Brussels dreams big and likes to announce the fact. The European Commission unveiled its main Horizon Europe work programme for 2026-27, worth €14bn. The cash will, above all, focus on breaking so-called research silos.
Horizon Europe, the EU’s €93.5bn research scheme, already showers money on laboratories and startups. The new tranche, announced on 11 December, tries to squeeze more value from each euro. It trims jargon, shortens application forms, and concentrates resources on fewer, larger projects.
Officials claim the plan will speed Europe’s march toward climate neutrality, bolster digital leadership and fortify the bloc against economic shocks. Ekaterina Zaharieva, the commissioner for startups, research and innovation, says Brussels has acted on grumbles from grant-writers. “We have listened to researchers and innovators and made Horizon Europe simpler and more accessible to SMEs, start-ups and newcomers.”
Sharper tools
Much of the cash backs horizontal calls that cut across scientific silos. Take the €540m-worth Clean Industrial Deal. It promises to help energy-hungry factories curb emissions by deploying next-generation furnaces, carbon-free cement and other exotic kit. If the scheme works, heavy industry could slash costs as well as greenhouse gases—handy as global rivals benefit from American subsidies and Chinese scale.
Digital prowess receives a boost too. A €90m call on artificial intelligence in science will bankroll trustworthy uses of machine learning in materials design, agriculture and health. The projects dovetail with Europe’s wider campaign to police data and tame risky algorithms. By linking AI grants to clear industrial goals, Brussels hopes to show that rules and growth can march in step.
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Not all initiatives chase electrons. The New European Bauhaus facility will spend more than €210m reviving run-down neighbourhoods through sustainable design. Old cement blocks could gain solar facades and communal gardens; one-size-fits-all tower estates might morph into mixed-use quarters. The cultural sheen masks a hard economic aim: spur local demand for home-grown green technology.
Talent remains a strategic worry. Through the Choose Europe initiative the Commission will channel €50m to long-term fellowships and relocation packages, while another €240m funds European Research Area Chairs to lure top scientists into underperforming regions. Ms Zaharieva stresses the soft-power dividend: “We are also expanding Choose Europe and making our continent even more attractive to researchers and innovators worldwide.”
Less paper, more science
Applicants should find the process kinder. Half the calls switch to lump-sum grants, sparing small outfits the agony of tracing every sandwich receipt. Forty-one topics adopt a two-stage evaluation: hopefuls first file a slim dossier; only shortlisted teams write the full tome. Some panels will assess bids anonymously, a nod to allegations that famous institutions crowd out fresh talent.
The agenda leans on scaleups as much as scholars. European Startup and Scaleup Hubs aim to knit research universities and venture funds into a transnational web. The Commission vows continued access to critical data troves and test beds for emerging technologies. It also earmarks €50m for research infrastructures that let physicists, climate modellers and bioengineers share expensive kit rather than duplicate it.
We have listened to researchers and innovators and made Horizon Europe simpler and more accessible to SMEs, start-ups and newcomers. — Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation
Yet controversy lurks. Previous rounds saw complaints that Horizon Africa and blue-sky physics lost ground to industrial lobbies. The new plan still juggles excellence, competitiveness and social impact—and risks pleasing none perfectly. Critics fear that bundling decarbonisation, AI and regional cohesion into one pot could scatter cash too thinly and tip the balance toward incremental work.
Fault-lines, flare-ups
Budget skirmishes add suspense. Earlier this year rumours flew that Horizon Europe might be folded into a broader European Competitiveness Fund. Researchers revolted. Member states fretted about losing direct influence over grant rules. Brussels relented and floated a separate €175bn successor for 2028-34, but the episode exposed how swiftly political winds can buffet even marquee programmes.
Geopolitics complicates funding decisions. Some MEPs want to bar Israeli labs after the Gaza war, arguing that EU money should never aid alleged human-rights violators. Commission officials counter that participation depends on rigorous ethics checks, not rolling news. The spat underlines the tension between open science and foreign-policy passions—an issue likely to resurface whenever conflict flares.
For now, Horizon Europe presses on. The 2026-27 work programme is the last under the current seven-year budget. Its success will shape both Europe’s ability to cut carbon and its claim to lead responsible AI. If the promised simplifications hold and the fresh billions flow quickly, engineers might indeed light cleaner furnaces and doctors deploy smarter diagnostics. Should red tape thicken again or politics cloud cooperation, the bloc risks another round of soul-searching.
