Funded with €95.5 billion, Horizon Europe’s three pillars drive EU’s research and innovation initiatives.
It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth.
The programme facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges. It also supports creating and better dispersing of excellent knowledge and technologies.
It creates jobs, fully engages the EU’s talent pool, boosts economic development, promotes industrial competitiveness while also optimizing investment impact within a strengthened European Research Area.
Legal entities from the EU and associated countries can participate.
While
“The EIC Accelerator supports individual Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in particular Startups and spinout companies to develop and scaleup game-changing innovations. In some cases, small mid-caps (up to 500 employees) are supported.”
From the official Website:
Pillar I: Excellence Science
EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
European Research Council
Area of intervention: frontier science
Policy and strategy: The European Research Council, set up by the EU in 2007, is the premiere European funding organization for excellent frontier research.
It provides attractive and flexible funding to enable talented and creative individual researchers, with an emphasis on early-stage researchers, and their teams to pursue the most promising avenues at the frontier of science, on the basis of EU-wide competition based solely on the criterion of excellence.
ERC grantees have already made advances in new and emerging technological fields, including clean and digital technologies, as well as in many other areas targeted by the key strategic orientations of the Horizon Europe’s three pillars.
MARIE SKLODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Areas of intervention: supporting researchers in their training, skills and career development, fostering trans-national, cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility. Funding excellent doctoral as well as postdoctoral programmers, collaborative projects and promoting public outreach
Policy and strategy: the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are the EU flagship programme for doctoral and postdoctoral training, equipping researchers with new knowledge and skills through mobility across borders and exposure to different sectors and disciplines.
They enhance researchers’ training and career development systems, as well as institutional and national recruitment processes, in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the researchers recruitment.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fund the development of excellent doctoral and postdoctoral training programmes together with collaborative research projects. They achieve a structuring impact on higher education institutions, research centers as well as organizations way beyond academia by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality researcher education and training.
By doing so, they enhance the visibility and attractiveness of these organizations, not only across the European Research Area (ERA), but also worldwide.
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES
Research Infrastructures policy
Access to European Research Infrastructures
Areas of intervention: This involves consolidating and developing the European research infrastructure landscape, along with opening, integrating, and interconnecting research infrastructures. It also reinforces European research infrastructure policy and international cooperation, as well as consolidating and developing the innovation potential of these infrastructures for innovation and training.
Policy and strategy: Research infrastructures are facilities that provide resources and services for the research communities to conduct research and foster innovation in their fields.
These include:
Major equipment or sets of instruments
Knowledge-related facilities such as collections
Archives of scientific data infrastructures
Computing systems
Communication networks
Horizon Europe will endow Europe with world-class sustainable research infrastructures which are open and accessible to the best researchers from Europe and beyond.
It will also encourage the use of existing research infrastructures, including those financed from funds under the EU’s Cohesion Policy.
In so doing, enhancing the potential of the research infrastructures to support scientific advance and innovation, while enabling open and excellent science in accordance with the FAIR principles, alongside activities related to EU policies and international cooperation.
Research Infrastructures will also contribute to achieving the 4 key strategic orientations of the Horizon Europe’s three pillars.
Pillar II: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness Clusters
HEALTH
Research area: Health
Mission area: Cancer
Candidates for European Partnerships in this cluster
Areas of intervention: Promote health across life stages, address diseases, utilize digital solutions—enhancing well-being through innovation in healthcare, environment, and technology.
Policy and strategy: The aims of this cluster encompass improving and safeguarding citizens’ health and well-being through generating new knowledge, innovative solutions, and integrating a gender perspective where relevant. Overall, it aims to prevent, diagnose, monitor, treat, and cure diseases.
Develop health tech, mitigate risks, protect populations, promote well-being at workspaces while also fostering health, innovation, and safe environments.
Finally, this cluster also aims to make public health systems more cost-effective, equitable and sustainable, prevent and tackle poverty-related diseases, and support and enable patients’ participation and self-management.
The expected impacts of this cluster are contained in the Horizon Europe’s three pillars.
CULTURE, CREATIVITY AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETY
Research area: Social Sciences and Humanities
Areas of intervention: democracy, cultural heritage and social as well as economic transformations.
Policy and strategy: this cluster aims to strengthen European democratic values, including rule of law and fundamental rights, safeguarding our cultural heritage, while promoting socio-economic transformations that contribute to inclusion and growth.
The overall expected impacts of this cluster are contained in the Horizon Europe three pillars.
CIVIL SECURITY FOR SOCIETY
EU civil security research is one of the building blocks of the Security Union. Research in this cluster supports the following policies
fighting crime and terrorism (including organized crime and cybercrime)
border management (including customs security and maritime security)
cybersecurity (including security of network and information systems and certification)
disaster-resilient societies (including anti chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents; climate-related risks and extreme events; geological disasters, for instance as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis; pandemics)
Areas of intervention: disaster-resilient societies, protection and security and cybersecurity.
Policy and strategy: this cluster responds to the challenges arising from persistent security threats, including cybercrime, as well as natural and man-made disasters.
The expected impacts of this cluster are contained in the Horizon Europe strategic plan.
DIGITAL, INDUSTRY AND SPACE
Research area: Industrial research and innovation
Research area: Space
Candidates for European Partnerships in this cluster
Areas of intervention: manufacturing, quantum, AI, advanced materials, circular industries, low carbon, space since these key technologies drive innovation in Europe.
Policy and strategy: Cluster 4 envisions Europe’s global technology leadership, sustainable industry growth, and societal benefits while aligning with planetary boundaries.
This will build a competitive, digital, low-carbon and circular industry, ensure sustainable supply of raw materials, develop advanced materials as well as provide the basis for advances and innovation in global challenges to society.
The expected impacts of this cluster are contained in the Horizon Europe’s three pillars.
CLIMATE, ENERGY AND MOBILITY
Research area: Climate action
Research area: Energy
Research area: Transport
Mission area: Adaptation to climate change including societal transformation
Mission area: Climate-neutral and smart cities
Candidates for European Partnerships in this cluster
Areas of intervention: climate science and solutions, energy supply, energy systems as well as grids, buildings and industrial facilities in energy transition, communities and cities. It also includes industrial competitiveness in transport, clean, safe and accessible transport and mobility, smart mobility, energy storage.
Policy and strategy: this cluster aims to fight climate change by better understanding its causes, evolution, risks, impacts and opportunities. Furthermore, by making the energy and transport sectors more climate and environment-friendly, more efficient and competitive, smarter, safer and more resilient.
The expected impacts of this cluster are contained in the Horizon Europe’s three pillars.
FOOD, BIOECONOMY, NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT
Research area: Environment
Research area: Biodiversity
Research area: Environmental observation
Research area: Agriculture, forestry and rural areas
Research area: Oceans and seas
Research area: Food systems
Mission area: Adaptation to climate change including societal transformation
Mission area: Healthy oceans, seas and inland waters
Mission area: Soil health and food
Candidates for European Partnerships in this cluster
Areas of intervention: environmental observation, biodiversity and natural resources, agriculture, forestry and rural areas, seas, oceans and inland waters. Furthermore, it will also intervene in food systems, bio-based innovation systems in the EU’s bioeconomy and circular systems.
Policy and strategy: this cluster aims at reducing environmental degradation, halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity on land, inland waters and sea and better managing natural resources through transformative changes of the economy and society in both urban and rural areas.
Ensure food security, innovate in agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, and food systems while also encouraging transition to a sustainable circular economy, including forestry.
Research and innovation activities under cluster 6 will contribute to the objectives of the European Green Deal related to the Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, the Farm to Fork strategy, the European Climate Pact and initiatives under sustainable industry and eliminating pollution, as well as the long-term vision for rural areas, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The expected impacts of this cluster are contained in the Horizon Europe’s three pillars.
NON- NUCLEAR DIRECT ACTIONS OF THE JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE
Areas of intervention: policy making knowledge base; health; culture, creativity; digital, industry; climate, energy; innovation, competitiveness; scientific excellence; EU regions.
Policy and strategy: The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission’s science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to EU policy.
The aim of this area of Horizon Europe is to generate high-quality scientific evidence for good public policies.
New initiatives and proposals for EU legislation need transparent, comprehensive and balanced evidence, whereas implementation of policies needs evidence to measure and monitor progress.
The JRC will provide EU policies with independent scientific evidence and technical support throughout the policy cycle. Overall, the JRC focuses its research on EU policy priorities.
The work programme for this area will support a number of the orientations defined in the Horizon Europe strategic plan.
Pillar III: Innovative Europe
EUROPEAN INNOVATION COUNCIL
Areas of intervention
Pathfinder funding: for advanced research, supporting early-stage development of future and emerging breakthrough, market-creating as well as deep tech technologies;
Transition funding: to help researchers and innovators develop the pathway to commercial development for promising research results;
Accelerator funding: to support individual SMEs, startups, and small mid-caps, effectively bridging the financing gap between research and market take-up. As a result, it enables breakthrough innovation and scale-up in underserved markets;
Additional activities such as prizes and fellowships, and business added-value services.
Policy and Strategy: the European Innovation Council (EIC) promotes breakthrough innovation with scale-up potential at the global level.
It focuses mainly on breakthrough, deep-tech and disruptive innovation, targeting especially market-creating innovation.
The EIC also supports strategic technology and innovation challenges which will take into account the priorities of the Horizon Europe strategic plan.
EUROPEAN INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
Areas of intervention
Builds interconnected, inclusive innovation ecosystems across Europe, harnessing existing strengths while incorporating new actors, territories, and collective ambitions.;
Reinforces network connectivity within and between innovation ecosystems to accelerate sustainable business growth with high societal value;
Supports the European Partnership for Innovative SMEs (Eurostars 3);
Complements the European Regional Development Fund support for innovation ecosystems as well as interregional partnerships around smart specialization topics.
Policy and strategy: European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) will act in complement and synergy with the European Innovation Council (EIC) and European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and innovative activities across Horizon Europe and other EU funding programmes to improve the overall ecosystem for innovation in Europe.
Overall, the EU aims to create more connected and efficient innovation ecosystems to support the scaling of companies, encourage innovation and stimulate cooperation among national, regional and local innovation actors.
It will contribute to all 4 key strategic orientations of the Horizon Europe strategic plan.
EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Areas of intervention
Strengthening sustainable innovation ecosystems across Europe
Fostering the development of entrepreneurial and innovation skills in a lifelong learning perspective as well as support the entrepreneurial transformation of EU universities
Bringing new solutions to global societal challenges to the market
Creating synergies and added-value within Horizon Europe
Policy and strategy: the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is an independent EU body. It increases Europe’s ability to innovate by nurturing entrepreneurial talent and supporting new ideas.
The EIT will also contribute to achieving the 4 key strategic orientations in the Horizon Europe strategic plan.
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