Ukraine - associated member of EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020

On March 20, 2015, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhii Kvit and Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas signed an Agreement between Ukraine and the EU on Ukraine's participation in the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020.

The signing ceremony was also attended by Minister of Education and Science of Latvia Marita Sejle, Counsellor - Research and Space questions, Permanent Representation of the Republic of Latvia to the EU Lauma Sika; Ambassador, Head of the EU delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombinski, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on science and education Liliya Hrynevych, first Deputy Minister of education and science Inna Sovsun and Deputy Minister of education and science Maksym Strikha.

During a press conference Serhii Kvit expressed gratitude to the European the party for their support, in particular, for the offered 95% discount for Ukraine to pay for participation in the project "Horizon 2020".

Carlos Moedas noted that Ukraine joins the European scientific programme of this scale for the first time and this opens up opportunities for Ukrainian scientists. According to him, "Horizon 2020" provides an access for Ukraine to the entire spectrum of projects that are funded under this program. Ukraine could become a recipient of grants offered by the European Research Council, and Ukrainian scientists will have an opportunity to apply for participation in mobility programmes and scholarships with a total funding worth about € 6 billion. Ukrainian entrepreneurs, universities and research institutes can also benefit from that.

Moreover, Carlos Moedas informed on the financing of the EU initiative "EAT Connect" that means providing member countries of the European partnership, in particular, and Ukraine as well, a huge capacity of broadband Internet. It concerns providing the campuses of the universities a broadband Internet access, thus opening access to a huge number of scientific publications and databases. "It will also support Ukraine's integration into the virtual space of the EU and international scientific communities," stressed the Commissioner.

Head of the EU delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombinski noted that signing the agreement is a sign of EU confidence in the future of Ukraine, which corresponds to the choice of the Ukrainian people.

First Deputy Minister of Education and Science Inna Sovsun also informed that in the framework of the previous programme Ukraine had taken part in 126 scientific projects worth 26.5 million euros. Due to the program "Horizon 2020" Ukraine joined 11 leading research countries, which were determined as the key strategic partners of the EU.