This Tuesday, a massive meeting took place between professionals from the business sector of the Canary Islands to share the opportunities presented by the Horizon Europe program for business R&D&I in the Islands, according to reports the Government of the Canary Islands.
The event, organized by the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment and the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) at the Elder Museum of Science and Technology in Las Palmas, seeks greater participation of Canary Islands business entities in regional, state and European innovation programs.
"The Canary Islands is committed to growing exponentially in its participation in the Horizon Europe Program and the ACIISI is working with initiatives to make the R&D&I ecosystem more competitive and able to access a greater number of grants," explained Carlos Andrés Navarro, director of the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society (ACIISI).
Specifically, the Canary Islands has increased the number of proposals submitted during the period 2014-2020 as part of the Horizon 2020 framework program, reaching 614 projects, with an estimated return of 54.3 million euros in that period.
Now the goal is to triple or quadruple exponentially the participation of the archipelago in the research and innovation (R&I) framework program of the European Union (EU) for the period 2021-2027, through Horizon Europe.
The Horizon program will have a budget of 95.517 million euros over the next seven years to generate significant economic, social and scientific benefits.
It will function not only as a financing instrument, but also as an investment, so it is estimated to generate 11 euros in GDP gain for every euro invested, as well as 320,000 new qualified jobs.
In addition, the event addressed issues related to regional aid from the ACIISI to high-tech companies, as well as innovation aid at the national level, in order to contribute to the creation of a more competitive business sector.
