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On 16 July, the Commission put forward its proposal for the next European Programme for Research & Innovation for the period 2028-2034. The Commission proposes a continuation of Horizon Europe after 2027 with an enhanced budget of €175 billion and a new four-pillar structure: Pillar I ‘Excellent Science’: supporting top-tier research to drive groundbreaking discoveries. The Commission proposes an expanded European Research Council. Pillar II ‘Competitiveness & Society’: tackling societal challenges and boosting competitiveness. The Competitiveness part will be closely tied to the forthcoming European Competitiveness Fund & its four proposed policy areas (clean transition and decarbonization; digital transition; health, biotech, agriculture and bioeconomy; defence and space) Pillar III ‘Innovation’: bridging the gap between research and market-ready solutions. Pillar IV ‘European Research Area’: uniting Europe’s research ecosystems for a stronger, more collaborative future. The Commission also envisages to streamline the programme implementation, including reducing the number of topics and shortening the time from call closure to grant signature. With a proposed €175 billion budget and tightly connected to the upcoming European Competitiveness Fund, the next framework programme proposed by the Commission aims to boost Europe’s productivity and competitiveness, while also improving the well-being of EU citizens. The proposal and accompanying proposed budget are not final as they will have to go through a long period of interinstitutional negotiations between the European Parliament, the member states and the Commission, with an agreement envisioned by the end of 2027. Find out more in the Commission’s press release. More background information on the publication of the Commission proposal is available in a recent article on Science Business. More information on the Commission proposal for the next overarching Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028 - 2034 here.
2025-07-18 ERCThe results of the 2025 European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant call (first deadline date 13 March 2025) were published. Principal Investigators (PIs) with a main ERC Grant that is ongoing or ended after 1 January 2024 are eligible to participate in an ERC 2025 PoC Grant. The ERC PoC Grants aim at facilitating exploration of the commercial and social innovation potential of ERC funded research and are therefore available only to PIs whose proposals draw substantially on their ERC funded research. For this call in total 150 ERC PoC Grants were awarded to PIs working in 21 different countries across Europe. In the ERCEA news article more background on the evaluation results and the full list of winning projects are available. Among the 150 selected researchers are at least six based at Flemish host institutions. The projects of several PIs are presented in the news articles of Universiteit Gent and VIB. Koen BINNEMANS, KU Leuven, “ADONIS - Advanced conversion of sulphate salts in circular hydrometallurgy” which builds on research funded by the 2022 Advanced Grant CIRMET and is the fourth ERC grant awarded to him (2 Advanced Grants and 2 Proof of Concept Grants). Filip DU PREZ, Universiteit Gent, “BIGTOP - Breakthrough industry grade tagging of plastic products” which builds on research funded by the 2020 Advanced Grant CiMaC. Anna KACZMAREK, Universiteit Gent, “HEAT-CAMERA - Hybrid Encapsulated Advanced Thermometers for CAncer Mapping and thERApy” which builds on research funded by the 2020 Starting Grant NORTH and is the third ERC grant awarded to her (1 Starting Grant and 2 Proof of Concept Grants). Francisco MOLINA LOPEZ, KU Leuven, “SUSTEG - Sustainable Thermoelectric Generators for Low-Power Applications” which builds on research funded by the 2020 Starting Grant 3DALIGN. Valeria PULIGNANO, KU Leuven, “ReSTLess - Macro-Social Turn in Labour Market Inequality: An Open Database and A Toolkit of Unpaid Labour” which builds on research funded by the 2018 Advanced Grant REsPecTMe. Jan STEYAERT, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, “PAMinMICE - Positive allosteric modulators of the PD-1•PD-L1 interaction as a new mode of therapeutic intervention for autoimmune diseases: preclinical proof of concept in humanized mice” which builds on research funded by the 2023 Advanced Grant Allosteris.
2025-07-18 AI Continent Advanced Digital SkillsPlease note that the European Commission has extended the submission period for calls DIGITAL-2025-AI-08 and DIGITAL-2025-SKILLS-08. The new deadline is 2 October 2025. This applies to the following call topics: AI Continent: Digital solutions for regulatory compliance through data Multi-Country project in Agri-Food Support to the secretariat for the Alliance on Processors and Semiconductor Technologies Apply AI: GenAI for the public administrations Data Spaces Support Centre Advanced Digital Skills: Sectoral digital skills academies: Virtual Worlds Skills Academy Sectoral digital skills academies: Digital Skills Academy in GenAI Sectoral digital skills academies: Quantum Skills Digital Academy
2025-07-17 EIC EIE Horizon EuropeThe analysis categorises Member States in four innovation groups based on their scores: Innovation Leaders (performance is above 125% of the EU average) Strong Innovators (between 100% and 125% of the EU average) Moderate Innovators (between 70% and 100% of the EU average) Emerging Innovators (below 70% of the EU average) An interactive tool allows for customised comparisons of performance scores and to visualise country profiles, compare relative strengths, weaknesses and trends, and test correlations between indicators. Find all the information about the European Innovation Scoreboard in general and the 2025 edition here.
2025-07-15 Digital, Industry & SpaceWe would like to let you know that, for the two IOD/IOV calls for expression of interest, one for the experiments that need aggregation or a rideshare opportunity and one for the ready-to-fly satellites already equipped with payloads with experiments, the next cut-off date has been postponed to 1 October 2025 (instead of previously 1 September 2025). Potential candidates will find all information here : https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/funding-opportunities-0/calls-proposals/orbit-demonstrationvalidation-20232027_en. Furthermore an article was published that underlines the main characteristics of those two calls : https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/iodiov-orbit-demonstration-orbit-validation-calls-cut-date-extended-1-oct-2025-2025-07-15_en.
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The METHYLOMIC project, ‘targeting hope for personalised medicine in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases’ obtained funding from Horizon Europe’s Health Cluster. The project aims to personalise treatment allocation and enhance the effectiveness of medications for chronic immune-mediated diseases such as Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis. BIRD, the Belgian inflammatory bowel disease research and development group, is a partner in the project and is involved in the OmiCrohn trial, a prospective randomised clinical trial for individualised therapy in Crohn’s disease patients. With BIRD’s active role in this trial, the project is set to deliver predictive, biomarker-based therapies that bring renewed hope for Crohn’s disease patients across Europe.
