Manuel Heitor’s report: reactions from stakeholders in Brussels

"What is essential for me, in reading Heitor’s report, is the recognition that the EIC is a successful instrument and institution. I have also learned that the Pathfinder needs to be complemented by a more experimental tool. I grasped that there is a need to develop a next Step: an instrument for larger tickets that crowds in private investment", says Michiel Scheffer to News Tank on 18/10/2024.

Like many other stakeholders, he is reacting to the report presented by Manuel Heitor, chair of the High-Level Group in charge of the mid-term evaluation of Horizon Europe, on 16/10/2024. This group of 15 experts was set up in December 2023 and was tasked with evaluating Horizon Europe to provide the Commission with recommendations for the future of the framework programme.

Antoine Petit, CEO of the CNRS (the French National Centre for Scientific Research), tells News Tank that he welcomes the recommendation for a €220 Bn budget: "We can do all the nice programmes we want, but if at the end of the day we don't have the money, it won't work".

The European university associations welcome the…