Horizon Europe - the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation

Together. Global. Excellent.
TU Dresden goes Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe - launched in 2021 as the ninth EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation and even more extensive than Horizon 2020. It has a total budget of almost 95.5 billion euros and runs for seven years from 2021 to 2027. Horizon Europe is the world's largest research and innovation program. The central goal of the program is to drive the European Research Area and support collaborative research to address global societal challenges, such as those in the areas of health, climate, energy and mobility, where citizens are to be more closely involved.

More information in the following video:

Funding lines

Horizon Europe is divided into three pillars:

"Excellent Sciene"
- European Research Council
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Innovative Europe

In addition, there are the cross-sectional areas of “Widening Participation” and “Strengthening the European Research Area”.

Like the previous program, Horizon Europe will be of great importance for the research landscape in Germany and thus also for TU Dresden. Many researchers - teams and individuals - as well as other actors from the field of innovation will be able to benefit from the attractive funding opportunities. The different calls for proposals will be both bottom-up and top-down and will address projects of the entire innovation chain - from basic/frontier research to market launch.

Many funding lines from Horizon 2020 will be continued (e. g. ERC grants, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, collaborative research on societal challenges and industrial technologies and processes, European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)).

In addition, there will be some novelties, for the first time, the new EU framework program for research and innovation includes so-called missions as a new funding policy instrument. These will be located in funding pillar 2. The research and innovation missions aim to develop solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges. They are interdisciplinary and should be implemented across several clusters.

The following mission areas, have been defined:

• Adaptation to climate change including social transformation

• Cancer

• Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters

• Climate-neutral and smart cities and

• Soil health and food

Furthermore a number of European Partnerships, new and continuing ones, will encourage wide participation of partners from public and private sectors in areas such as energy, transport, biodiversity, health, food and circularity.

For further service and support for your project ideas and application, please contact the European Project Center (EPC) at TU Dresden.

Terms of Funding

Participation to Horizon Europe is open to different types of organizations and individuals from the European Union Member States, countries associated to the program and the world.

In collaborative research projects, at least three independent legal entities from three different member states or associated countries must participate. In other parts of the program such as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions or the ERC, for example, one legal entity is sufficient as a prerequisite for participation.

The conditions for reimbursement will be: 100% (direct costs) plus 25 % overhead.

There will be special rules for industrial partners in Innovation Actions, and for programs based on lump sums or flat rates.

Official website

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en

Work Programme and Call Documents 2021 - 2027

In this box you will find the core documents for the current work programmes 2025, managed on the EU Funding & Tenders portal. The most recent drafts for 2026–2027 are accessible via the EU Comitology Register. Note: Calls for proposals may still change in topics, deadlines, and budgets.

Additionally, you will find an overview of all current and announced calls for proposals for the 2025–2027 work programmes (login-protected). All documents are available only in English.

Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025

Pillar 1: Excellence Science

Pillar 2: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness (Clusters) and Missions