At Long Last, Europe's Mega R&D Program Comes Into Focus

摘要

European scientists breathed a sigh of relief last week when leaders of the European Union (E.U.) agreed on a budget and rules for the next continent-wide R&D program, Horizon 2020. A full 19 months after the European Commission unveiled its proposal {Science, 9 December 2011, p. 1331), the twin deals should enable the timely rollout of the program, slated to get €70.2 billion from 2014 to 2020. This would be a 23.4% boost compared to the previous incarnation, Framework Programme 7 (FP7), which began in 2007 and ends this year.