Nearly 3,000 Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) professionals will meet at Hungexpo, Budapest, which is an exceptional opportunity to showcase Hungarian research and innovation skills and join the research activities funded under the ICT programme of Horizon 2020. Participants can consult with almost 100 European Commission project coordinators (who manage the calls under and control the implementation of the ICT programme), as well as the National Contact Points (NPCs) of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office.

The Proposers’ Day presents the calls of the recently announced Horizon 2020 Work Programme for 2018-20 which has earmarked a total budget of EUR 2.5 billion in funding for over 50 ICT research and innovation topics. To facilitate an overview of ICT-related calls the European Commission has published its Guide to ICT-related activities in WP 2018-20 which details ICT topics covered by the calls in the next three years.

The calls cover various topics: the digitisation of European industry (manufacturing, robotics, micro- and nano-electronics, photonics, smart systems, cyber-physical systems), software technologies and cloud computing, big data, HPC; next generation internet technologies (5G network technologies, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things), hyper-connected sociality, language technology, interaction, fintech, cyber security; and targeted international collaborations.

Furthermore, several other ICT-oriented calls have been announced with an additional budget of EUR 1.5 billion in the area of societal challenges, including health, energy, smart cities, transport, agribusiness, food industry, social sciences and security.

In addition, several calls of the “Excellent Science” pillar, which supports the long-term research of H2020, will be presented at the Proposers’ Day. The programme also covers the open and targeted calls of Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) as well as the latest and most influential long-term flagship initiatives of quantum technology.

The event will also present more simply accessible sources available specifically to SMEs, such as the SME Instrument.