On 20 March, the Commission adopted the 2nd Strategic Plan for Horizon Europe. It sets out three key strategic orientations for the EU's research & innovation funding for the three last years of the programme (2025-2027):

• Green transition
• Digital transition
• More resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe
  
  

These key strategic orientations are the guiding principles for Horizon Europe and will be implemented through the work programmes. In the next months, the main Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 will be developed following these orientations.

The newly adopted plan has the following overarching principles: open strategic autonomy and securing Europe's leading role in developing and deploying critical technologies.

In addition, the strategic plan: 

• Identifies 9 new European co-funded and co-programmed partnerships, namely: Brain Health, Forests and Forestry for a Sustainable Future, Innovative Materials for EU, Raw Materials for the Green and Digital Transition, Resilient Cultural Heritage, Social Transformations and Resilience, Solar Photovoltaics, Textiles of the Future, and Virtual Worlds; 
• Provides an overview on the achievement of EU Missions over their first years; 
• Introduces the New European Bauhaus Facility (NEB). NEB aims to bring a wide range of stakeholders together to reimagine and implement sustainable and inclusive living in Europe and beyond. The NEB Facility will have an R&I component as part of Horizon Europe as well as a roll-out component that will be delivered through synergies with other EU programmes; 
• Commits to a target of 10% of the Horizon Europe’s total budget 2025-2027 dedicated to biodiversity-related topics; 
• Addresses the issue of balance of research and innovation by commiting to provide a balanced support to activities with a range of technology readiness & maturity levels, as well as the issue of integration of social sciences and humanities. 

More information is available on the dedicated Commission website, including a press release, the full text of the Horizon Europe strategic plan 2025-2027 (text) and a summary factsheet.