Even after Brexit EU funding may linger on the Horizon

United Kingdom – Government officials have encouraged researchers to continue to bid for the EU’s Horizon 2020 funding, despite the UK exiting the European Union.

‘The government will work with the European Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded and HM Treasury will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU,’ according to the Brexit white paper published on 2 February.

Furthermore, the government pledges to transfer the current framework of environmental regulation into UK and devolved law. It is argued that this declaration ‘has given UK participants and their EU partners the certainty needed to plan ahead for projects that can run over many years’.

Didier Gambier, head of the Commission’s executive agency for small and medium-sized enterprises department, made a similar announcement last month. UK applicants will still be considered until Brexit is completed, he said at the launch of Hycolene, an innovative product from plastics recycler Luxus.

Hycolene can be used for vehicle interiors and was the result of a three-year EUR 1.4 million research project, which received funding from the Horizon 2020 programme.