The European Commission has drafted a document on 8 May 2019, unpublished and to be submitted to the attention of the Member States, which offers a first look at 18 possible topics for research partnerships with industry, national governments and public organizations within Horizon Europe.
The central ‘pillar’ of Horizon Europe is split into six core topics, or clusters, which were agreed in March:
- Health;
- Culture, creativity and inclusive society;
- Civil security for society;
- Digital, industry and space;
- Climate, energy, and mobility;
- Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment.
The 8 May document puts some meat on the bones for all of these clusters, but some sections are more detailed than others. Only the sections of the document dealing with clusters four and six contain suggestions for partnership topics. As strategic planning rolls on, more partnerships may be suggested for the other clusters, while those suggested in the 8 May draft could be changed, added-to or scrapped.
The ten suggested partnership areas for Digital, industry and space are:
- Made in Europe;
- Key digital technologies (labelled “institutional”; see below) ;
- Photonics;
- Artificial intelligence, data and robotics;
- Smart connectivity – beyond 5G (institutional);
- High-performance computing;
- Circular and climate-neutral industries;
- Clean steel;
- Metrology (institutional);
- Global competitive space systems.
The eight suggested partnerships for Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture & environment, as they appear in the 8 May document, are:
- Circular bio-based Europe: sustainable innovation for new local value from waste and biomass, successor to Bio-Based Industries;
- Environmental observations for a sustainable EU agriculture;
- Rescuing biodiversity to safeguard life on Earth
- Accelerating farming systems transition: agro-ecology living lab and research infrastructures;
- Animal health: fighting infectious diseases;
- Safe and sustainable food system for people, planet and climate;
- A climate neutral, sustainable and productive blue economy;
- Water4All: Water security for the planet.