European Commission adopts main work programme of Horizon Europe for 2021-2022

Horizon Europe, as the successor of Horizon 2020, became the EU's most ambitious research and innovation programme for 2021-2027 with a total budget of EUR 95.5 billion. The main work programme for the period 2021-2022 has been launched with available funding of EUR 14.7 billion to allocate. A significant part of the programme aims to support actions that will help the green and digital transition, promote a sustainable recovery from the global crisis that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, and strengthen international cooperation through multilateral initiatives in Europe.

Towards the green transition and climate neutrality
 

A total of around EUR 5.8 billion will be allocated in research and innovation to support the European Green Deal and the EU’s ambition to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The contribution to climate action includes the following budget:

• EUR 2.68 billion from the "Climate, energy, transport" cluster;
• EUR 1.38 billion from the "Agriculture, environment" cluster;
• EUR 1.38 billion from the "Industry and digital technologies" cluster; and
• EUR 332 million from the "Health" cluster.

In addition, EUR 1.228 billion is allocated for applications to contribute to biodiversity.

Heading to Europe’s digital decade
 

Around EUR 4 billion during 2021-2022 will help support the development of core digital technologies. The aim is to support the transformations required for the modernisation of traditional industrial models. Actions supported by this work programme include the expansion of digital tools and data-enabled research and innovation in a wide range of sectors, such as healthcare, media, energy, mobility, and food production.

A sustainable recovery from COVID-19
 

The work programme will invest EUR 1.9 billion directly in helping repair the socio-economic problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes projects that aim to modernise health systems and contribute to research capacities, in particular for vaccine development. The ultimate goal is to make Europe more resilient to both current and future challenges.

International cooperation
 

The work programme for 2021-2022 contains dedicated actions to support and strengthen cooperation through multilateral initiatives in areas such as biodiversity and climate protection, environmental observations, ocean research, and global health.

The programme includes approximately 40 topics with a budget of around EUR 350 million that are mainly relevant for cooperation with Africa. Cooperation needs to be established in the following fields: climate change, rural innovation, sustainable food systems, and sustainable energy.

Our support
 

Deloitte is able to assist in the preparation of the required applications, from initial scoping, through to the drafting of proposals, as well as document submission and any required follow-ups