Beth Daley
Editorial Adviser , Europeana Foundation
The European Commission invites anyone with an interest in future EU research and innovation priorities, anywhere in the world, to participate in an online consultation for Horizon Europe.
The European Commission is preparing the implementation of Horizon Europe, the EU’s next funding programme for research and innovation to succeed the current Horizon 2020 programme. The process will help shape European research and innovation investments in the coming years. As part of the process, the Commission has launched an online consultation to collect input from across Europe and beyond. You can participate as an individual, as a representative of a single organisation or as a representative of a group of organisations. The inputs received will inform the work to prepare a ‘Strategic Plan’ for Horizon Europe, which will then guide the work programmes and calls for proposals for Horizon Europe’s first four years (2021-2024).
While Horizon Europe covers a huge range of issues (from health to terrorism, and from climate change to space technology), one of its six clusters of activities is focused on culture, creativity and inclusive society. This is significant as culture is being given a much greater emphasis and visibility than it had under the previous programme, Horizon 2020.
The extensive consultation document (go to Annexe 2 - page 50 for the culture section), explains that, ‘historical sites and monuments, cultural landscapes, artefacts, museums, archives, as well as languages, customs, traditions, and values all make up the rich tapestry of European cultural heritage. This makes Europe a vibrant and unique place to tackle future challenges based on its creativity, excellent research, sustainable cultural tourism and cutting-edge technologies.’
The report reflects a recent theme on Europeana Pro - that with a view to creating jobs, growth and wealth, cultural heritage ‘needs to make the best use of the opportunities brought by the digital transformation. It needs to combine traditional craftsmanship, cutting edge and digital technologies for the preservation and restauration [sic] of cultural goods with innovative techniques in the cultural and creative industries’.
Inclusion of culture within Horizon Europe is important for the future of the sector and has far-reaching potential. The report suggests that the cultural and creative sectors should be integrated into research and innovation processes (something that Europeana is also actively advocating for in the Europeana Innovation Agenda) and make use of the ongoing big data revolution in the social sciences and the humanities.
The online consultation will help Horizon Europe to prioritise its actions.
Have your say and voice your thoughts about the role that cultural heritage and the cultural and creative sectors can play under Horizon Europe by taking part in the consultation. Use the free text fields in the appropriate survey questions to advocate for the importance of digital culture.
The consultation will close on 8 September 2019. Go to the Open Consultation now.
