The Annual report on Research and Technological Development Activities of Horizon Europe and Euratom describes and monitors the implementation of the programmes.
The European Commission must report annually to the Council and the Parliament about the state of its affairs regarding research (cf. article 190 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 7 of the Euratom Treaty). In this context, on 5 July 2024, the European Commission published its Annual report on Research and Technological Development Activities of Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 in 2023 in the Official Journal of the EU.
The report provides an overview of the principal activities in research and innovation in 2023 and a monitoring of Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020 and the Euratom Research and Training programme. The report indicates that 2023 was accompanied by several global challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, digital transformation, health threats and an ageing population, which need strong support from R&I. Besides, the unstable geopolitical context, especially Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, influenced R&I policy making. In this context, the ongoing support to Ukraine of the European Commission was emphasised and the increasing focus on the EU’s open strategic autonomy, economic security, especially in the context of international cooperation. The European Economic Security Strategy aligned with the Global Approach to Research and Innovation ensures the EU’s economic openness and safeguards research security. It promotes competitiveness by investing in strategic technologies relevant for economic security via Horizon Europe, for instance advanced semi-conductors and quantum computing. The Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) also proposed financial support for critical technologies. Besides, the European Commission proposed a Critical Raw Materials Act and a Net Zero Industry Act. On the other side, it also focuses on improving research security to protect the EU’s open strategic autonomy, for which a security appraisal of Horizon Europe projects was realised, article 22.5 used to limit participation. Besides, the toolkit on tackling R&I Foreign interference and the mutual learning exercise were providing guidance and offering the exchange of best-practices. Regarding partnering, it can be indicated that the European Commission has strengthened R&I cooperation with the United States, by renewing the bilateral agreement for science and technology cooperation; Latin America and the Caribbean region, with the development of a new strategic roadmap for cooperation; the African Union (AU) through the AU-EU Innovation Agenda; India, by setting up a working group on clean and green energy during the EU-India Trade and Technology Council; and the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance, including Norway and the United Kingdom. In line with the Joint Communication EU-China Strategic Outlook, the Commission continued discussions on how to rebalance EU-China cooperation in research and innovation.
Regarding the funding streams, the report describes that tackling climate change remained a main priority for 2023. It also provides a complete overview of the Horizon project dashboard, giving the full pictures of invested money of the first three years of Horizon Europe (2021 to 2023), summing up to EUR 30.8 billion that were capitalised via 10 674 grants, with mono-beneficiary grants representing 4% of grants, and 56 % of collaborative grants. In June 2024, the European Commission already published a linked factsheet with key figures on the implementation of Horizon Europe. It is essential to highlight that 45% of the Horizon Europe budget was committed in the last three years, reconciling with the abovementioned total of EUR 30.8 billion in EU contribution. As expected, higher education establishments received the largest contribution (EUR 10.5 billion), followed by private for-profit entities (EUR 8.9 billion) and research organisations (EUR 8.2 billion). The average proposal success rate increased to 16% in Horizon Europe compared to 12% in Horizon 2020, and women still represent only 37% of all researchers.