On 20th March, the EU institutions have reached a partial political agreement, subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and Council, on the next framework programme Horizon Europe.

Horizon Europe, built on the achievements and success of the current Horizon 2020, will continue to drive scientific excellence through the European Research Council and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships and exchanges, and will benefit from the scientific advice, technical support and dedicated research of the Joint Research Centre.

The new programme will introduce new features such as the European Innovation Council, which is already running now in a pilot phase. The latter will provide direct support to innovators through two main funding instruments, one for early stages and the other for development and market deployment. It will complement the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

The preliminary political agreement reached by the European Parliament, Council and Commission is now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and Council. Horizon Europe’s budgetary aspects are subject to the overall agreement on the EU’s next long-term budget (100 billion euro), proposed by the Commission in May 2018.