UK organisations are once again able to participate in the €95 billion Horizon Europe programme, offering organisations of all sizes the opportunity to take part in cutting-edge R&D projects.
Horizon Europe is the EU’s flagship funding initiative for collaborative research and innovation. Running until 2027, the programme provides funding for frontier research and breakthrough technology development across a range of themes – with 35 per cent of funding earmarked for climate action.
Membership of Horizon Europe had been one of the casualties of the EU Exit process, but on 7 September a bespoke deal was agreed upon to regain access for UK researchers and organisations after a two-and-a-half year absence.
Billions in funding up for grabs
Rejoining the programme opens up potentially billions of pounds worth of innovation funding for UK scientists and businesses. Thousands of organisations benefitted from the UK’s €6 billion allocation under the EU’s previous Horizon programme, which ended in 2020, and over a fifth of this funding went to SMEs.
Some funding calls allow a single organisation to apply, but many require a team of partner organisations from different countries to form a consortium, which can involve a mix of academic and public sector organisations, large businesses and SMEs.
‘Horizon lets us do things that would not be possible’
The news that the UK is rejoining the programme has been widely welcomed by both industry and academia.
Prof Dame Sally Mapstone, president of Universities UK, said: “Horizon Europe has been the basis of scientific collaboration for over 30 years. From early detection of ovarian cancer to developing clean energy networks involving dozens of universities and many industrial partners, Horizon lets us do things that would not be possible without that scale of collaboration.”
Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK, which is the go-to hub for UK organisations looking to access Horizon Europe funding, said: “The agreement will enable the UK to participate fully in the Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation. This is great news, and we are ready to maximise the innovation opportunity for our business and research organisations and support them to collaborate with and access European partnerships, supply chains and markets.”
Global effort to find climate solutions
Under the new agreement, the UK will also become an associate member of Copernicus, the €9 billion European Earth Observation programme. This will provide organisations in the UK’s earth observation sector with access to unique data about the planet and the ability to bid for research contracts.
“Participating in Copernicus will enable the UK space sector to continue to play a significant role in the development of critical missions that will enable us to monitor our planet more effectively and lead a global effort through the use of satellite data to find new solutions to the urgent challenge of climate change,” explained Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency.
