Horizon Europe
Horizon Europe, is the new Framework Programme from the European Commission. It will run from 2021-2027, with a total budget of €95.5 billion. All Horizon Europe work programmes for 2023-2024 have now been published and Catalyze has gathered all the essential information on this page.
Special Work Programme adopted for 2023-2024
For 2023-2024 a special Horizon Europe work programme has been adopted by the European Commission, as part of the broader seven-year Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
With a budget of around €13.5 billion earmarked for research and innovation (R&I), this programme will contribute to the EU reaching its climate goals, increasing energy resilience, and developing core technologies.
It will thus enable researchers and innovators in Europe to pursue breakthrough solutions for the big environmental, energy, digital and geopolitical challenges facing our economies and societies today.
Page contents:
- Horizon Europe Structure
- Pillar 1: Excellent Science
- Pillar 2: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
- Pillar 3: Innovative Europe
- Horizontal Focus: Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area
- Horizon Europe Missions: Mission-driven Research
- Horizon Europe FAQs
- About Horizon Europe Blind Evaluation
- Download the Horizon Europe guide
- Key European Commission Horizon Europe Work Programme pages
The structure of Horizon Europe
The preliminary structure of the new programme is divided over 3 Pillars and 1 Horizontal Focus area:
Pillar 1: Excellent Science
Aiming to improve and enable excellent scientific research in Europe.
Components of this programme include:
European Research Council:
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- Funding frontier research designed and driven by the best researchers in Europe. The 2024 ERC work programme is now open. The deadlines for 2024 have been announced.
- Total budget, 2024: €2.19 billion
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Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions:
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- Funding fellowships and mobility of researchers. Deadlines for the MSCA programme in 2024 have been published.
- Total budget, 2024: €902M
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Research Infrastructures:
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- Funding new world-class research infrastructures.
- Total budget, 2024: €336.9M
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Pillar 2: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Focusing on funding research addressing societal challenges, reinforcing technological and industrial capacities. Furthermore, this pillar aims to set and reach European goals concerning the biggest challenges (climate change, health clean energy and digital). Within this pillar partnerships of European countries, industry and stakeholders will be funded to perform joint R&D activities.
Clusters of Pillar 2:
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Health.
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- Total budget: 2024: €521.2M
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Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society
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- Total budget: 2024: € 260.15M
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Civil security for society
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- Total budget: 2024: € 161.49M
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Digital, Industry and Space
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- Total budget: 2024: € 1118M
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Climate, Energy and Mobility
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- Total budget: 2024: € 1114.88M
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Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
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- Total budget: 2024: €903.9M
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- Joint Research Centre: supporting policymakers, both European and national, with independent scientific evidence and support.
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Pillar 3: Innovative Europe aims to improve SME growth and the European innovation landscape.
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European Innovation Council (EIC):
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- Focus on market-creating innovation and SME growth. The EIC 2023 work programme has been published, and includes the EIC Pathfinder, EIC Transition and EIC Accelerator.
- Total budget for 2024: €1.2B
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European Innovation Ecosystems:
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- Connecting with regional and national innovation actors.
- Total budget for 2023: €78M
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European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
- Focusing on integrating research, higher education, business and entrepreneurship.
- Budget: €3B 2021-2027
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Horizontal focus: Widening Participation and strengthening the European research area
The horizontal pillar will place focus on Widening Participation throughout the entire Horizon Europe programme and across the entire continent, particularly improving the participation of low R&I performing Member States in Horizon Europe. This pillar is expected to include programmes like: Teaming, Twinning, Cost and ERA Chairs.
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- Total budget for 2024: €455.40M
- Deadlines: refer to, Horizon Europe WP 11 Widening Participation and strengthening the European research area 2023, for full list of deadlines.
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Horizon Europe Missions: Mission-driven Research
The Horizon Europe programme also aims to implement mission-driven research focusing on five different missions across five mission areas. A mission is a set of actions across multiple disciplines with the aim of reaching a bold and inspirational goal with high impact on society, within a pre-set timeframe. It is expected that these missions will be addressed within the Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness pillar.
Below we present the five mission-areas with the proposed Horizon Europe missions:
Mission Area: Cancer
Proposed Mission: ‘Conquering Cancer: Mission Possible’
About this mission: Through specific complimentary actions, the EU aims to save over 3 million lives and ensure that more people live longer and better by 2030. To reach this ambitious target, the EU has identified five areas of action under the Conquering Cancer: Mission Possible mission.
Deadline: 12 April 2023 (expired)
Total budget: €110M
Mission Area: Climate-neutral and smart cities
Proposed Mission: ‘100 Climate-neutral Cities by 2030 – by and for the Citizens’
About this mission: With the Mission ‘Green Cities’, the European Commission aims to exploit the cities’ access to capital, know-hows, and economies of scale for the development to pilot and scale up green innovations. 100 European cities will be selected and supported in their transformation towards complete climate neutrality by 2030.
Proposal deadlines: 27 April 2023, 6 September 2023 (expired)
Total budget: €75M
Mission Area: Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters
Proposed Mission: ‘Mission Starfish 2030: Restore our Ocean and Waters’
About this mission: With Mission Starfish 2030, the European Commission (EC) targets the most imminent threats to healthy oceans and waters: an unsustainable human footprint; climate change; lack of understanding, connection, and investment; and inadequate governance. Five objectives are defined, each with their own concrete and measurable targets set for 2030, and associated checkpoints for 2025.
Proposal deadline: 20 September 2023 (expired)
Total budget: €87M
Mission Area: Soil health and food
Proposed Mission: ‘Caring for Soil is Caring for Life’
About this mission: The proposed mission aims to give recognition to the soil as an invaluable resource, and put Europe on a trajectory towards sustainable land and soil management, as part of a wider, green transition. The aim is that by 2030, at least 75% of soils in each EU Member State will be healthy, or show a significant improvement towards meeting accepted thresholds of indicators, to support ecosystem services.
Proposal deadline: 20 September 2023 (expired)
Total budget: €126M
Mission Area: Adaptation to climate change including societal transformation
Proposed Mission: ‘A Climate Resilient Europe’
About this mission: The proposed mission aims to turn the urgent challenge of adapting to climate change into an opportunity to make Europe resilient, climate-prepared and fair. By 2030, the Mission will: 1. Prepare Europe to deal with climate disruptions; 2. Accelerate the transformation to a climate-resilient future; 3. Build deep resilience by scaling up actionable solutions triggering societal transformations.
Proposal deadline: 20 September 2023 (expired)
Total budget: €82M
Learn more about all of the Horizon Europe mission-areas below:
- Adaptation to climate change including societal transformation
- Cancer
- Climate-neutral and smart cities
- Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters
- Soil health and food
Horizon Europe FAQs
When are the next deadlines for Horizon Europe?
Deadlines in Horizon Europe vary between each pillar and sub-programme. All deadlines for the 2024 Horizon Europe Work Programme have now been published, such as across the Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness Pillar. Certain sub-programmes have published tentative deadlines for 2024, but all deadlines are now confirmed.
What is the budget for Horizon Europe?
The total budget for Horizon Europe, which runs from 2021-2027, is €95.5 billion. This is divided over 3 pillars and 1 horizontal focus area.
How can you prepare a successful proposal to Horizon Europe?
Writing a successful proposal to Horizon Europe starts with identifying the correct call. You must ensure you thoroughly understand the criteria of the call, including eligibility criteria and financial considerations. Key information to consider for each call is the Expected impact, Scope, and Type of Call. Next you need to build a strong, complimentary consortium – a winning team of partners. Next, you need to prepare a high-quality proposal, making it clear to the reviewer how your project is an ideal match to the scope of the given subsidy.
To gain a greater level of insight into preparing a winning Horizon Europe proposal, download our free Horizon Europe application guide. Our consultants have an excellent track record in support our clients towards Horizon Europe success.
How should you approach the Blind Evaluation process in Horizon Europe Stage 1 applications?
Our Horizon Europe experts have shared their 3 top tips to navigate the new Horizon Europe blind evaluation. These are: 1) Be extra vigilant in specific high risk sections; 2) Include an additional review by an external person in your process; 3) Maintain the richness of your value proposition.
Read the full Insights article on the Blind Evaluation Pilot
Download our 2024 Horizon Europe Guide
There’s a lot to take into consideration when applying for Horizon Europe funding: budget, consortium partners, application processes, activities, and specific conditions. Our Horizon Europe Guide gives you insights on how to write an appealing proposal, gives all the success criteria and maximizes your chances of getting funded.
Download our free guide
The European Commission has published all Horizon Europe work programmes in full. You can access the full list of EC publications for each work programme here.
Looking for funding?
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Wouter Nuytinck
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