Ricerca Internazionale

Statement by Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn on the outcome of the competition to name the future EU funding programme for research and innovation

I am very pleased to announce that "Horizon 2020" is the winner of our "You Name it" online vote to name the future EU-funding programme for research and innovation.
Three names were shortlisted. Horizon 2020 received 3 055 votes against 2 785 for Imagine 2020 and 2 478 for Discover 2020. 8 318 votes were received.
The full name that I shall be putting forward towards the end of this year as part of the legislative proposal for the new programme will therefore be: "Horizon 2020 - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation".
I congratulate the competition winners Marcela Endlova, a teacher from the Czech Republic, and Beata Zyngier, also a teacher, from Poland - who both suggested the name - and look forward to meeting both of them at the European Innovation Convention in December.
I was already very clear publicly in my first few weeks in this job that I was interested in having a new name for the Framework Programme. I wanted the decision to be made in a democratic rather than a technocratic way.
I am delighted at the response and the interest this exercise has generated. We received over 1 600 suggestions for names. I warmly thank the jury and all those who took part.
The new name marks another step in our endeavour to establish research and innovation where it belongs, at the centre of EU policy making.
To achieve that in a lasting way, we need to connect with a wider public and give our work a higher profile.
So the new name is an important symbol of a new departure and a new adventure. Horizon 2020 is not just a new name for the same Framework Programme.
It is the name for the new, integrated funding system that will cover all research and innovation funding currently provided through the Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development, the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
These different types of funding will be brought together in a coherent and flexible manner.