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Horizon Europe and Widening

Horizon Europe is the European Union’s flagship research and innovation programme for 2021–2027. Building on the achievements of Horizon 2020, it seeks to reinforce Europe’s scientific and technological foundations, stimulate innovation, and respond to major global challenges. With a budget of around €95.5 billion, it funds frontier research, breakthrough technologies and cross-border collaboration in areas ranging from health and digital technologies to climate action and sustainable development.

The programme 2021-2027 is organised around three pillars — Excellent Science, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, and Innovative Europe — alongside dedicated actions to widen participation and deepen the European Research Area. By combining scientific excellence with real-world application, it supports solutions that strengthen sustainable growth, social inclusion and Europe’s long-term competitiveness.

In its current phase (2025–2027), the programme’s strategic framework further sharpens this ambition by prioritising three overarching transitions: the move toward climate neutrality and environmental sustainability, the acceleration of digital transformation, and the reinforcement of a more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe. These orientations guide funding decisions in the final years of the programme, aligning research and innovation investments with broader European policy goals while addressing issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss and demographic shifts.

A critical part of Horizon Europe is its Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence component. This initiative is designed to reduce the innovation gap, focusing particularly on those regions with lower research and innovation performance – including the associated countries. The Widening participation aims to promote inclusivity and ensure that all EU regions benefit equally from the opportunities Horizon Europe offers.

Horizon Europe achieves this through various funding schemes, such as Teaming, Twinning and the Excellence Hubs. These programmes are designed to strengthen collaboration, provide mentoring and support, and facilitate joint research activities between institutions in less R&I-intensive regions and top-performing organisations from across Europe.

Looking beyond 2027, on 16 July 2025 the European Commission presented its proposal for the next research and innovation framework programme (2028–2034), with a proposed budget of €175 billion. The initiative aims to further enhance Europe’s productivity and global competitiveness while improving citizens’ well-being. Interinstitutional negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission will now shape the final agreement. The future programme is expected to enable ambitious, science-driven “moonshot” projects in strategic domains such as clean aviation, the space economy and next-generation artificial intelligence, positioning Europe at the forefront of transformative innovation.

Browse below our resources, in particular news, events, calls and documents about Horizon Europe and in particular the Widening aspect.

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