What do a robot teaching kids how to program, a system to grow plants to cool down our cities and... the Pfizer-Bion-Tech vaccine against Covid-19 have in common?
They were all funded by the predecessor program of #HorizonEurope - the new EU funding program for research and innovation that just started!
Research and innovation have real life impact. They lead to solutions for real challenges. So it's good news that this is the biggest funding program for research worldwide - with 95 billion euros for 27 countries for 7 years!
It was my pleasure to support FFG Austrian Research Promotion Agency, the Austrian contact point in their launch campaign in the last 10 weeks. And it was truly special to moderate this high ranking closing event of the campaign at GPK: with EU commissioner Mariya Gabriel, ministers Heinz Fassmann, Leonore Gewessler, Margarete Schramboeck, Klaudia T. and managing directors of FFG Klaus Pseiner and Henrietta Egerth.
As minister Fassmann said, sometimes it's the craziest ideas that lead to innovation. I think right now we can hope for quite a lot of crazy! So here's to the crazy ones - go get your share of the 95 billion! 'Cause the ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. 😉