Almost 80 billion euros has been allocated to the Horizon 2020 research programme: 30 percent more than in the last seven years. Originally, the European parliament wanted to raise the amount to 100 billion but the compromise arrived at – after a tug-of-war lasting two and a half years – is 80 billion.
There is a struggle going on in Europe between ‘cows’ and ‘knowledge’. Some countries benefit strongly from agricultural subsidies and funds for poor regions. Wealthier countries, on the other hand, see knowledge and innovation as the way out of the crisis and would prefer to spend their money that way.
In the last few years Wageningen UR has been relatively successful in bringing in European projects.