Horizon Europe: The first assessment

As the first year of Horizon Europe draws to a close, Science|Business gathered feedback on the new €95.5 R&D programme from an online survey and meetings with its member organisations. The result: recommendations on how to make the next six years of Horizon Europe even better.

The reviews are mixed, but most respondents believe the programme will have a big impact on the European R&D landscape. Almost half of the survey respondents say it’s an improvement compared with Horizon 2020. But once the talk turns to paperwork, application forms and the unpredictable participants portal, the grumbling begins – about the application forms, consortia composition, uncertainty over UK and Swiss participation, and other issues.

Their recommendations include better explanations from the Commission, narrowing or clarifying the objectives of some published calls for proposals, and greater transparency from the Commission about upcoming calls.

Overall, our research suggests there’s much to like, and much to improve, in the programme. We asked those who had applied whether they were likely to do so again: 82% said yes.

In addition to our report, we are making the raw data from the online survey available at this link.