7.3 billion EU investment on Horizon for competitiveness and talent

Brussels – The European Commission is investing more than €7.3 billion through the recently adopted Horizon Europe work program for 2025 to strengthen Europe’s research and innovation engine and its global competitive edge. A note from the European executive explains that this will promote cutting-edge science, accelerate the EU’s green and digital transition and improve Europe’s competitiveness.

The program aspires to help “attract and retain the best researchers in Europe and will offer targeted support to those affected by war and displacement.” As part of these efforts, the Commission is updating the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) 2023–25 part of the work program to offer more support to Ukrainian scientists and launching a new MSCA “Choose Europe for Science” pilot project, which will offer more support and opportunities for early-career researchers, including competitive grants and longer contracts.

This pilot project is part of a €500 million package for the period 2025-2027 and the broader “Choose Europe” initiative to make Europe a magnet for researchers, unveiled last week by President von der Leyen at the Sorbonne.

The work program allocates 35 per cent of the budget to climate action and 8.8 per cent to biodiversity. This includes €1.14 billion for climate, energy and transport projects and €833 million for food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment. Thirty-six per cent of Horizon’s funding supports the digital transition, with €1.6 billion allocated to the development of artificial intelligence.

The Commission has initiated a simplification process with the 2025 work program to make it more accessible and user-friendly. Where appropriate, wider use of simplified cost options, such as lump-sum grants, eliminates unnecessary financial reporting requirements for grantees. Twenty-nine two-stage themes will allow applicants to submit shorter proposals first and prepare full proposals only if selected for the second stage. This will reduce the administrative burden on applicants.