Commission invests €14 billion through Horizon Europe to boost global research and innovation leadership

On December 11, the European Commission adopted the main Horizon Europe work programme for 2026-2027, a €14 billion investment designed to drive research and innovation (R&I) across the EU’s strategic goals. These goals include achieving climate neutrality, boosting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and innovation, and ensuring resilience in a rapidly changing world.

To achieve this, the programme introduces new cross-disciplinary calls and topics that will boost decarbonisation and the use of AI in research. It also expands the ‘Choose Europe’ initiative to attract global talent and makes applying for Horizon Europe funding and participation simpler.

New approach to tackling cross-cutting challenges

A major novelty of the work programme 2026-2027 are horizontal calls, which address cross-cutting challenges across different research and innovation areas.

One such call, R&I in support of the Clean Industrial Deal, allocates €540 million to accelerate the market deployment of cutting-edge clean technologies and decarbonised industry solutions. It adopts a bottom-up, industry-led approach, focusing on decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries and clean technologies for climate action. The call on AI in science, with a budget of €90 million, supports trustworthy AI applications in sectors such as advanced materials, agriculture and healthcare.  It contributes to the Resource for AI Science in Europe initiative, aligns with Europe’s digital transition goals and strengthens the continent’s leadership in safe, ethical AI development.

In addition to the new horizontal calls, the New European Bauhaus Facility will contribute to addressing cross-cutting challenges. It will allocate over €210 million in 2026-2027 to revitalise neighbourhoods through design for sustainability and inclusion.

Attracting and supporting talent

The Choose Europe initiative, designed to attract global talent, is a key feature of this work programme. It allocates €50 million to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions for long-term fellowships, postdoctoral stability and relocation incentives, ensuring researchers can pursue impactful careers in Europe. The programme invests €50 million in Research Infrastructures to improve transnational access and training, while the European Research Area Chairs component provides €240 million to attract top scientists to underperforming regions. The European Innovation Ecosystems part supports startups and scaleups through initiatives like the European Startup and Scaleup Hubs, which create a transnational network of innovation hubs rooted in research and higher education systems. This work programme will also ensure continued access to critical research infrastructure and data.

Simpler and more accessible work programme

Responding to feedback from the research and innovation community, major simplification measures will reduce administrative burden on applicants and facilitate participation. The work programme is less prescriptive and 33% shorter than the 2023–2024 edition. It focuses on fewer, larger projects to maximise impact.

Key simplification measures include lump-sum funding for half of the call budget, which reduces administrative burden for participants. The programme features newcomer-friendly and small and medium-sized enterprises-focused topics to lower barriers for new applicants and small enterprises. Additionally, 41 call topics will use a two-stage evaluation process, allowing applicants to submit a short proposal first, with full proposals requested only if successful. This approach, combined with anonymised evaluations in certain cases and streamlined proposal templates, aims to reduce bias and shorten the time to grant.

Background

Horizon Europe is the EU’s €93.5 billion research and innovation programme running from 2021 to 2027. Most funding is allocated through competitive calls for proposals, set out in work programmes, which outline the objectives and specific topic areas. The work programme also includes rules such as the standard admissibility conditions and eligibility, selection and award criteria.

The Horizon Europe work programme 2026-2027 is based on Horizon Europe’s strategic plan 2025-2027, adopted in March 2024, co-created by Commission services and co-designed with Member States, countries associated to Horizon Europe, the European Parliament and more than 2000 stakeholders and citizens. This is the last work programme in the programming period 2021-2027.

For more information: European Commission