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 statement. "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 European Research Council, 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 Marie Curie Actions, 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.


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