BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) – The European Commission on Monday awarded nearly €6.4 billion ($8.2 billion) to investment for research and innovation. The funding is Europe’s biggest ever investment in the field, the European Union (EU) announced.

“Investment in research and innovation is the only smart and lasting way out of crisis and towards sustainable and socially equitable growth. 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,” Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said.

The funding will cover a vast range of scientific disciplines, public policy areas and commercial sectors. It is expected that the funding will also advance scientific boundaries, increase European competitiveness and help solve societal challenges like climate change, energy and food security, health and an elder population.

“We are offering researchers and innovators €6.4 billion ($8.2 billion) for cutting-edge projects focusing on big economic and societal challenges: climate change, energy and food security, health and an ageing population. This is a huge and efficient economic stimulus and an investment in our future,” Geoghegan-Quinn said.

The grants will be available through “calls for proposals” which consist of invitations to bid and evaluations over the next 14 months. The total funding is expected to result in the creation of more than 165,000 jobs.

The Commission allocated around €800 million ($1 billion) for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), the backbone of the European innovation system. For the first time there will be ring-fenced budgets in several areas. For example, in health, knowledge-based bio-economy, environment and nanotechnologies SME participation must reach 35 percent.

New technologies were the main focus of the latest EU’s funding package. In health research, around €206 million ($266 million) will be spent on investigator-driven clinical trials to get new medicines on the market quicker. Nanotechnologies were awarded with €270 million ($348 million); the focus will be on research that could lead to patenting and commercialization opportunities.

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