Speech by Commissioner Iliana Ivanova at the launch event of the Horizon Europe Office in Kyiv

Dear Deputy Prime Minister Fedorov,

Dear Minister Lisovyi,

Honourable Members of the Rada,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my honour to address you on this exciting day.

Today marks a pivotal moment in the story of our European community of researchers and innovators.

But also, for the present and the future of our relations.

I take immense pride in inaugurating the Horizon Europe Office in Kyiv.

This is a monumental achievement, and not only for the whole European R&I ecosystem.

It is also a testament to the enduring spirit of the Ukrainian people.

A decade ago, young Ukrainians in Maidan square, draped in European flags, faced tragedy.

665 days ago, Kyiv was rocked by explosions, Russian tanks broke through to Kherson, and bloody battles began in several regions of Ukraine.

Putin thought he could break your soul. Erase your national identity. Quench the flame of freedom in your hearts.

And yet, here you stand today.

In less than two years, you have surmounted what many thought impossible.

As EU leaders agreed last week, we will open negotiations to welcome you as our new Member State. So let me warmly congratulate you on this outstanding success. This is a homecoming: Europe is where you decided to belong, and in Europe, you are home. Today, we celebrate another milestone on your journey into the heart of our Union.

I pledged to establish this Kyiv Office in front of the European Parliament during my hearing a few months ago. Now, we stand here, having transformed that vision into reality.

I have believed, then and now, that Horizon Europe will be the cornerstone of our R&I cooperation, crucial for our shared security and prosperity.

It will help you harness the huge potential of Ukraine's young innovators - the backbone of your post-war economy.

Horizon Europe will drive the technological transformation to make tomorrow's Ukraine more interconnected, more sustainable, and more resilient.

The resilience of your R&I sector, even under Russia's aggression, demonstrates the importance of enhanced cooperation.

Hundreds of researchers and businesses persist, just as determined as before, to address the challenges of our century.

Your consistent participation in EU-funded projects, despite the challenges of war, speaks volumes about your commitment to innovation.

Your history and track record are rich with innovation: from Waldemar Haffkine of Odesa, who discovered the plague vaccine, to Igor Sikorsky, from Kyiv, who designed the world's first production helicopter.

Last year, Maryna Viazovska won the Fields Medal, the "Nobel Prize for Mathematics", for her groundbreaking work.

Today, countless Ukrainians - former artisans, carpenters, mechanics, nurses - provide homemade but essential life-saving devices to the soldiers on the frontline.

Ordinary citizens, who in their own garages turn everyday tools into heaters, or mine-detectors.

Community organisers and young entrepreneurs who crowd-fund drones, delivering them to the battleground with the efficiency of an industrial supply chain.

Young talents who know they belong with, and in, Europe.

This is the genius of Ukraine!

Ordinary citizens turned innovators, innovators turned heroes, who embody the extraordinary talent of your country.

Let me echo Vice Prime Minister Fedorov words: "It is innovations and tech solutions that will make Ukraine win".

This spirit is precisely what Russia aims to suppress.

To displace your inventors and your scholars into the trenches.

To divert your R&I funds toward the war efforts.

This is why they shell your oldest and largest research centres, like the Institute of Physics and Technology in Kharkiv.

This is why they destroyed the Yuriev Plant Production Institute, which hosted one of the largest seed banks of the world.

But rest assured: just as Russia sees and knows it,

we - Europe - we also see and know it.

We know innovations and tech solutions will lead to the victory of Ukraine.

This is why we are determined to continue providing you with our unwavering support, including in R&I, for as long as it takes.

This is why, through Horizon Europe, we have already funded over 120 projects.

For more than 30 million euros.

Encompassing hundreds of beneficiaries that our new Kyiv Office will help engage and assist.

This is why, today, we are also launching a new Community Hub of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology in Kyiv: a bridge between local and pan-European innovators.

This is why our European Innovation Council - the largest venture capital investor in the continent - will, as of today, start supporting over 200 Ukrainian deep-tech start-ups, with a firepower of up to 20 million euros.

And this is also why we, as European Commission, have proposed an unprecedented 50 billion Ukraine Facility.

We will use it to support your reforms efforts across the whole R&I ecosystem.

Overall, we want to help you restore, boost, and nurture your own R&I capacity for the decades ahead.

We want to make sure that Ukrainian researchers can safely return home and contribute to your long-term success.

That they can thrive in a dynamic intellectual environment of academic freedom.

We want to make sure that Ukrainian start-ups can drive recovery, integrate with our EU innovation ecosystem, and reap the benefits of our single market.

Whether in your booming IT, or your agribusinesses sector that keeps on feeding the world even when you are under attack.

The Horizon Europe Office will play a key strategic role in coordinating these efforts.

It will amplify Ukrainian participation in our R&I programme.

It will raise awareness of new opportunities to reap the transformative impact of innovation.

It will be the beating heart of our collaboration. The central node our knowledge network.

It will train and engage Horizon Europe National Contact Points.

It will enhance your integration into the European Research Area, where knowledge and people can circulate freely.

At the same time, this will not be a one-directional relationship.

Because we, as the European Union, will also learn immensely from this renewed, strengthened relationship.

We will learn from the inspiring involvement of women in research, which is almost double that in the EU.

We will learn from your resilience and innovative spirit, against all odds, at times of unspeakable duress.

And once victory comes, we will harness our joint R&I efforts to rebuild a better, sustainable and peaceful Europe.

Together.

Thank you.