The European Commission has earmarked an extra 2 billion EUR to develop technologies such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology as part of a bid to place Europe at the forefront of innovation. On Monday, March 18, the European Commission announced plans to establish the European Innovation Council (EIC) to "turn Europe's scientific discoveries into businesses that can scale up faster". The Commission has proposed to dedicate 10 billion EUR to the EIC under Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation funding programme for 2021-2027. In 2017, the Commission launched the pilot phase of the European Innovation Council, introducing open competitions and face-to-face interviews to identify and fund Europe's most innovative start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Since the launch, 1,276 projects have already benefitted from overall funding of more than 730 million EUR (828 million USD). In 2019-2020, the Commission will commit 2 billion EUR of further funding to 'pathfinder' projects, aimed at supporting advanced technologies from the research base. In June 2019, the funding will also be used as "accelerator" funding to support startups and SMEs develop and scale up innovations. From 2021, the EIC will become a "full-fledged reality" under the next EU research and innovation programme Horizon Europe.

Source: www.worldipreview.com