An important milestone for scientific collaboration and development was set today, 7th September 2023, as the European Commission and the United Kingdom reached a political agreement for restoring the UK’s participation in Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme. For more than two years, collaboration was hampered since the UK researchers had to rely on UK equivalent grants and funding instead of being on the same terms as researchers from other EU associated countries (including leading consortia).
The agreement foresees that, as of 1 January 2024, researchers and organisations in the UK will be able to participate again in Horizon Europe, hence from the 2024 Work Programmes onwards, including the 2024 calls opening in October for Cluster 6 on a wide range of topics including food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment, particularly relevant to actors active in plant research and the seed sector.
Facilitating international R&D collaboration to work together on crop improvement is of utmost importance to meet the challenging and ever-evolving needs of farmers and other actors of the agri-food chain, including consumer preferences and EU policy objectives. Euroseeds welcomes this political agreement and wishes that the UK’s restored partnership with Horizon Europe will strengthen and deepen links between scientific communities.
