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Two European Commission reports on the Horizon Europe state of play show that Horizon Europe remains attractive to researchers, innovators and companies from across Europe and beyond. The report Horizon Europe State of Play Key Figures April 2021 – July 2026 main findings are as follows: Horizon Europe is increasingly popular but also more competitive: over 170,000 eligible proposals were submitted by June 2026, while the success rate fell from 17% in 2022 to 10% in 2025. The current programme-wide success rate is 14%. Many proposals cannot be funded even if they have received a very positive assessment from evaluators. The programme has supported almost 23,000 projects, involving 34,500+ organisations and nearly €61.1 billion in grants. Higher education institutions receive the largest funding share, while SMEs represent 35% of unique participants. Participation is global, but funding remains concentrated in EU Member States (€55 billion). Widening Member States remain underrepresented in highly competitive schemes such as ERC and EIC Accelerator. Entities in Horizon Europe associated countries received €6.1 billion in grants. Horizon Europe is broadly on track for its climate and biodiversity spending objectives. At least 35% of the programme budget should contribute to combating climate change, and at least 7.5% to protect and restore biodiversity - with a higher 10% target for the last two years of the programme. Over 1,000 Horizon Europe projects have reported their final results. So far, research teams and projects have published 32,305 peer-reviewed publications and reported 14,435 innovative outputs (e.g. new products and services). The report Is Horizon Europe attractive for new participants? Breaking down participation trends across programme parts and countries defines newcomers as Horizon Europe beneficiaries that did not participate in Horizon 2020. Returning participants took part in Horizon 2020. It includes Horizon Europe grants signed up to the end of December 2025. The key findings are summarised here. Who are the newcomers? Newcomers make up 55.1% of unique Horizon Europe participants versus 67.1% under Horizon 2020. Their share of project participations fell from 27.4% to 18.7%, and their funding share from 17.2% to 13.7%. Private-for-profit organisations dominate (64%), with SMEs (self-reported) representing 37.7% of newcomers. Most newcomers participate only once (82%). Previously funded Horizon 2020 organisations submit on average 22 Horizon Europe applications, versus only 2 for newcomers, while their proposal success rate is 18.9% versus 15.6% for newcomers. These findings suggest that guidance on crafting and submitting proposals could be helpful. Which funding schemes attract newcomers? Participation opportunities for newcomers appear strongest in Pillars II and III with the highest share of newcomers of respectively 49.2% and 47%. The collaborative nature of Pillar II projects appears particularly conducive to attracting first-time participants. Pillar III is an SME and startup-focused programme part. The EIC Accelerator stands out, with 76% of the supported companies being newcomers. 75% of EIC Accelerator’s funding goes to newcomers. In Joint Undertakings the share of organisations that are newcomers is lower than in other collaborative actions. Newcomer participation is highest in health and energy-focused JUs. How does participation vary geographically? Widening Member States have relatively high newcomer participation, particularly through Pillar II. However, newcomers from Widening member states have much less access to Pillar III innovation funding.
EIT Food is seeking a consortium to develop a scientific framework for regenerative dairy farming and a model to assess farm-level costs and benefits. Scope of the call The assignment consists of three connected work packages linking environmental targets with farm-level economic analysis. Work package 1 — thresholds and targets. Develop a transferable method covering soil, biodiversity, water and climate impacts, including trade-offs and farming conditions. Work package 2 — cost-benefit analysis. Develop a model to assess farm-level costs, benefits and economic feasibility. Work package 3 — coordination. Align the scientific framework and economic model across the assignment. Eligibility and consortium profile This call is relevant for research organisations, universities, consultancies, or industry partners with expertise in regenerative dairy farming and agricultural economics. Applications must come from a consortium able to deliver the full assignment. It should combine expertise in regenerative dairy farming, environmental science, agricultural economics, cost-benefit analysis and European coordination. All admissibility and eligibility conditions in the call documents apply. Evaluation criteria Proposals will be assessed on the methodology, consortium capacity, integration of the work packages, implementation plan, budget and applicability across European dairy-farming contexts. The official call documents contain the detailed scoring rules. How to apply Apply via the EIT Food call page and follow the submission procedure in the call guidelines. The deadline is 10 November 2026.
The European Commission is launching the 2027 Security Innovation Award, which is designed to recognise innovative solutions coming from innovators involved in security research funded under the EU Research Framework Programme. The aim is to promote solutions that have achieved significant impact in terms of the uptake of research results in the security area. Organisations involved in EU-funded security research that have an example of an impactful security innovation can submit solutions until 10 December 2026 at 20.00 CET via this page.
IGLO (Informal Group of RTD Liaison Offices) organised an online workshop in May 2026 with more than 60 participants reflecting on the broader implications of lump sum funding in Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 for research management and project governance. A report was edited and contained among others the following main points: positive experiences with reduced financial reporting requirements operational challenges like uncertainty regarding work package completion, and a shift of administrative effort instead of reduction organisational adaptations: increased attention to design of work packages, closer cooperation between scientific and administrative staff, growing importance of consortium agreements remaining open questions: assessment of work package completion, evidence required of project implementation, implication of budget flexibility, project closure
The restriction had applied to public interest trusts created under Hungarian law in 2021 and to organisations managed by those trusts, including some universities and research institutions. The list of institutions is available in this 2023 NCP Flanders news article. Following the EU Council decision of 13 October 2026, effective from 14 October 2026, these entities are again eligible to apply for EU-funded projects, become beneficiaries and receive funding. For ongoing projects, affected Hungarian organisations may now receive funding if the consortium formally amends the grant agreement. This change only applies from 14 October 2026 onwards, with no retroactive funding, and the overall grant amount cannot increase, so funding would need to be redistributed within the existing budget. For projects in the grant agreement preparation stage, organisations that were included only as associated partners without funding may now be added as funded beneficiaries. Coordinators are asked to contact their EU project officer to arrange the change. For new proposals, applicants may again include these Hungarian entities as funded partners in Horizon Europe and other EU-funded projects. The European Commission is expected to publish FAQs and further guidance on the Funding & Tenders Portal after the decision appears in the Official Journal of the European Union.
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Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant coordinated the Glaukos project, which answered the call topic published in 2019 of Horizon 2020 Framework Programme ‘Develop bio-based fibres and/or functional molecules to improve the performance of textile products’ under the Framework of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU). The consortium partners took up this challenge by valorising industrial side streams and setting up a circular approach to the textile industry.
