Skip to main content

Billion-euro boost to EU science

European science is set for a serious shot in the arm, after the European Union's commissioner for research and innovation announced yesterday (19th July) that the EU will invest approximately €6.4 billion in research and development on the continent through 2011. Image: S. Solberg J. via WikimediaThe investment package, the largest ever infusion of funding into research activities across Europe, will create more than 165,000 jobs and help save struggling economies, said Ireland's M&aacut

Written byBob Grant
| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
European science is set for a serious shot in the arm, after the European Union's commissioner for research and innovation announced yesterday (19th July) that the EU will invest approximately €6.4 billion in research and development on the continent through 2011.
Image: S. Solberg J. via Wikimedia
The investment package, the largest ever infusion of funding into research activities across Europe, will create more than 165,000 jobs and help save struggling economies, said Ireland's Máire Geoghegan-Quinn in a linkurl:statement.;https://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pg=newsalert&lg=en&year=2010&na=na-190710 "Investment in research and innovation is the only smart and lasting way out of crisis and towards sustainable and socially equitable growth," she added. "This European package will contribute to new and better products and services, a more competitive and greener Europe, and a better society with a higher quality of life." Health researchers can expect €600 million of the total funding, with a third of that going towards clinical trials designed to speed important new drugs to market, according to Geoghegan-Quinn. An additional €1.3 billion will go to scientists hand-picked by the linkurl:European Research Council,;https://erc.europa.eu/ and small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU will vie for about €800 million. Another €772 million is slated to go to 7,000 researchers through the linkurl:Marie Curie Actions,;https://ec.europa.eu/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/action/fellow_en.html a fellowship program designed to encourage cross-border collaboration. The funding is part of the EU's new project, dubbed "Innovation Union Flagship," which gets underway in earnest this autumn.
**__Related stories:__***linkurl:New head for European research;https://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/57151/
[19th February 2010]*linkurl:Is America competing?;https://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/56275/
[15th January 2010]*linkurl:More promises for EU research;https://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/56114/
[22nd October 2009]
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member?
Add The Scientist as a preferred source on Google

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

  • From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

    View Full Profile
The Scientist October Digest cover
October 2026

Antarctica’s Blood Falls Teems With Mysterious Microbial Life

Miles away from the closest ocean, marine microbes thrive in the red ice and mud around Blood Falls, offering clues to microbial adaptation and past climate events.

View this Issue
Evaluating Blood Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease Staging

Evaluating Blood Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease Staging

​Beckman Coulter
Find better biologics faster with Stunner and the AI Developability Workcell

Find better biologics faster with Stunner and the AI Developability Workcell

Unchained Labs
An image of microcentrifuge tubes arranged within colorful laboratory racks.

Choose clarity. Choose speed. Choose MyMass™

Refeyn
Characterizing LNP Heterogeneity With Super-Resolution Imaging

Characterizing LNP Heterogeneity With Super-Resolution Imaging

Oni

Products

Stellaromics Logo

Stellaromics Expands Pyxa Adoption as Instruments are Installed at Leading Research Institutions Across the U.S. and EuropeStellaromics, Inc., the leader in 3D

A monoclonal antibody surrounded by immune cells and red blood cells

CellRaft AIR: Find the Right Antibody-Producing Cells Faster

Cell Microsystems
Maxwell® Rapid ccfDNA Kit

Maxwell® Rapid ccfDNA Kit: Automated Purification of ccfDNA in Under 30 Minutes

Promega
Leica Biosystems, Tempus, and Paige logos side by side, marking the addition of Paige digital pathology AI tools to the Aperio AI Store.

Oncology Researchers Gain AI Cancer Tools in One Platform