Following extensive negotiations, the new Research and Innovation Programme 2021-2027 was approved by the European Parliament on 27 April.

The instrument will have an overall budget of €95.5 billion, including €5.4 billion from the Next Generation EU recovery instrument and an additional €4 billion from the Union's Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Horizon Europe provides short- and long-term funding for key global challenges, including tackling climate change, digitalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme also provides support for innovative SMEs and European research infrastructure.

Horizon Europe consists of three pillars:

• Excellent Science: will support frontier research projects developed and led by researchers through the European Research Council (ERC), fund fellowships and exchanges for researchers, and invest in research infrastructures.
• Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness: will support research relating to societal challenges and technological and industrial capacities, and will define the main focus of research missions at a European level.
• Innovative Europe: aims to make Europe a leader in innovation and market creation and to stimulate the integration of economic activities by supporting research-based entrepreneurship.

The European Commission is expected to publish the final Work Programmes in May.

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