Horizon Europe (HE) is the EU’s main framework for funding research and innovation across a multitude of topics, including basic science and research careers, as well as large-scale demonstrations that aim to shift markets.
The framework, built as the successor of Horizon 2020, deploys most of its work through multiannual work programmes, i.e. those documents that spell out which calls will open, what the European Commission wants to achieve and how applicants will be assessed.
The newly published 2026–2027 work programme was recently published and adopted under European Commission Decision C(2025) 8493 of 11 December 2025.
The general introduction of the work programme states that the EU and associated countries will invest over €14 billion to support sustainable prosperity and competitiveness. It then presents the already familiar building blocks of the HE structure, namely the six clusters funded under Pillar II, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, research infrastructures, widening participation, the five EU Missions, the New European Bauhaus Facility, and European innovation ecosystems. At the same time there is a new emphasis on a set of novelties and changes that will be highlighted in this article.
The programme at a glance: simplification is the keyword
If you have ever submitted a proposal and felt that the exercise was overly complex, the Commission is now signalling that it feels you and has acted accordingly. The general introduction describes the new work programme as aiming to be “simpler, shorter and more impactful”, and it sets out concrete changes that go in this direction:
- Topic descriptions are being shortened and made less prescriptive, with more “open topics” that define outcomes but leave more freedom to applicants to define the route to delivery. Overall, the work programme is 33% shorter than the 2023–2024 version.
- There are 35% fewer topics overall, and a deliberate move towards fewer but larger opportunities. The number of topics expected to fund only one project is down by 50%. Therefore, the funding of multiple proposals under the same topic will be more frequent.
- Lump sums continue their expansion: the Commission plans to implement 50% of the call budget via lump-sum funding, especially for grants below €10 million, to reduce reporting burden.
- A bigger support is expected for SMEs and newcomers: the work programme flags more newcomer-friendly and SME-friendly topics, including use of the Fast Track to Research and Innovation scheme in some cases, and more topics allowing cascade funding (financial support to third parties).
- Two-stage calls are used for 41 topics, and many first-stage submissions are evaluated “blindly” thanks to anonymised applications, a practical way to lower the cost of trying, and to shorten time-to-grant.
For companies, the implications are mixed but clear. Fewer topics can mean fiercer competition per call. At the same time, larger topics and less prescriptive wording give strong consortia more room to shape credible pathways to adoption.
Horizontal calls: where the programme is trying to create critical mass
A genuinely new element is the introduction of horizontal calls. These are cross-cluster opportunities designed to connect different parts of Horizon Europe around shared strategic objectives. They are explicitly framed as open and non-prescriptive, with the aim of pooling resources and delivering “critical mass”.
Two horizontal calls stand out.
- R&I in support of the clean industrial deal (indicative €540 million)
The Commission pitches this as an industry-led, bottom-up call focused on market deployment of clean technologies and decarbonised industry solutions. It is built around two large open topics: (1) decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries and (2) clean technologies for climate action. It also spells out the desired shape of proposals: “fit-for-deployment” projects with robust business and market readiness strategies and smart synergies with the EU innovation fund to help mature solutions and innovative low-carbon technologies reach deployment. - AI in science (around €90 million, plus wider AI investment)
The second horizontal call targets trustworthy AI that can accelerate scientific progress and tackle societal and industrial challenges. It is linked to the Commission’s “RAISE” pilot under the European strategy for artificial intelligence in science, and includes topics such as networks of excellence, automated scientific discovery, and doctoral networks.
Beyond this call, at least €775 million will be invested in AI in science through the rest of the work programme, underlining how widely AI is now being threaded through the agenda.
Additional key areas of the work programme
The work programme generally sets its tone in geopolitical and industrial terms. A few signals are particularly relevant for companies considering where to place their proposal effort:
- Strategic dependencies and materials: €634 million is allocated to topics related to critical raw materials, with additional attention to advanced materials and alternatives to rare earths.
- Knowledge valorisation: over €870 million is allocated to valorisation topics aimed at market, societal and policy uptake of results. For industrial applicants, this is a cue to treat exploitation as substance, not paperwork.
- Circular economy with sector focus: the work programme flags systemic change in areas such as construction and textiles, and links this to broader industrial and clean transition priorities.
- Security and preparedness: Cluster 3 is framed around equipping practitioners (including law enforcement and critical infrastructure operators) while remaining consistent with EU values, and it ties into wider EU “preparedness” and security narratives.
- Mobility and automotive: Cluster 5 references support for the industrial action plan for the European automotive sector, including a large-scale demonstration topic around connected, cooperative and automated mobility, and alignment with partnerships in the sector.
Key considerations for writing a strong proposal
One of the most practical ways to read this work programme is understanding where the priorities lie and how to build the synergies between Horizon Europe and the other frameworks in a smart way, so that the proposal looks less like a self- contained research plan and more like a segment of a wider investment effort. A few suggestions come to mind:
- With fewer topics available, applicants will need sharper positioning, clearer differentiation, and a consortium that is able to deliver impact and built precisely to do so.
- Deployment should be the priority from day one, especially under clean industrial deal-adjacent areas, where business models, regulatory readiness, and routes to market are not optional but key components of the strategy.
- Two-stage calls should be used tactically, where available, to reduce bid costs and help organisations test competitiveness before investing in full proposals.
- Deliberately think of the “after Horizon” step: if scale-up is the objective, be explicit about how results could transition into the Innovation Fund, Digital Europe, or other deployment-focused instruments that should complement Horizon Europe funding.
Are you interested or working on a bid?
Trust-IT supports EU-funded projects across communication, dissemination, stakeholder engagement and exploitation, all the parts of a proposal that increasingly make the difference when evaluators look for credibility, impact and deployment potential.
If you are shaping an idea for 2026–2027 and want a competent partner for these topics, you can contact Trust-IT through our contact form.
