research europe

European Research and Innovation Days

The European Commission’s annual flagship research and innovation event brings together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and the public to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.

This fifth edition of the event will take place on 20 and 21 March 2024 both physically in Brussels and online, allowing everyone to get involved from anywhere.

The R&I Days 2024 will give you the opportunity to debate how we can make Europe more sustainable and competitive and will celebrate the outcomes and achievements in research and innovation since the launch of the first R&I Framework Programme over 40 years ago.

It’s your chance to discover successful EU-funded research and innovation projects, experience their impact on our society and debate the importance of continued investment in research and innovation. You can find out more on Horizon Europe, including the Strategic Plan 2025 – 2027 and its Widening Instrument; R&I support to Green and Digital transition; its Global Approach; and many other topics.

Join us to discuss and shape the future of research and innovation.

EVENT PROGRAMME AND REGISTRATION

Stay tuned for more news by following us on Twitter @EUScienceInnov and join the conversation on #RiDaysEU.

Science Europe

Science Europe is the association representing major public organisations that fund or perform excellent, ground-breaking research in Europe.

We bring together the expertise of some of the largest and best-known research organisations in the world to jointly push the frontiers of how scientific research is produced and delivers benefits to society.

We advocate science and the scientific community to help build the European Research Area and shape the global scientific agenda.

Key figures

29 countries.

With members from 29 EU and non-EU countries and from all parts of Europe, we speak with a truly European voice.

40 member organisations

Bringing together research funding and research performing organisations.

Our members make a significant contribution to European scientific research and are crucial stakeholders in European science and research policy making.

Vote for Science: European Parliament Elections 2024

The Science Europe campaign 'Vote for Science' advocates political support for science research in the run-up to the 6–9 June European Parliament elections. Under the hashtag #Vote4Science, we encourage the use of informed policy making in forming the EU legislative agenda for the next five years.

• EU Framework Programmes
• Academic Freedom
• Open Access
• EU Legislation

High Level Workshop on ERA 2024

The 2024 High Level Workshop on ERA is co-organised with HUN-REN and MTA, with the support of the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Innovation. It deals with 'Strengthening European cohesion and competitiveness through research and innovation: the science agenda for European progress in a global context'.

• Cross-border Collaboration
• European Research Area

Cooperation between Europe and Africa – best practice, future possibilities, and the role of Science Europe

The first workshop in Tallinn on 30 October, following the European GRC Regional Meeting, will focus on Africa-Europe co-operation. Selected European and African countries will share existing good practices and opportunities for future co-operation.

2024 GRC European Regional Meeting

On 28-30 October 2024, Heads of Organisation in the European region will meet to discuss and prepare European contributions to the Annual Meeting. Similar meetings will take place in the four other GRC regions: Americas, Asia–Pacific, Middle East/North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Reciprocity in Multilateral Research Collaboration

Science Europe and the Research Council of Norway (RCN) are organising an event on reciprocity in multilateral research collaboration during the Science Summit at the 79th UN General Assembly. The objective is to address challenges to equitable and reciprocal global scientific collaboration.

Report of High-level Conference 'Unlocking the Power of Science Communication in Research and Policy Making'

This report summarises the High-level Conference on Science Communication organised by Science Europe, FWO, and FNRS. The event emphasised the role of science communication, the importance of integrating it into research programmes and policies, and providing support for those engaging in it.

• Science Communication
• Artificial Intelligence

Greening Research Webinars Series: Final Report

This report summarises the main lessons learned from three webinars on greening research and proposes key messages for the next steps. A summary of each webinar's contents is presented; common lessons and key messages from the whole series are jointly discussed in the final section.

• Greening Research

Integrity at the Heart of Healthy and Effective Research Cultures

Research integrity is a cornerstone of robust and reliable research systems, and is linked to healthy research cultures, attractive working environments, and the collective goal to support high-quality research. This statements reaffirms its importance and offers recommendations to research organisations for further action.

• Research Culture
• Research Integrity and Ethics

Announcing the Global Diamond Open Access Alliance

Join this UNESCO webinar that will introduce and officially announce the Global Diamond Open Access Alliance, highlighting its vision, mission, and objectives, and to engage stakeholders in a collaborative effort to promote Diamond Open Access .

10 Key Messages for the 10th EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10)

This position paper discusses the successes and challenges of Horizon Europe and proposes ways forward to increase investment in R&I, while preserving academic freedom, open science, international collaboration, and R&I integration as foundational principles for the upcoming Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10).

From Ambition To Action: Fostering Research Excellence In Europe - 2023 Annual Report

2023 proved to be another landmark year for Science Europe: building on the achievements of the previous year and setting the direction for new approaches in vital areas of research policy.

• Research Assessment
• Research Data
• Research Infrastructures
• Data-related Legislation
• Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
• Research Careers
• Citizen Science
• Open Science

Multi-annual Action Plan 2021-2026

This Multi-annual Action Plan proposes a series of framework actions to guide the implementation of the Science Europe Strategy Plan 2021–2026 in line with the association's updated vision, mission, values, and strategic priorities. The Action Plan was updated in June 2024.

Greening Research Webinar Series

Science Europe's Greening Research Webinar Series sought to raise awareness, discuss solutions, and empower action to reduce the environmental impact of research activities by exploring its footprint, addressing challenges, and offering actionable steps for the future.

Research Matters Open Letter: A call to strengthen research and innovation in Europe

Science Europe has joined other research and higher education organisations in a call to increase and strengthen investment for research and innovation at European and national level and protect R&I budgets, as part of the Research Matters campaign. 

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• 22 May 2019

What Europe is getting right about research

You have full access to this article via your institution.

Elections for the European parliament will take place in May. Credit: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty

This week, the European Union is holding parliamentary elections — as it does every five years — and researchers are paying close attention. With the United Kingdom still scheduled to leave the bloc, and with populist and nationalist sentiment growing in many nations, there’s a sense that the integration on which the EU has thrived for decades might be on the wane. Last month, the European Geosciences Union held a special session at its general assembly in Vienna to air concerns on the topic, and issued a declaration that “threats to a united Europe are threats to scientific research”.

It’s right. The value of an integrated EU for science hasn’t been lauded enough. The unique economic and political union built from the rubble of Europe after the Second World War has created an increasingly peaceful and prosperous continent, and has spun a precious web of research collaborations among its member states and beyond. No other group of countries collaborates at such a scale. That’s why, in a special issue this week, Nature is looking beyond Brexit to the future of research in Europe.

Convinced that research is the bedrock of economic and social progress, EU member states have committed an increasingly larger share of their central budget to it. The EU’s framework programme for research and innovation has grown from 4% of its annual budget a decade ago to 8% now, and totals €74.8 billion (US$83.5 billion) for 2014–20 alone. Although this represents only around one-tenth of individual EU member states’ public research and development spending, the framework programme has set up the highly competitive European Research Council (ERC) and has incorporated a widely admired system of cross-border research projects and training fellowships, enabled by the close harmony of the EU’s single market. The research programmes have been powerful forces for European integration: it’s now taken for granted that scientists should be able to live and work anywhere they want in the bloc.

The EU earmarks extra funds — €44 billion — to help poorer nations to build up their research infrastructure; these funds have been particularly valuable to the formerly communist Eastern European nations that have joined the bloc since 2004. This geographic diversity breeds stronger research. And EU member states, recognizing that they are more powerful together than apart, have crafted world-leading policies on environmental standards — including climate change, chemical regulation and plastics pollution. They are also setting new, exemplary standards for data protection (in the form of general data-protection regulation) and open science that will influence much of the rest of the world.

So what does the future hold? Although Europe’s relative share of global science and research spending is shrinking (as China’s expands), its research remains highly cited and influential . One possible cloud is growing inequality in European science: since the global financial crisis of 2008, countries such as Spain haven’t recovered their former levels of research spending and number of scientists. Some of the newer EU member states seem unwilling to make large domestic investments in research, which could put them at risk of falling further behind.

The EU is now planning its next budget and big framework programme, called Horizon Europe , set to run from 2021 to 2027 — which a new parliament and commission will continue hammering out later this year . Concerns that this parliament might be less research friendly should be tempered: some parliamentarians have been much more committed than national science ministers in EU member states to the task of supporting European science. And although the increased desire for innovation and translation in Horizon Europe is laudable, it must remain grounded. There is no innovation without fundamental research, and so the parties involved in budget negotiation should give a more generous increase to the ERC, which has to reject too many good projects because of limited funds.

It is clear which lessons the new parliament — and others interested in furthering global research — should take from EU history. Rigorous research is essential for addressing societal and environmental challenges. Producing it requires collaboration, long-term planning and stability, and holding fast to those strengths against populism, nationalism or any other forces that threaten to drive countries apart. The future parliament should champion this — and individual researchers can, too. They should simply tell others how the EU is fundamental to their work.

Nature 569 , 455 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01561-4

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Research projects and results

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The EU-funded Nunataryuk project assessed the impacts of thawing coastal and subsea permafrost on the global climate.

Strategy and policy

• Strategy 2020-2024
• Support for policy making
• Contribute to research and innovation strategy
• Dissemination and exploitation of research results
• Past policy goals

Research by area Research areas in which the European Commission works.

• EU legislation on research and innovation (EUR-Lex)
• Ensuring EU legislation supports innovation
• Intellectual property rights
• Technology transfer

Facts and figures

• Framework programme facts and figures
• Performance indicators
• Jobs for researchers
• ResearchComp: The European Competence Framework for Researchers
• Become an expert at the European Commission
• Vacancies at the Joint Research Centre (JRC)
• ERA4Ukraine
• Publications
• Scientific tools
• Knowledge centres and data portals
• Patents and licencing
• Interactive reports
• News article
• 10 September 2024

The European Biodiversity Partnership Biodiversa+, co-funded by the European Union, has launched a new transnational joint research call on “Biodiversity and Transformative Change”.

• 9 September 2024

Open Research Europe: Towards a collective open access publishing service envisions transforming ORE into a collectively funded publishing service.

• 4 September 2024

Research and innovation news alert: The call for applications to the Gender Equality Champions opens today . Interested organisations can apply online via the Funding and Tenders Portal until 16 October 2024 at 17:00 CET.

Research and innovation

Leading innovation through eu research.

Investing in research and innovation is investing in Europe’s future. It helps us to compete globally and preserve our unique social model. It improves the daily lives of millions of people here in Europe and around the world, helping to solve some of our biggest societal challenges.

EU support for research and innovation adds value by encouraging cooperation between research teams across countries and disciplines that is vital in making breakthrough discoveries.

• Goals of EU research and innovation policy
• Summaries of EU legislation on research and innovation

Through its multiannual research and innovation framework programmes, the EU provides funding to:

• strengthen the EU’s position in science
• strengthen industrial innovation, including investment in key technologies, greater access to capital and support for small businesses
• address major social concerns, such as climate change, sustainable transport and renewable energy
• ensure technological breakthroughs are developed into viable products with real commercial potential – by building partnerships with industry and governments
• step up international cooperation on research & innovation
• Main EU funding programme for research and innovation
• All funding opportunities for research and innovation

EU research and innovation activities are managed, through a number of departments, agencies and bodies , and results, knowledge and data are shared through:

• Project databases
• Publications, tools and data
• The EU research and innovation magazine

Publication

Related EU topics

• Business and industry
• Environment
• Employment and social affairs

Related events and information

• Find upcoming research and innovation events across EU institutions and locations
• Browse the library for publications on research and innovation
• Infographic - European Research Area
• EU research success stories
• Stay connected through social media

European Research Executive Agency

The European Research Executive Agency is a funding body for research and innovation. It manages EU research grants. 

Responsibilities

Mandated by the European Commission to support the EU Research and Innovation policy, the European Research Executive Agency (REA), funds high-quality research and innovation projects that generate knowledge for the benefit of society. REA also manages promotion measures concerning agricultural products.

REA’s responsibilities are to:

• Manage research projects supported under Horizon Europe , the world’s largest framework programme for research and innovation to date, running from 2021 to 2027.
• Manage research projects supported under Horizon 2020 , the previous framework programme for research and innovation (2014-2020).
• Implement the European Union programmes Promotion of agricultural products and Research Fund for Coal and Steel , as well as ongoing projects funded under the EU’s 2014-2020 budget.
• Assist funding and tender applicants, beneficiaries and independent experts.
• Manage the European Commission’s Research Enquiry Service , which answers questions from grant applicants, EU-funded researchers and the public.
• Support independent experts evaluating project proposals competing for EU research funds.
• Assist with the legal and financial validation of all European Union programme grants and procurement operations directly funded by the European Commission.

European Research Executive Agency website 

Programmes and project opportunities

The agency manages the following EU programmes (or parts thereof):

Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe Pillar 1 - Excellent Science

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
• Research Infrastructures

Horizon Europe Pillar 2 - Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness

• Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society
• Civil Security for Society
• Food, Bio-economy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Cross-cutting activities spanning all three pillars of Horizon Europe: Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area

• Widening participation and spreading excellence
• Reforming and enhancing the European Research and Innovation system

Other European Union programmes

• Research Fund for Coal and Steel
• Promotion of agricultural products

All funding information and procedures on how to apply are on the Funding and Tenders portal .

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 was the EU’s research and innovation funding programme from 2014 to 2020. REA managed around 7000 projects, some still ongoing, in the following areas:

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
• Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy
• Climate action, Environment, resource efficiency and raw materials
• Innovative, inclusive and reflective societies
• Secure societies
• Spreading excellence and widening participation
• Science with and for society

Legal basis and governance of the European Research Executive Agency

Leadership and organisation

Director Marc Tachelet

Boulevard Simon Bolivar 34 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel Belgium

Related links

Plans and reports.

Commission work programme overview of institution-wide deliverables for current year

Annual activity report department achievements, resources used during previous year

Annual work programme budget line for certain policies and funding programmes for current year

Annual budgets and annual accounts overview of the annual operating budgets and accounts

Requests for access to REA documents Report on application of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 during 2021

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Study in Europe

Getting you ready to plan and complete higher education studies in Europe

Research opportunities

Europe welcomes you!

The European Union has ambitious plans to grow its research industry over the next decade. There were 1.58 million full time equivalent researchers in the European Union in 2009. Over the next decade, the EU is actively looking to attract an additional 1 million researchers!

As one of the world’s leading research centres, Europe offers you fantastic opportunities if you want to study, work or build your career here.

The European Research Area

The European Research Area is a unified area open to the world. The idea is to remove barriers so that researchers can move freely within Europe, get better access to jobs and funding, and concentrate on their research. Watch the short film below or visit the European Research Area website to find out more.

European research opportunities, jobs and funding

EURAXESS is the European Union’s website for researchers wishing to pursue their research careers in Europe. The EURAXESS website brings you essential information about European research opportunities - covering funding, fellowships and advice on planning your move. You can also search through over 40000 jobs per year in universities, research institutes and industry across Europe!

As well as the main EURAXESS website, there are individual websites for 40 countries in Europe, providing more detailed information about each country .

Funding for research and innovation projects

You can find out lots about research funding and scholarships via the EURAXESS website mentioned above. In addition, have a look at the Study in Europe Scholarships and costs page.

Visas for non-European researchers

Do you need a visa to study in Europe? Each country in Europe has its own visa and immigration system. In the Country profiles section, you can see a link to visa information for each of the 33 Study in Europe countries – alternatively, visit the European Union Immigration Portal .

If you are a science researcher, there is an additional option. The Scientific Visa helps researchers obtain permission to enter, stay and work in European Union Member States for the purpose of carrying out scientific research. Participating EU member states are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

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