Regarding the global issues, such as ageing of the population and resource scarcity, innovation is needed to achieve economic growth and to sustain the high standard of living in Europe.
Europe 2020 strategy priorities
- Smart growth: developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation.
- Sustainable growth: promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy.
- Inclusive growth: fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion.
These targets are pursued by investments in research and innovation in all economic sectors coupled with promotion of sustainable
use of resources to enhance Europes competitiveness and create new business and employment opportunities.
Building prosperity and developing knowledge society through research, education and information technologies is a priority
of many EU Macro-Regional Strategies as well.EU-Funding Programmes
Many EU-funding programmes address these issues, amongst others Horizon 2020, Connecting Europe (CEF), Central Europe, the
Alpine space programme, the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme, and EUREKA Cluster. These programmes support scientists
and companies, as well as regional cooperation and project cooperations.
- Horizon 2020 is the new EU Research and Innovation programme. In addition to traditional research projects, funding is also available for innovation and pilot projects in various sectors.
- The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) finances projects which complete the missing links in Europe's energy, transport and digital backbone.