EU funding
Horizon Europe explained: how the programme is structured
7 min read · Updated 28 August 2026
Horizon Europe is the European Union's research and innovation framework programme for 2021–2027, with a budget of around €95.5 billion. Most teams meet it as a wall of acronyms. This guide breaks the programme into the parts that actually affect how you plan a proposal.
The three pillars
Horizon Europe is organised into three pillars plus a horizontal part. Knowing which pillar you belong to determines your competition, your consortium size, and the language your proposal needs to speak.
- Pillar I — Excellent Science: ERC grants for frontier research, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions for mobility and training, and research infrastructures. Usually single-beneficiary or institution-led.
- Pillar II — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness: six thematic clusters (health; culture and creativity; civil security; digital, industry and space; climate, energy and mobility; food and bioeconomy). This is where most collaborative consortium projects sit.
- Pillar III — Innovative Europe: the European Innovation Council (EIC), European Innovation Ecosystems, and the EIT. Company-facing, closer to market.
- Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area: Teaming, Twinning, ERA Chairs and related actions supporting countries with lower participation rates.
Work programmes and call topics
Funding is released through work programmes, published per cluster and normally covering two years. Each work programme contains call topics with a specific scope, expected outcomes, indicative budget, and deadline.
The topic text is the single most important document in your application. Evaluators score you against the expected outcomes and scope written there — not against how good your idea is in the abstract. If your project only partially matches the topic, you are starting from behind.
Action types you will meet
- RIA (Research and Innovation Action): earlier-stage research, typically funded at 100% of eligible costs.
- IA (Innovation Action): closer to market — prototyping, piloting, demonstration. Usually 70% for profit-making entities, 100% for non-profit.
- CSA (Coordination and Support Action): networking, coordination, studies, dissemination. Funded at 100%, smaller budgets.
- EIC Accelerator: single-company support combining grant and equity, on a different application process from collaborative calls.
How proposals are evaluated
Collaborative proposals are scored against three criteria — Excellence, Impact, and Quality and efficiency of the implementation — each out of 5, with half-point increments. Thresholds apply per criterion and to the total. In practice, funded proposals in competitive clusters score close to the top, so a single weak section is enough to end an application.
This matters for planning: a technically brilliant project with vague impact pathways or a thin work-package structure will not be funded.
Choosing the right topic
- Start from the work programme, not from your idea. Read the expected outcomes line by line and check whether you can credibly deliver each one.
- Check the destination text above the topic — it explains the policy intent the topic serves.
- Look at previously funded projects under similar topics on CORDIS to calibrate consortium size, budget, and ambition.
- Talk to your National Contact Point early. It is free and they see far more proposals than you do.
Realistic timelines
A serious collaborative proposal takes three to five months: partner search and consortium building, concept alignment, writing, internal review, and submission buffer. Consortia that assemble four weeks before the deadline are visible to evaluators through inconsistent work packages and generic impact sections.
Frequently asked questions
- Who can apply to Horizon Europe?
- Legal entities established in EU Member States, associated countries, and in many cases third countries. Collaborative calls normally require at least three independent legal entities from three different Member States or associated countries.
- How long does it take to receive a decision?
- The European Commission aims to inform applicants of the evaluation result within five months of the deadline, with grant agreement signature typically within eight months.
- Can an SME lead a Horizon Europe consortium?
- Yes. SMEs can coordinate collaborative projects, though coordination carries significant administrative and reporting responsibility that should be resourced properly in the budget.