Horizon Europe state of play: key participation figures 2021-2026 & newcomer analysis

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.