On 16 July, the European Commission presented its proposal for the new Horizon Europe programme equipped with a EUR 175 billion budget. Although this budget represents an 83% nominal increase over 2021‑2027 levels, it falls behind the target of EUR 220 billion recommended by the high-level expert group headed by Manuel Heitor (for more details, see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, October 2024). 

While Horizon Europe remains a standalone Framework Programme, it is placed under the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and will therefore be closely aligned with EU policy goals in digital leadership, clean transition, defence technologies, and global competitiveness. The programme continues to use a four-pillar structure, each receiving significant reinvestments: 

• Pillar I – Excellent Science (EUR 44 billion, including substantial funding for the ERC and MSCA, with projected increases of ~76% and ~79%).  
• Pillar II – Global Challenges & Competitiveness (EUR 76 billion), focused on EU missions, the New European Bauhaus, and strategic areas like clean energy, biotech, digital, and space. 
• Pillar III – Innovation (EUR 39 billion): supported through the European Innovation Council (EIC), with a ~243% boost for high-risk, deep-tech and scale-up investment support. 
• Pillar IV – European Research Area (EUR 16 billion), with a massive ~379% increase to support infrastructure, widening participation, and pan-European research ecosystem building. 

Horizon Europe is explicitly designed to fund moonshot projects—ambitious initiatives aimed at transformative outcomes in areas like quantum computing, fusion energy, clean aviation, autonomous mobility, regenerative medicine, and space economy. These efforts will be coordinated with private capital and the ECF for deployment at scale. The ECF will be jointly managed by the European Commission directorates responsible for research (DG RTD) and for industrial policy (DG GROW), reflecting the close connection intended between the ECF and the Horizon Europe research programme.  

In their first reactions, European research and innovation stakeholders broadly welcomed the proposed doubling of the Horizon Europe budget while expressing concerns over its proposed alignment with the ECF, including shared governance and a single rulebook (e.g. EUA). Stakeholders particularly worry that embedding Horizon within the larger European Competitiveness Fund could prioritize industry-driven research agendas over investigator-led science and basic research. Furthermore, some concerns have been raised around proposed changes to the European Research Council’s structure, which may weaken its independence and reduce its influence within the broader funding system.  

The first stakeholder-led discussions of the Commission’s proposal for the new Horizon Europe programme will take place after the summer break (see Events for more details).