Event Round Up: Funding Focus: Horizon Europe Info Session
techUK’s Funding Focus webinar series is designed to help SME members navigate the complex landscape of grants, tax reliefs and other sources of finance. Each session provides practical guidance, expert insights, and real-world examples to help your business access the funding and incentives available to support innovation and growth.
In this webinar, Innovate UK explored what Horizon Europe is and how UK organisations can get involved in its 2026/27 Work Programme. The session gave attendees a clear understanding of Horizon Europe’s structure and rules of participation before sharing practical advice regarding how businesses of all sizes can engage. It was specifically designed for those with little to no prior knowledge of the programme, helping them understand the opportunities available and how to begin exploring them further.
Speakers included:
- Perry Guess, Horizon Europe UK National Contact Point, Innovate UK
- Dr Eleni Bohacek, Horizon Europe UK National Contact Point for Digital, Innovate UK
You can watch the full recording here, or read our summary of the key insights below:
Please note that the below is a summary of the event, and readers are encouraged to watch the webinar to understand the full details of the discussion.
The webinar began with an overview of what Horizon Europe is:
- Horizon Europe is the largest research and innovation funding programme in the world, with a budget of €95.5 billion for the period 2021–2027.
- Any type of organisation can participate and benefit from Horizon Europe. Participants gain access to cutting-edge knowledge, world-class research facilities, top talent, and funding opportunities. There are also avenues for developing partnerships and co-authoring publications.
- Horizon Europe reaches beyond Europe, with projects often involving one EU member state and two associated countries (including the UK, Canada, South Korea). Beyond associated countries third countries can also participate in acidity (including Australia, Brazil and the USA) as well as many low to middle income countries.
- Horizon Europe is structured around three pillars: Excellent Science, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, and Innovative Europe with the winding participation and strengthening European research areas running across all three pillars. This ensures that countries not currently active in Horizon Europe are upskilled to patriciate and collaborate with Horizon Europe initiatives.
Pillar II: Global challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
- Challenge-driven funding which is designed to address specific societal or technological challenges. It is open to all organisations, but projects must be collaborative, involving partners from at least three different EU Member States and / or Associated Countries.
- Projects can vary significantly in size, from several million euros to hundreds of millions and typically run over a period of 2 to 5 years.
- Main types of actions:
- Research and innovation actions: Focus on early-stage research and scientific discovery such as proof of concept and feasibility studies typically up to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3. Since these projects are high-risk and exploratory, all participants are funded at 100%.
- Innovation actions: Support more mature developments, moving from a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 3 to 4 and above, closer to market readiness. This is considered later stage, so is slightly less risky and therefore private entities are funded at 70%.
- Coordination support actions: This is not about creating brand new things, but rather about collating people and knowledge together through networking, sharing best practices, etc. They are generally smaller in scale and funded at 100%.
Work Programmes:
- The Commission outlines what they expect to be funded. These are linked to what are called "work programmes," which are released periodically, not on a fixed schedule.
- Work programmes for 2026/27 are avaliable, giving foresight as to what the Commission is looking for so that organisations can plan ahead and start developing project ideas in alignment with those priorities.
Pillar III: European Innovation Council (EIT)
- This is Europe's flagship initiative for sponsoring and supporting activity that can create tomorrow's Unicorn, or privately-owned start-up valued at over €1 billion.
- Horizon Europe is specifically looking for deep tech game-changing innovations, ideas grounded in strong intellectual property that can be transformed into compelling business propositions.
- To be eligible, applicants must have previously received funding from one of the following: Pathfinder, European Research Council proof of concept or a previously funded similar project.
- The EIT is part of the broader Horizon Europe programme but has its own funding mechanisms, which are typically smaller in scale—ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of euros, rather than the millions. More focussed on training the next generation of entrepreneurs and developing innovative products and services through smaller scale projects.
Deep Dive into 2026/27 Work Programme Opportunities (cluster 4):
- The overarching vision behind Cluster 4 is to ensure that Europe develops competitive and trusted technologies, empowering its industry to achieve global leadership in key sectors. This vision enables production and consumption to respect the boundaries of our planet while maximising benefits for all parts of society. The aim of this is to build a competitive digital low carbon and circular industry, ensure sustainable supply of raw materials, develop advanced materials and provide the basis for advances and innovation globally.
- Digital topics include AI data and computing, robotics, photonics and electronics, smart networks and connectivity, quantum, graphene and 2D materials, digital economy standards, NGIXR human factors, and more.
- Partnerships, jointly developed between the European Commission and industry or other stakeholders, play a key role in shaping the direction of research and innovation in digital technologies. Each partnership has its own roadmap and community and they're great entry points for organisations who are looking to engage with Europe in a more strategic way.
- 2026 calls are currently in draft form, however they provide a solid indication of what to expect. The calls are expected to open on 15 January and close on 15 April. Organisations are encouraged to begin preparing their applications now.
- The work programme is structured around six key 'Destinations', each focusing on a strategic research theme with specific funding topics and budgets:
- Destination 3: World-leading data and computing technologies.
- Destination 4: Achieving open strategic autonomy in digital and emerging enabling technologies, including quantum sensors, photonics, robotics, and other advanced technology fields.
- Destination 6: Digital and industrial technologies driving human-centric innovation.
UK National Contact Points (NPCs) can offer advice on Horizon Europe to companies of all sizes across a range of sectors. You can find a full list of NCPs here.
More information
Introduction to Horizon Europe - techUK 250925.pdf
For more information about this event, please contact:
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
Ed Bevan
Ed is Head of SME Engagement and is responsible for shaping techUK’s proposition to our SMEs across the country, ensuring our policy work, market access activity and services benefit the SME community.
Ella Shuter
Ella joined techUK in July 2025 as Junior Programme Manager for Emerging Technologies.