Vilnius Innovation Forum launches Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 was presented to participants of the ongoing Innovation Forum Innovation Drift, taking place in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. During the forum, which brought together over 600 business and science representatives, special attention was paid to Horizon 2020 funding opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses.

The director general for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, Robert Jan-Smits, announced the start of the programme, saying: “Each and every member state has a key role to play in fostering smart growth, therefore it is necessary for the European policy makers, academic and business communities to work together. Lithuania has made great progress in innovations, improved its position in the EU Innovation Union Scoreboard, can be proud of strong universities and flexible business environment, however you have to modernise the research system, more actively support business investment in research and innovation.”

The objective of Horizon 2020 is to ensure global competitiveness, economic growth and job creation in Europe through the promotion of innovation and research. It will consist of three main parts, aiming at strengthening EU position in science and industry leadership and seeking to address major social challenges. The Horizon 2020 programme will finance all the parts of the innovation chain, from a concept to a market, helping to bridge the gap between research and the market.

Horizon 2020 instruments for small and medium-sized enterprises will be used to ensure that the concepts ‘innovation’ and ‘small enterprise’ became inseparable. The target plan aims at fully supporting European business, which with the help of innovation would strengthen the positions in both national and foreign markets. The latter, in turn, would significantly contribute to the European economy.