Horizon Europe Prepares for 2026-2027 Funding Calls

Horizon Europe, the EU's key funding program for research and innovation from 2021-2027, has a budget of €95.5 billion. It is structured around three main pillars: Excellent Science, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, and Innovative Europe. A cross-cutting objective to widen participation and strengthen the European Research Area underpins these pillars. The strategic plan for 2025-2027, adopted in March 2024, outlines three key orientations for the final years of the program: the green transition, the digital transition, and a more resilient, competitive, inclusive, and democratic Europe. These priorities aim to tackle major global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, the digital shift, and an aging population. The plan was co-created with contributions from over 2,000 stakeholders and citizens. A significant focus of the 2025-2027 plan is on biodiversity, with a commitment to dedicate 10% of the budget in this period to related topics. This complements the existing target of dedicating 35% of the entire Horizon Europe budget to climate-related activities and €13 billion to key digital activities. The plan also introduces nine new European partnerships in areas like Brain Health, Innovative Materials, and Virtual Worlds. Open Science is a core principle of Horizon Europe, which mandates immediate open access to publications and responsible management of research data based on the "as open as possible, as closed as necessary" principle. This policy aims to accelerate discovery and improve research quality by facilitating sharing and collaboration. The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is a key initiative to support these goals. The European Commission is increasingly leveraging service design and GovTech to enhance public services and digital transformation. Initiatives like the EU Policy Lab use design and foresight to inform policymaking. There is a growing movement across Europe, with examples like France's DITP and Germany's DigitalService, to apply human-centered design to public service transformation. Public sector bodies in the EU must adhere to web accessibility standards, specifically the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA. The European Accessibility Act, which became enforceable in June 2025, mandates these standards for a wide range of digital products and services to reduce barriers for the more than 80 million Europeans with disabilities. Artificial intelligence is being increasingly adopted in the public sector to automate processes, improve decision-making, and enhance the efficiency of services like grant management. While challenges in data access, skills, and ethical considerations remain, the EU is promoting AI adoption through strategies and funding to improve citizen-facing services and internal government operations. Design leadership is crucial for integrating design thinking into public sector organizations to tackle complex societal problems. This involves not just applying design methods but also fostering a culture that supports innovation and user-centricity from a strategic level. Training government leaders in service design is seen as essential for creating the necessary environment for these approaches to succeed.