A cancer researcher in Osaka can now lead a European consortium and draw on EU funding just like a colleague in Vienna. As of today, Japan is formally part of Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research programme. It is by far the largest of the programme’s 23 associated countries, bringing 123 million people into Europe’s scientific network.
Until now, Japanese institutions could only join EU-funded projects as partners. They could never lead a consortium, and they had no direct access to the money that keeps European science running. Today that changes: Japanese researchers and organisations can take part on equal terms with those from EU member states, leading projects and receiving EU funding directly.
What it means for scientists
The gains are concrete. A Japanese researcher can now apply for a European Research Council grant and set up their own lab in Vienna or Warsaw. A postdoc in Tokyo can win a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship and spend two years embedded in a European research group, and a European researcher can do the same in Japan.
Japan’s association covers Pillar II of the programme, worth €52.4bn and dedicated to joint projects on climate, energy, health and the digital economy. Tokyo will also pay its own way, covering the cost of its entities’ participation rather than relying on EU money.
Horizon Europe is worth €93.5bn for the 2021 to 2027 period. Formal association is the closest form of scientific partnership Brussels offers to countries outside the bloc, so today’s step carries real weight in Tokyo as well as in Brussels.
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Fifteen years in the making
The relationship goes back to 2011, when the EU and Japan signed an agreement on science and technology cooperation. A Letter of Intent followed in 2020, linking Horizon Europe with Moonshot, Japan’s own research programme, and the two sides concluded accession talks in December 2025.
Science thrives when talent, ideas and innovation cross borders.
— Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation
Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva said, “Science thrives when talent, ideas and innovation cross borders. As Horizon Europe’s 23rd associated country, Japan strengthens a growing global community that believes openness, excellence and international cooperation are essential to turning research into innovation and innovation into prosperity.”
For people who will never set foot in a lab, the payoff should still show up eventually: faster progress on shared problems like clean aviation or next-generation AI depends on pooling exactly this kind of talent, and Japan’s entry makes that pool a good deal bigger. Brussels is not stopping there, either. Talks have also opened with India, a sign that Europe’s scientific network is only going to keep growing.
