As Japan joins the EU’s research programme, we take a look at the country’s participation so far
Photo credits: weyo / BigStock
Editor’s note: this is an update to an article from October 2025.
Japan will officially join the EU’s €93.5 billion Horizon Europe research and innovation programme in 2026. Here’s how the country has performed so far, as a third country participant in the programme.
In the first four years of Horizon Europe, 85 Japanese organisations participated in Horizon Europe 174 times, receiving €1.34 million in funding. They took part in the programme as third country participants, not eligible for most EU funding but allowed to take part in most projects using their own resources.
But on December 22, the European Commission announced a deal has been struck and Japanese researchers will be able to join Horizon research projects on equal terms with EU partners during 2026 and 2027, the last two years of the current Horizon Europe programme.
The deal has yet to be signed, but beginning in January Japanese researchers can…
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