, which launches next year, and there will be more money for established flagships, such as the Human Brain Project, which will receive a further €150m, and the Graphene Flagship.

There are indications that the commission will take action regarding the demand for FET competitions, which from next year will be run out of the new European Innovation Council.

“Oversubscription and underfunding … is addressed by increased budget, clearer and enforced scoping, and advice on resubmission,” the paper adds.

Final work programmes for the 2018-2020 period of Horizon 2020 are expected to be published next month.