Fact Sheets on the European Union
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Policy for research and technological development

EU policy for research and technological development (RTD) has been an important area of European legislation since the start, and was extended in the 1980s with a European framework programme for research. In 2014, most EU research funding came under the umbrella of Horizon 2020, which covered the period 2014-2020 and aimed at ensuring the EU’s global competitiveness. Its successor Horizon Europe, the current EU research and innovation programme, was launched in 2021 for the period 2021-2027.

Legal basis

Articles 179 to 190 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

Objectives

The aim of the EU’s RTD policy is to boost the global competitiveness of EU industry. Article 179 of the TFEU states that ‘the Union shall have the objective of strengthening its scientific and technological bases by achieving a European research area in which researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate freely’.

Achievements

A. Research framework programmes

The first framework programme (FP) was established in 1983 and over the subsequent decades, successive FPs have provided financial support for the implementation of EU research and innovation (R&I) policies. Their objective has evolved from supporting cross-border collaboration in research and technology to encouraging truly European coordination of activities and policies. Today, Horizon Europe, the ninth FP, running from 2021 to 2027, is the biggest and most ambitious so far, with a budget of over EUR 93 billion. In addition, cohesion policy and other EU programmes offer research-related opportunities, among them the European Structural and Investment funds, Erasmus+, the LIFE programme, the Connecting Europe Facility and the EU’s health programmes.

B. (International) coordination and collaboration

The European Research Area Net (ERA-NET) scheme was launched in 2002 to support coordination and collaboration between national and regional research programmes, as well as programmes carried out in the Member States and associated countries through networking, joint activities and the ‘mutual opening’ of programmes. In this same spirit, the EU has been funding COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), designed to help the creation of research networks for collaboration among scientists across Europe (and internationally).

Horizon Europe is the key tool for Europe’s 2021 global approach to research and innovation, which aims to support an R&I environment based on rules and values, and to ensure reciprocity and a level playing field across all areas of cooperation. As part of the global approach and in order to enhance research security in a transformed international context, in 2022, the Commission published a toolkit for tackling foreign interference in R&I. In May 2024, the Council adopted a recommendation on enhancing research security for the Member States to address research security in coordination on issues such as undesirable transfer of knowledge, foreign interference and ethical or integrity violations.

C. European Institute of Innovation and Technology

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) was created in 2008 with a view to stimulating and delivering world-leading innovation through the creation of highly integrated Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). The KICs bring together higher education, research, business and investors, public and non-profit organisations in order to produce new innovation models that can inspire others to follow suit.

Participation

A typical EU-funded project involves legal entities, i.e. universities, research centres, businesses (including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)), and individual researchers from several Member States and from associated and non-EU countries. The EU has several means at its disposal to achieve its R&I objectives within specific programmes:

  • Direct actions carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and entirely financed by the EU;
  • Indirect actions, which may be: (i) collaborative research projects carried out by consortia of legal entities in Member States and associated and non-EU countries; (ii) networks of excellence – a joint programme of activities implemented by a number of research organisations, integrating their activities in a given field; (iii) coordination and support actions; (iv) individual projects (support for ‘frontier’ research); or (v) support for the training and career development of researchers, mainly for the implementation of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA).

The Horizon 2020 programme

Lasting from 2014 to 2020, Horizon 2020 was the first EU programme to integrate R&I, with strengthened support for public-private partnerships (PPPs), innovative SMEs and the use of financial instruments. By introducing a single set of rules, Horizon 2020 simplified matters significantly and addressed challenges in society by helping to bridge the gap between research and the market, for example by helping innovative enterprises to develop their technological breakthroughs into viable products with real commercial potential. Attention was paid to broadening the participation of newer Member States and non-EU countries in EU programmes.

With a budget of EUR 74.8 billion (cut in 2015 from the initial EUR 77 billion), Horizon 2020 was focused on three main pillars:

  • Excellent science: supporting the EU’s position as a world leader in science, including increased funding for the European Research Council (ERC);
  • Industrial leadership: investments in key technologies and innovation;
  • Societal challenges:

To encourage SMEs to get involved, the Commission had a dedicated financial instrument providing grants for research and development and assisting with commercialisation, through access to equity (finance for early and growth-stage investment) and debt facilities (e.g. loans and guarantees).

The Horizon Europe programme

A. Horizon Europe 2021-2027

Horizon Europe is boosting the EU’s competitiveness and helping it to deliver on its strategic priorities, which are divided across three pillars.

  • Excellent Science: The continuation of the Horizon 2020 excellent science pillar, covering the ERC, MSCA and research infrastructure.
  • Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness: implements EU-wide research-driven missions to tackle specific societal challenges:
  • Innovative Europe: aims at making Europe a frontrunner in market-creating innovations, developing an innovation ecosystem and strengthening the EIT to foster the integration of business, research, higher education and entrepreneurship.

After the midterm revision of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, which saw adaptations regarding aid to Ukraine and an increase in the European Defence Fund and the creation of a Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’), the Horizon Europe budget was decreased from the initial sum of EUR 95.5 billion to EUR 93.4 billion as of 2025.

The second strategic plan for Horizon Europe, the 2025-2027 strategic plan, adopted in March 2024, sets three key topics to be the focus of the programme: 1) green transition, 2) digital transition; and 3) a more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe. In addition, general principles such as open strategic autonomy and securing Europe’s leading role in developing and deploying critical technologies guide investments in all three areas.

B. Participation of non-EU countries in Horizon Europe

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement reached by the EU and the United Kingdom explicitly gives the UK access to five EU funding programmes, including Horizon Europe[1]. The UK will pay for ‘Associate Country’ status, which was granted to the 16 non-EU countries formerly associated with Horizon 2020. The UK’s association with Horizon Europe was suspended in 2021 while negotiations continued over the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol. A political agreement was reached in September 2023 allowing researchers and organisations in the UK access to Horizon Europe funding as of 1 January 2024.

In the wider framework of bilateral relations between the EU and Switzerland, in December 2024, negotiations were concluded on Switzerland’s participation in Horizon Europe, with the option for Swiss entities to already apply for the European Research Council calls opening in 2024 and be treated as if from an associated country in the process until grant agreements are prepared. The final signature of the Association Agreement is expected in 2025.

The latest association agreements were concluded with Canada (in July 2024) and with the Republic of Korea (Transitional Agreement in January 2025). Recently, negotiations with other potential Horizon Europe associated countries were launched – with Egypt in October 2024 and with Japan in November 2024.

Role of the European Parliament

For more than 20 years, Parliament has been calling for an increasingly ambitious EU R&I policy and a substantial increase in total research spending in the Member States to maintain and strengthen the EU’s international competitiveness. Parliament has also advocated more collaboration with non-EU partners, the close integration of activities between the Structural Funds and the FPs, and a targeted approach to optimise the involvement of SMEs and facilitate the participation of promising weaker actors. Parliament has furthermore insisted on simplifying procedures and building more flexibility into FPs to make it possible to shift resources to more promising areas and to react to changing circumstances and newly emerging research priorities.

In the negotiations on Horizon 2020, MEPs secured a number of changes, in particular the insertion of two new objectives with separate structures and budget lines:

  • Stepping up cooperation and dialogue between the scientific community and society and increasing the attractiveness of research and development careers for young people;
  • Widening the range of participants in the programme by teaming up institutions, pairing research staff and exchanging best practices.

In addition, SMEs were to receive at least 20% of the combined budget of the ‘industrial leadership’ and ‘societal challenges’ pillars.

In 2021, Parliament approved the Horizon Europe programme with a budget of EUR 95.5 billion, which included EUR 5.4 billion from the NextGenerationEUEuropean recovery plan. The programme was already provisionally put in place by the Commission from 1 January 2021.

In its July 2021 resolution on a new ERA for Research and Innovation, Parliament acknowledged that the completion of the European Research Area by achieving the free movement of researchers and free circulation of scientific knowledge and technology is a key priority for the EU. It underlined the importance of synergies between higher education, research institutions and civil society organisations, as well as industrial alliances. Parliament also pointed to the important role played by R&I during the COVID-19 pandemic in coming up with multi-sectoral and transdisciplinary solutions to overcome the crisis.

In its April 2022 resolution on a global approach to research and innovation: Europe’s strategy for international cooperation in a changing world, Parliament recalled the need for continuous investment in researchers’ skills and careers. It also emphasised the need for rules-based multilateral cooperation and stressed that association agreements under Horizon Europe can only be signed with countries that are committed to a rules-based open market economy, including fair and equitable dealing with intellectual property rights and respect for human rights, backed by democratic institutions.

In its March 2022 resolution on the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Parliament called for funding for all R&I cooperation programmes with Russia supported with EU funds to be immediately blocked or withdrawn and for interregional programmes to be suspended.

In its October 2023 resolution on EU-Switzerland relations, Parliament underlined the importance of EU-Switzerland cooperation in research, innovation and development and called for the parties to find a common approach for Switzerland’s participation. Parliament highlighted the significance of joint EU-Swiss efforts in addressing global challenges, such as climate change, health and energy security, through research and development.

In its resolution of 11 March 2025 on the assessment of the implementation of Horizon Europe in view of its interim evaluation and recommendations for the 10th Research Framework Programme (FP10), Parliament highlighted, at this crucial moment for R&I, the importance of an agile FP which responds to the fast-changing field of science and innovation and needs to be embedded in a broader European research policy that ensures that Europe is an attractive location for research activities which attracts global talent. Parliament insisted that Member States adopt concrete commitments to reach a target of 3% of gross domestic product spending on research and development by 2030 and specified that major discrepancies exist between the research and development intensity of the 27 EU Member States.

Furthermore, Parliament provided precise recommendations for the upcoming FP10, calling for it to be a stand-alone EU programme with a substantially higher budget. It acknowledged the administrative burdens faced by participants under the current programme and emphasised the need for radical simplification in the application and management processes of the FP10. It also noted that the FP10 should take into account the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in fostering European research and development while identifying specific risks that may arise from an abusive use of AI in the scientific environment and the corresponding mitigation measures.

For more information on this topic, please see the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) website.

 

[1]Article 719 and 720 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Kristi Polluveer