Horizon Europe is the EU's framework programme for research and innovation (R&I) for the period 2021-2027, following on from Horizon 2020.
The EU institutions reached a political agreement on Horizon Europe on 11 December 2020 and set the budget for Horizon Europe at €95.5 billion, including €5.4 billion from the Next Generation EU initiative, intending to boost the EU's recovery and strengthen its resilience for the future.
Launched on 2 February 2021, during the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Horizon Europe is based on and targets the following, solely with regard to its application in civil society:
_ Pillar I: Excellent science - boosting the EU's global scientific competitiveness
_ Pillar II: Global challenges & European industrial competitiveness - supporting research relating to societal challenges and strengthening technological and industrial capacities through clusters, underpinning EU policies and the Sustainable Development Goals
_ Pilar III: Innovative Europe - placing Europe at the forefront of market-generating innovation
_ Broadening participation and strengthening the European Research Area (ERA) - increasing support for Member States in their national research efforts and in optimising their innovation potential.
To implement the programme, the first Horizon Europe Strategic Plan (2021-2024) was adopted on 15 March 2021, setting out the main strategic guidelines for directing R&I investments in the first four years. This ensures that EU research and innovation actions contribute to the Union's priorities - a green and climate-neutral Europe, a Europe prepared for the digital age and an economy at the service of people.
This plan also identifies co-funded and co-programmed European partnerships, as well as EU missions that should be supported as part of Horizon Europe.
The partnerships cover critical areas - energy, transport, biodiversity, health, food, and circularity - and complement the ten institutionalised European partnerships proposed by the Commission in February.
EU missions aim to tackle global issues that affect our daily lives, setting complex societal goals with an undeniable importance - fighting cancer, adapting to climate change, protecting our oceans, living in greener cities, and ensuring soil health and food.
