What is the structure of Horizon Europe?

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Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research and innovation program for 2021-2027, is structured around four key pillars.

These pillars includes Excellent Science, Global Challenges, Innovative Europe, and a Horizontal Pillar.

Their aim is to bolster Europe’s scientific prowess, address societal challenges, foster innovation, and enhance collaboration across the European Research Area.

Pillar 1: Excellent Science

Pillar 1 of Horizon Europe aims to elevate the EU’s global scientific competitiveness. It supports frontier research projects and breakthrough scientific ideas through three main components:

European Research Council (ERC)

  • Funds ground-breaking, high-risk/high-gain research at the frontiers of knowledge.
  • Provides flexible funding for talented and creative individual researchers and their teams to pursue frontier research.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

  • Supports excellent doctoral and post-doctoral training programs.
  • Equips researchers with new knowledge and skills by encouraging mobility across borders, sectors, and disciplines.
  • Aims to enhance training and career development systems, having a structuring impact on institutions.

Research Infrastructures

  • Provides Europe with world-class sustainable research infrastructures open to researchers from Europe and beyond.
  • Contributes to reducing fragmentation of national and regional research infrastructures.
  • Supports development of new research infrastructures and integration of existing ones.

The key objectives of Pillar 1 are to promote scientific excellence through a bottom-up approach, attract and retain highly-skilled researchers in Europe, facilitate training and mobility of researchers, and ensure access to state-of-the-art research infrastructures. It builds upon the successful initiatives under Horizon 2020’s Excellent Science pillar.

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Pillar 2: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness

Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe aims to address major global societal challenges while enhancing European industrial competitiveness. Here are the key points:

Key Points

  • Supports research relating to major global societal challenges and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
  • Reinforces Europe’s technological and industrial capacities through focused clusters of research and innovation activities.
  • Introduces ambitious goals and initiatives through new EU Missions to deliver concrete solutions to pressing challenges.
  • Includes the Joint Research Centre (JRC) which provides independent scientific evidence and technical support to EU and national policymakers.
  • Organized into six thematic clusters: Health; Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society; Civil Security for Society; Digital, Industry and Space; Climate, Energy and Mobility; Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment.
  • Aims to incentivize cross-disciplinary, cross-sectoral, and international cooperation to tackle complex global challenges.
  • With a budget of €53.5 billion out of €95.5 billion for Horizon Europe, Pillar 2 receives the largest share of funding.

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Pillar 3: Innovative Europe

Pillar 3 of Horizon Europe, “Innovative Europe,” focuses on positioning Europe as a frontrunner in market-creating innovation and fostering integration across education, research, and innovation activities. Here are the key objectives:

1. Position Europe as a Frontrunner in Market-Creating Innovation

The European Innovation Council (EIC) is established to identify, develop, and scale up breakthrough innovations. It comprises:

  • EIC Pathfinder: Supporting early-stage research on emerging technologies.
  • EIC Transition: Bridging the gap between research and application development.
  • EIC Accelerator: Supporting start-ups and SMEs to scale up disruptive innovations.

2. Develop the EU Innovation Landscape

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) plays a crucial role in developing the overall EU innovation landscape and ecosystems. It operates through Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), fostering partnerships among education, research, and business. The EIT aims to establish new KICs in emerging priority areas and promote entrepreneurial education and skills development.

3. Foster Integration across Europe

Pillar 3 aims to foster the integration of education, research, and innovation activities across Europe. Initiatives like the EIC and EIT are pivotal in turning science into entrepreneurial innovation, supporting all stages of the innovation lifecycle, and creating sustainable innovation ecosystems across the EU.

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Horizontal Pillar: Widening Participation and Strengthening the ERA

The Horizontal Pillar “Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area (ERA)” in Horizon Europe aims to enhance collaboration and spread excellence across the European Research Area. Here are the key points:

  • Increased Support: It increases support to EU Member States to better utilize their national research and innovation potential.
  • Fostering Collaboration: The pillar fosters closer collaborations and aims to spread excellence across the European Research Area (ERA).
  • Complementary Initiatives: It complements the three main pillars of Horizon Europe through various instruments and initiatives such as Teaming, Twinning, COST, and ERA Chairs to support capacity building and networking.
  • Addressing Disparities: The goal is to address the innovation divide and disparities in research and innovation performance across Europe.
  • Building upon Horizon 2020: It builds upon the “Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation” component of Horizon 2020.

This horizontal pillar acts as an overarching support mechanism to strengthen the European Research Area by promoting participation, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among countries and stakeholders across the EU.

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