Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe, the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, is the largest European Union (EU) instrument specifically targeted to support research and innovation, with a budget of €95.5 billion for the period 2021-2027.

The general objective of the Programme is to deliver scientific, technological, economic and societal impact from the Union’s investments in research and innovation so as to strengthen the scientific and technological bases of the Union and foster the competitiveness of the Union in all Member States including in its industry, to deliver on the Union strategic priorities and to contribute to the realisation of Union objectives and policies, to tackle global challenges, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

Horizon Europe is structured in four programmatic pillars with different scopes:

Pillar I – Excellent Science (with around €25 billion budget);

Pillar II – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness (corresponding to about 53.5 billion budget);

Pillar III – Innovative Europe (with a budget of around €13.6 billion); and

Part – Widening Participation and Strengthening the ERA (with a budget of around €3.4 billion).

FRCT, as interface entity and Regional Government’s Contact Point, follows up the programme and articulates its intervention with the work developed by the National Contact Points. Thus, FRCT follows up the different programmatic pillars of the Framework Programme structure, namely:

Pillar I “Excellent Science”;

Pillar II “Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness”, with a focus on societal challenges and industrial technologies, supporting research and innovation aligned with European policies and structured in 6 clusters and two additional initiatives:

– Cluster 1: Health

– Cluster 2: Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society

– Cluster 3: Civil Security for Society

– Cluster 4: Digital, Industry and Space

– Cluster 5: Climate, Energy and Mobility

– Cluster 6: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

– Missions

– European Partnerships

Pillar III “Innovative Europe”, which aggregates the activities to create new markets and support SMEs with cutting-edge and disruptive innovation potential.

Part “Widening participation and strengthening the ERA”, which improves the programme’s results in widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area.