The EU Commission has announced the investment of €14.7 billion from Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, in the acceleration of green and digital transitions to contribute to sustainable recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic and to support EU resilience against future crises.

Horizon Europe is the EU’s €95.5 billion research and innovation programme for 2021 to 2027. The current Horizon Europe work programme is based on Horizon Europe’s Strategic Plan with most of the funding allocated based on competitive calls for proposals, set out in work programmes.

The investments announced will support European researchers through fellowships, training and exchanges, build more connected and efficient European innovation ecosystems and create world-class research infrastructures.

Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said, ‘With 40% of its budget devoted to making Europe more sustainable, this Horizon Europe work programme will make Europe greener and fitter for the digital transformation. Horizon Europe is now fully open for business: I would like to encourage researchers and innovators from all over the EU to apply and find solutions to improve our daily lives.’

More than four in ten euros from the Horizon Europe programme, around €5.8 billion in total, will be invested in research and innovation to support the European Green Deal and the Union’s commitment to make the EU the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The funds will support projects that advance the science of climate change, and that develop solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the changing climate.

The programme will maximise the full potential of digital tools and data-enabled research and innovation in healthcare, media, cultural heritage and creative economy, energy, mobility and food production, supporting the modernisation of industrial models and fostering European industrial leadership. The development of core digital technologies will be supported with around €4 billion over 2021 to 2022.

It will also direct investments of around €1.9 billion towards helping repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. The funding will contribute to building a greener and more digital post-coronavirus Europe that is more resilient for the current and forthcoming challenges. This includes topics that aim to modernise health systems and contribute to research capacities, in particular for vaccine development.

The first calls for proposals will open on the Commission’s Funding and Tenders Portal on the 22^nd of June.