European Commission adds €500 M to Horizon Europe budget

The European Commission has added €500 million to the Horizon Europe budget for 2026 and 2027, bringing planned funding for the European Union’s research and innovation programme to around €14.8 billion over its final two years. The budget increase will be accompanied by an expansion of the work programme, with two new cross-cutting calls focusing on biodiversity, advanced technologies and links between research and investment.

Towards a nature-positive economy and society

The first of these calls, Transformative change towards a nature-positive economy and society, has a budget of €237 million and will fund 11 research and innovation actions related to the transition towards an economy and society with a positive impact on nature. Among other areas, the initiative will address the impacts and benefits for biodiversity of industries linked to the green and digital transitions. It will also contribute to the target of allocating 10% of expenditure to biodiversity, as set out in the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027.

The projects will be linked to different EU policies covering oceans, nature restoration, industry, water and wildfire prevention. The Commission links this funding to initiatives including the European Ocean Pact, EU Ocean Eye, the Nature Restoration Regulation, the Clean Industrial Deal and the European Water Resilience Strategy.

Bridging actions

The second call, Bridging actions 2027, will have a budget of €260 million and will serve as a transition towards the next programming period for EU research and innovation policy, covering 2028-2034, as well as its links with the future European Competitiveness Fund. The approach introduces what the Commission calls the innovation to investment journey, a mechanism designed to connect research results with their subsequent deployment in the market.

The call will fund 16 actions focusing on technologies with potential for commercial application. Areas covered include an AI-based European media platform, conceived as a modular, multilingual infrastructure for public-interest news and audiovisual media. It also includes initiatives related to autonomous driving in cities, research and technology infrastructures, and new instruments to facilitate the scaling up of projects linked to the New European Bauhaus (NEB).

The amended work programme also provides funding for the NEB Academy, including the upskilling and reskilling of workers in the construction sector. This measure forms part of the European Commission’s initiatives relating to the NEB and its links with EU industrial policies.

Horizon Europe since 2021

The budget announcement coincides with the publication of two monitoring reports on Horizon Europe. The first states that the programme, launched in 2021, has so far allocated €61 billion in grants and a further €1.3 billion in equity investments to nearly 23,000 projects. More than 34,000 organisations are involved in these projects, including around 20,000 companies. Universities and research centres account for the largest share of funding, while the private sector has received more than €11 billion.

The funded projects have produced more than 32,300 peer-reviewed publications, according to data compiled by the Commission, with most available through open access. Horizon Europe also funds activities involving more than 151,000 early-career researchers, including PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers.

More than half are new participants

A second report examines the involvement of organisations that had not previously participated in EU research and innovation programmes. According to its findings, 55% of Horizon Europe beneficiaries are new participants, and around two-thirds of them are businesses. At the same time, the report identifies differences in the continuity of participation: while organisations with previous experience tend to receive funding for several projects, the average newcomer participates in only one.

Horizon Europe has an overall budget of €93.5 billion for the 2021-2027 period and is the successor to Horizon 2020. Its work programme for 2026 and 2027 was adopted on 11th December 2025 and is based on the Strategic Plan 2025-2027, adopted in March 2024, which sets the programme’s key strategic orientations and priorities.