On Thursday 11 December, the European Commission adopted the Horizon Europe work programme for 2026-2027. The EU and the countries associated with Horizon Europe will invest more than €14 billion in research and innovation, according to the Commission.
The focus will be on the EU’s urgent priorities, such as the Clean Industrial Deal, advances in AI or the EU’s transition to a circular economy.
The programme introduces a novelty: horizontal and thematic calls for projects to promote decarbonisation and the use of AI in research. It is also extending the ‘Choose Europe’ initiative to attract foreign researchers.
One of these calls, ‘R&I in support of the Clean Industrial Deal’, allocates €540 million to accelerate the market deployment of cutting-edge clean technologies and decarbonised industry solutions.
The €90 million ‘AI in Science’ call for projects supports trustworthy AI applications in sectors such as advanced materials, agriculture and health.
The ‘Choose Europe’ initiative is allocating €50 million to the ‘Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions’ for long-term fellowships, postdoctoral stability and mobility grants.
Major simplification measures will also reduce administrative constraints and facilitate participation. The work programme favours a smaller number of projects, but on a larger scale; it provides for lump sum funding for half of the calls for projects, less prescriptive topic descriptions or themes adapted to new players and SMEs.
Link to the work programme: https://aeur.eu/f/jxx (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)