A new "Horizon" for mechanical enterprises
A new group of work has been created in order to evaluate the opportunities given by the European programme "HORIZON 2020", that offers conspicuous funds for research and innovation to enterprises
During 2013 the Italian industry dealt with an economic and financial crisis at its fifth year that, due to its level of importance and diffusion, produced very serious effects. On top of that, natural disasters – such as floods and earthquakes – worsened the situation, putting the enterprises' resistance capabilities to the test. On the whole, as the President of FederUnacoma has recently explained commenting on the economic trends, the scenario is that of a "perfect storm".
It is necessary to respond to it promptly and completely by holding the helm and trusting the stability of the national industry, that has all the potential to come out of the crisis. Despite everything, the Italian manufacturing sector is the strong point of our production system. We are still among the first five countries on the world stage for quality and sales volume and the second after Germany in Europe.
In order to keep this eminent position, it is necessary to update the mechanization industry through a structural renovation that must go with environmental, energy and social matters. This kind of approach, capable of generating positive consequences for the national territory, will give access to foreign markets.
It also aims at the internationalization of "made in Italy" through sustainability and excellence. With this perspective in mind, FederUnacoma, coherent with the recent strategical programme for mechanization's development on foreign markets "Planet Earth" (presented during the last directorate), saw in the European Programme "HORIZON 2020" an opportuniy to get economic resources in order to optimise production efficiency and quality of the participating enterprises.
To this purpose, a dedicated group of work has been created to examine the range of initiatives that could involve the participants from the eight Associations represented by the Federation. The ongoing screening work will give a useful orientation on projects' evaluation and partner countries.
The Programme "HORIZON 2020"
The new EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, called Horizon 2020, concerns a seven years period (2014-2020) and gathers in one framework all the EU financial instruments with a budget of 70,2 billion EUR, to be devoted to research and innovation. The main goal consists in facing social and environmental challenges, by helping to bridge the gap between research and market and by helping enterprises to develop their technological breakthroughs into viable products with real commercial potential. This market-driven approach will include creating partnerships with the private sector and Member States. Horizon 2020 will be shared on three strategical goals with different budgets:
- Excellent Science – target: Strengthen the EU position in science on the world stage; support research and develop the best ideas. The dedicated budget will be about: 22,3 billion EUR.
- Industrial Leadership – target: Support research and innovation in Europe and strengthen European industrial leadership in order to attract more investments to Europe. This includes major investments in key technologies and greater access to capital for the small and medium-seized enterprises. Dedicated budget: 15,5 million EUR.
- Societal Challenges – An investment provided to help address major concerns shared by all Europeans such as: health and wellness, ensuring food safety and security, sustainable agriculture, bioeconomy, sustainable energy; sustainable transport and mobility, climate change, resources. Devoted budget: about 27 billion EUR.
To access Horizon 2020 is requested the participation of at least three legal subjects, belonging to different Member States or Associate Countries.
