Innovative Catalan projects received €190 million from EU funds

Barcelona (CNA).- The European Commission’s programme Horizon 2020, which is the EU’s leading initiative in terms of innovation and R&D, has allocated 190 million euros to fund Catalan initiatives. This figure is 2.6% of the total that the European Commission has given out so far, a higher percentage than the proportionate weight of the Catalan population in Europe, which is 1.5%. The announcement was made this week during the Connect-EU conference in Barcelona attended by more than 1,000 Catalan R&D companies and entities. “During the first year of Horizon 2020, Catalonia has multiplied by 3.5 what was raised in the first year of the previous European funding programme, the FP7” stated general director of Recerca, Josep Maria Martorell, head of the entity which executes and promotes research and innovation initiatives in Catalonia. “Catalonia’s R&D system is one of the most productive and successful in Europe” he added. Most of the 142 companies which received Horizon 2020 funds were SMEs. They received between 50,000 and 2.5 million euros to carry out feasibility analysis and be able to fund their R&D activities, so that their projects could be launched.

Horizon 2020 programme, launched last year, has an 80 billion euros budget until 2020. During its first year it has allocated 190 million euros to innovative Catalan projects. “During the first year of Horizon 2020, Catalonia has multiplied by 3.5 what was raised in the first year of the previous European funding programme, the FP7”stated general director of Recerca, Josep Maria Martorell. Recerca is the entity which executes and promotes research and innovation initiatives in Catalonia. According to Martorell, these figures show that “Catalonia’s R&D system is one of the most productive and successful in Europe and, therefore, our country appears as a 'positive' anomaly in Europe as a whole."

27.6% of the funds received went to the Catalonia Research Centres ‘CERCA’, 22.8% were allocated to universities and 11.2% went to other research centres.

One of the novelties of the Horizon 2020 programme is the ‘SME Instrument’which has been designed specifically for SMEs. In the year and a half the programme has been running, more than 50 Catalan SMEs have benefited from the initiative. These companies received between 50,000 and 2.5 million euros to carry out feasibility analysis and be able to fund their R&D activities, so that their projects could be launched.