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Horizon Europe - Wikipedia

09 Apr 20256 min read

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

European Union research program

Horizon Europe is a seven-year European Union scientific research initiative, successor of the Horizon 2020 programme and the earlier Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development. The European Commission drafted and approved a plan for Horizon Europe to raise EU science spending levels by 50% over the years 2021–2027.

The proposal called for €100 billion in research and innovation spending for years 2021–2027. Of that sum, €2.4 billion is earmarked for the Euratom nuclear research programme and €3.6 billion is put away for an umbrella investment fund, called InvestEU. After accounting for 2% annual inflation, in 2018 the funding for Horizon Europe amounted to €86.6 billion.12

Wealthier EU members have expressed opposition to the increase in funding, with Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte saying the draft budget was “unacceptable”.3

To pay for the €100 billion science spending, the Commission’s plan calls for cuts to agriculture and cohesion funding by 5 per cent. Additionally, the plan seeks to tie funding to adherence to the rule of law in member states, including judicial independence.3

Compared to the previous framework programme Horizon 2020, some changes in terms of cost reporting have been implemented with the objective to simplify the grant management process.4

Horizon Europe adopts five missions:

  1. Adaptation to Climate Change: support at least 150 European regions and communities to become climate resilient by 2030
  2. Cancer: working with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan to improve the lives of more than 3 million people by 2030 through disease prevention, cure and solutions to live longer and better
  3. Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030
  4. 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030
  5. A Soil Deal for Europe: 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 20305

The budget of €95.5 billion for Horizon Europe, which was launched in 2021, is up from the €77 billion budget for its predecessor, Horizon 2020.678

Independent observers had predicted the final approved funding to be much lower after completion of the lengthy negotiations with the European Parliament and EU member states.9 Former EU commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas, along with many advocacy groups, had pushed for a more expansive EU science budget. In order to build political support for the budget increase, he used American originated ideas of “moonshots” to focus research efforts and boost the public interest.10

EU Members of Horizon Europe

Cooperation beyond the EU and associated members

Horizon Europe supports European partnerships in which the EU, national authorities and / or the private sector jointly commit to support the development and implementation of a programme of research and innovation activities. To be deemed a Horizon Europe Associated Member is to engage in “the closest form of cooperation in research and innovation for non-EU countries, by providing, as far as possible, the same rights and obligations to these countries’ research and innovation entities as those accorded to entities of EU Member States.”11 Associated Countries are “non-EU countries that pay into the Horizon Europe budget to be treated equally to the EU Member States for the purposes of the programme.”12

Horizon Europe expanded its partnerships beyond the 27 member states of the EU, this includes:

Associated non-EU countries
StateJoinedNoteRef
 Albania1 July 2022[13]
 Armenia1 January 2021Agreement signed on 12 November 2021, retroactive to 1 January 2021.[13] [14]
 Bosnia and Herzegovina1 January 2021Agreement signed on 6 December 2021, retroactive to 1 January 2021.[13]
 Canada1 January 2024Associated to Pillar II only. Association agreement was signed on 3 July 2024, retroactive to 1 January 2024.[13][15]
 Faroe Islands1 June 2022[13]
 GeorgiaDecember 2021[13] [16]
 Iceland6 October 2021[13]
 IsraelDecember 2021[13] [17]
 KosovoDecember 2021[13]
 Moldova22 November 2021[13]
 MontenegroDecember 2021[13]
 New Zealand1 January 2023Associated to Pillar II only. Association agreement was signed on 9 July 2023, retroactive to 1 January 2023.[13] [18]
 North MacedoniaDecember 2021[13]
 Norway6 October 2021[13]
 Serbia1 January 2021Agreement signed on 6 December 2021, retroactive to 1 January 2021.[13]
 Tunisia1 January 2021Agreement signed on 29 March 2022, retroactive to 1 January 2021.[13]
 Turkey1 January 2021[13] [19]
 Ukraine1 January 2021The Agreement entered into force in June 2022, "associated third country" status was applied retroactively from 1 January 2021.[13] [20] [21]
 United Kingdom1 January 2024Associated to the entire programme, with the only exception of the EIC fund.[13] [22]
 South Korea1 January 2025The first Asian country that participate as an associated country in Horizon Europe.[23]
  • In August 2022, the United Kingdom launched formal dispute resolution proceedings over its access to the programme.13 In September 2023, the United Kingdom and European Union reached an agreement on the UK rejoining Horizon starting from 1 January 2024.14
  • Participants from non-associated non-EU countries, can participate in Horizon Europe actions, but not always with funding.15

In addition, the following countries are interested in exploring the concept of association to Horizon Europe:

StateNoteRef
JapanSides preparing for potential launch of formal negotiations.16
MoroccoNegotiations paused.15
SingaporeExpressed its interest to launch exploratory discussions.16
South KoreaNegotiations concluded on 25 March 2024. Anticipated join date of 1 January 2025.1718
SwitzerlandNegotiations ongoing.1519

Footnotes

  1. Kelly, Eanna (8 May 2018). “€100B? €86.6B? A Brussels puzzle: How big is the new research budget?“. Science Business. Retrieved 11 May 2018. ↩

  2. The European Commission. “Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions” (PDF). ↩

  3. “Blocking an increase in the research budget would put Europe on a ‘loser’s path’ | Science|Business”. sciencebusiness.net. Retrieved 11 May 2018. ↩ ↩2

  4. “EU Funds Simply Explained”. EU Funds. Retrieved 17 May 2021. ↩

  5. “EU Missions in Horizon Europe”. research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu. 29 November 2023.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0 license. ↩

  6. “What is Horizon Europe?”. ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 6 September 2023. ↩

  7. “What is the budget of Horizon Europe?“. EU Funds. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2023. ↩

  8. European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation. (4 May 2021). Horizon Europe, budget (PDF). Publications Office. doi:10.2777/202859. ISBN 978-92-76-31601-5. Retrieved 6 September 2023. ↩

  9. Brainard, Jeffrey (May 2018). “EU Budget May Rise by 50%“. Science. 360: 583 – via Direct Access. ↩

  10. Kelly, Éanna (24 April 2018). “EU officials pitch ‘Horizon Europe’ as name for next research programme”. Science Business. Retrieved 11 May 2018. ↩

  11. “Association to Horizon Europe - European Commission”. ↩

  12. “Associated Countries”. ↩

  13. “UK launches formal consultations with EU over access to scientific programmes”. GOV.UK. Retrieved 31 August 2022. ↩

  14. “EU-UK relations: Commission and UK reach political agreement on UK participation in Horizon Europe and Copernicus”. European Commission. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2024. ↩

  15. “List of Participating Countries in Horizon Europe” (PDF). 5 December 2023. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  16. “Associated Countries”. ↩ ↩2

  17. “Press corner”. European Commission - European Commission. Retrieved 26 March 2024. ↩

  18. “Korea concluded the negotiations for its association to Horizon Europe - Korea-EU Research Centre”. Retrieved 26 March 2024. ↩

  19. “European Commission: Updates on the association of third countries to Horizon Europe”. Retrieved 13 August 2024. ↩

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