EU to help set up, finance Horizon Europe office in Ukraine - education minister

MOSCOW. Feb 3 (Interfax) - The European Union will help set up an office of the Horizon Europe program in Ukraine and finance its work through 2027, thus providing technical support to Ukrainian researchers and innovators and strengthening ties between relevant Ukrainian and European institutions, Ukrainian Education and Science Minister Sergei Shkarlet said.

"President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has announced that an office of the Horizon Europe program will be set up in Ukraine," Ukrainian media quoted Shkarlet as saying on his social account.

"The EU will help set up and finance the office's work until the end of 2027," he said.

The key tasks of the Horizon Europe office in Ukraine will include providing targeted support to researchers in Ukraine in preparing competitive applications and finding the right partners; conducting training sessions on preparing such applications; facilitating the establishment of a network of national contact points to provide professional services to Ukrainian research and innovation actors across the country; offering policy advice on Ukraine's integration into the European Research Area (ERA) by focusing on a number of policy priorities; monitoring the implementation of cooperation projects and popularizing scientific cooperation; and arranging targeted information events on opportunities for cooperation on research and innovation, he said.

"This would serve as a catalyst to bolster Ukraine's involvement in the Horizon Europe program and help retain Ukraine's scientific and innovative potential during the hard times for science," he said.

The office's work should promote Ukraine's integration into the European research area and facilitate the country's development within the framework of the Ukraine recovery and reconstruction plan, Shkarlet said.