Number of collaborative R&D projects falls sharply in Horizon Europe

The number of collaborative R&D projects supported by the EU fell sharply between Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, according to figures from the European Commission highlighted by Science|Business. Funding is becoming increasingly concentrated, with larger amounts of financial support going to fewer projects.

Under Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe, the EU has so far granted €32.9 billion to 5,271 projects, with 25,833 organisations benefiting. Under the comparable parts of Horizon 2020, covering Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges, €39.2 billion went to 13,580 projects, with 35,118 organisations benefiting. Co-fund actions (COFUND) were excluded from these calculations.

The average grant size has thus increased from €2.9 million under Horizon 2020 to €6.3 million under Horizon Europe. In its 2025 interim evaluation of Horizon Europe, the European Commission partly attributed this change to the end of the Horizon 2020 SME instrument, which provided €50,000 lump-sum grants to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Differences are also apparent among the largest projects. Under Horizon 2020, three collaborative projects received €100 million or more, but none exceeded €200 million. Under Horizon Europe, four projects have received at least €100 million, two of which exceeded €200 million. The largest grant went to NanoIC (€448 million), followed by FAMES (€216.8 million), both focusing on the development of semiconductor technologies.

According to Science|Business, the gap in the number of projects will narrow as Horizon Europe progresses, but a shift towards fewer, larger grants is already apparent. The 2026–2027 work programmes foresee a 35% reduction in the number of topics compared with the 2023–2024 work programme. Individual topics will be broader and fund more projects, while the number of topics funding only one project is expected to decrease by 50%.

Source: Juliette Portala, Data Corner: Number of collaborative grants falls sharply in Horizon Europe, Science|Business, 20 October 2026. Data are drawn from the European Commission's results dashboard.

Prepared by: Daniel Frank, Technology Centre Prague, based on an article by Juliette Portala published in Science|Business on 20 October 2026.