11.07.2024
The current EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation "Horizon Europe" started in April 2021 with a total budget of 95.5 billion euros. The European Commission recently published the most important statistics on funding between 2021 and 2023: "Horizon Europe Implementation: Key Figures 2021-2023".
According to this, 7474 SMEs received one fifth of EU funding in Horizon Europe projects, i.e. 6.6 billion euros. Three quarters of all SMEs participated in projects under Pillar 2 (Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness) of Horizon Europe. 40 percent of EU funding to SMEs was provided by the European Innovation Council, which is anchored in Pillar 3.
Horizon Europe also makes a positive contribution to gender equality, as women make up 37 percent of all researchers (51,204) in Horizon Europe projects. They made up 45 percent of the more than 54,000 researchers benefiting from training. They also make up 43.6 percent of reviewers and 48.7 percent of expert groups.
The success rate of all applicants was not so positive, although the quality of the applications was very high: only three out of ten applications were funded.
The applicants to the program came from a total of 187 countries. Half of the applications for Horizon Europe came from organizations from the four countries that also employ the most researchers and engineers in the EU and have the highest national R&D expenditure: Spain, Italy, Germany and France.
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