Horizon Europe: The RHOMOLO ex-ante assessment

• In 2018 the European Commission has published its proposal for its future research and innovation (R&I) programme, Horizon Europe, a €100 billion programme that will succeed Horizon 2020.
• Horizon Europe is designed around three pillars: support researchers and projects (Open Science), pursue industrial leadership related to societal issues (Global challenges), and boost market-creating innovation (Open Innovation).
• The RHOMOLO dynamic CGE model has been used for policy simulations to estimate the economic impact of Horizon Europe.
• The analysis compares three alternative policy designs to a scenario without the policy: Continuation, in which Horizon Europe is implemented similarly to the previous Horizon 2020; Centralisation, in which the programme is reinforced by centralising at the EU level a third of the national competitive-based project funding; and Decentralisation, in which the programme is implemented at the national level.
• The RHOMOLO simulations suggest that Horizon Europe can contribute to higher aggregate GDP and employment, with considerable potential regional heterogeneity.

Authors:

CHRISTENSEN Martin, CONTE Andrea , SALOTTI Simone