Flemish participation in European Framework Programmes continues to increase

The scientific institutions and companies located in Flanders succeed in acquiring a growing budget from the European Framework Programmes. Flanders, as a small region, clearly punches above its weight in this internationally competitive environment. This comes out of a new report recently published by EWI, the Departement of Economy, Science & Innovation.

The report shows that 2 of the 5 Flemish universities are in the top 5 of most succesful participants in Europe. It also indicates that, based on the return compared to number of inhabitants, Flemish participation is in 4th place in Horizon 2020 and, with the data already available, currently in the 8th place for Horizon Europe.

The report also shows that Flanders scores well in the field of fundamental and strategic basic research. For applied research, Flanders scores highly in the areas of ICT, health, food and the bioeconomy. 'Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society' can also count on special interest and very large participation.

Horizon Europe's major innovation is the introduction of Missions. In these missions, Flanders mainly has a large share of participation and budget in the Soil Mission & Ocean Mission.