The Government continues to safeguard funding as supporting science, research and innovation in the UK remains a priority

Science Minister Jo Johnson reaffirms UK Government’s underwrite of H2020 funding at the inaugural event for Instruct, the structural biology ERIC.

Horizon 2020 is the European Union’s flagship research and innovation programme aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness. With a budget of almost €80 billion between 2014 and 2020, the programme awards funding to the most innovative research ideas to help bring them to market quicker, creating jobs and benefiting the lives of millions around the world through scientific breakthroughs and new technologies.

Science Minister Jo Johnson has highlighted the continued importance of collaboration with European and international partners on major science, research and technology initiatives and reaffirmed the parameters of the UK government’s guarantee of Horizon 2020 funding.

The UK Government made the following commitment after the HM Treasury’s statement on 13th August 2016:

“UK businesses and universities should continue to bid for competitive EU funds while we remain a member of the EU and we will work with the Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded. The Government will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK‚Äôs departure from the EU.”

• The UK Government guarantees awards where the application is submitted before exit and is subsequently approved. This includes proposals which are informed of their success but, at the point of exit, have not signed a grant agreement, and proposals which have been submitted before exit and that are only informed of their success following exit.
• Two stage application processes are also included in the UK Government’s underwrite commitment, provided that the proposal for the first stage of the application is submitted before the UK leaves the EU and that the application is subsequently successful.
• The underwrite will also cover schemes under Horizon 2020 which are administered in non-standard ways, including Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs), Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) and ERANETs for example.

“As a reminder, under this guarantee, the government has committed to underwrite the funding for all successful bids made by UK participants for Horizon 2020 projects that are submitted before EU exit. We know that research projects can run for some time. That‚Äôs why the underwrite covers projects that are ongoing at the point of EU exit, as well as funding that will be applied for before the UK‚Äôs departure from the EU and that is subsequently successful post-brexit. This is an important point that I hope is passed through the research community.”

For more information on the full speech from Science Minister Jo Johnson, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/instruct-european-research-infrastructure-consortia-eric-inaugural-event

A Questions and Answers document has also been produced to indicate what is covered by this guarantee. To read the Q&A, click here.