Horizon Europe’s Horizontal Actions 2027: Extra funding for nature, innovation and competitiveness

Horizon Europe’s Horizontal Actions 2027: Extra funding for nature, innovation and competitiveness On 29 September 2026, the European Commission allocated an additional €500 million to Horizon Europe until the end of 2027. This budget goes to two new cross-cutting calls for project proposals on protecting biodiversity, strengthening EU competitiveness and bringing products of research projects to market. The European Research Executive Agency (REA) will manage around half of the additional Horizon Europe budget under the new Nature and Bridging actions. Read below to discover these new funding opportunities and how to apply. For more Horizon Europe funding opportunities, check our website and the Funding and Tenders Portal. Transformative Change Towards a Nature-Positive Economy and SocietyREA will manage two actions of this call, which include 10 topics. This call supports the European Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’. Horizon Europe - Nature action 1 Budget: €41.45 million I Call with three topics opens on 13 October 2026 Under this call, we are looking for projects that will help understand the effects of PFAS (commonly called also "forever chemicals" due to their long environmental lifetimes) on biodiversity. Selected projects will investigate the benefits of the clean and digital industries for biodiversity, accelerating its transformative change.   How to apply | Join the Info Day on 16 October 2026 and the Brokerage event on 19 October 2026. Registration is open for both events. Horizon Europe - Nature action 2 Budget: €108 million I Call with five topics opens on 13 October 2026 The EU will fund projects that assess biodiversity decline of invertebrates, develop labs co-creating solutions for nature restoration, provide innovative solutions to fight wildlife trafficking, curb the spread of invasive species and propose cost-effective biodiversity monitoring for EU policies. How to apply | Join the Info Day on 16 October 2026 and the Brokerage event on 19 October 2026. Registration is open for both events Bridging Actions 2027 REA will manage five topics under the Bridging actions, which will prepare the ground for the EU's next research and innovation programme (Horizon Europe 2028-2034) and its links with the future European Competitiveness Fund. Advancing promising results from Pillar II collaborative research through the innovation journeyBudget: €32.5 million I Call opens on 20 October 2026 Proposals must be based on results from at least one completed multi-beneficiary project funded under Horizon Europe Pillar II, Clusters 1 to 6, through a Research and Innovation Action (RIA), Innovation Action (IA) or Pre-commercial Procurement Action (PCP).  Projects funded under this topic must build on results that have already reached a sufficient level of maturity. This includes projects funded under the following Horizon Europe clusters: Cluster 1: ‘Health’  Cluster 2 ‘Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society’ Cluster 3 ‘Civil Security for Society’  Cluster 4: ‘Digital, Industry and Space’ Cluster 5: ‘Climate, Energy and Mobility’ Cluster 6 ‘Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment. How to apply | Join the Info Day on 16 October 2026 and the Brokerage event on 19 October 2026. Registration is open for both events. Valorising Horizon Europe project results via innovation ecosystemsBudget: €20 million I Call opens on 20 October 2026 The EU will fund proposals that support owners of Horizon Europe project results to bring their solutions to market, connect research outcomes with public/private knowledge intermediaries, and strengthen collaboration between research, education and innovation stakeholders. Proposals must address one of the following thematic areas:  Agriculture and food systems Clean transition: energy & transport Health Bioeconomy Raw materials & advanced materials How to apply | Join the Info Day on 16 October 2026 and the Brokerage event on 19 October 2026. Registration is open for both events. Research Infrastructures-related Bridging topicsBudget: €30.5 million I Three topics on research infrastructures will open on 9 March We look for projects improving research infrastructure services: To reinforce European leadership and resilience of critical research data and knowledge repositories for life sciences, including in biomedical and biomolecular related disciplines, supporting their integration in EOSC Federation (topic 4). For industry-driven research to foster innovation in biomedical or food technology, clean energy, clean mobility, advanced materials for circular and bio- economy, accelerators and superconducting magnets, microelectronics and sensing technology for ocean observation (Bridging Action topic 6). To interconnect and attract global scientific talents and strengthen Europe’s position as a partner of choice for international scientific cooperation, supporting the Choose Europe initiative (topic 7). How to apply | Info Day will be organised in March 2027 Read moreEU support to research and innovation increases with additional €500 million for research programme Horizon Europe (Press release) Horizon Europe launches a new research and innovation call on nature - Research and innovation Horizon Europe work programme 2026-2027