The European Commission has now published its analysis of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027.
The process involved internal services of the European Commission in discussion with EU Member States and is intended to support the Commission in its preparations for the last two years of Horizon Europe.
The analysis itself focused on whether the orientations and activities included in the new Strategic Plan should reflect the most important recent developments in EU and global policy, especially those impacting the future challenges and opportunities for Research and Innovation.
The analysis looked at relevant developments for the EU policy priorities and provided examples of the role that R&I play in addressing them. It incorporated findings from other reports such as the Science, research and innovation performance (SRIP) of the EU 2022 report, and also includes a section on the societal demand for R&I and citizen engagement. The report provides an overview of current R&I activities and identifies gaps in existing efforts on the implementation of Horizon Europe.
The analysis reports that R&I is at the forefront of the EU’s preparedness, resilience, security, and crisis response. It suggests that the EU remains a scientific powerhouse and has improved its overall innovation performance in the past seven years, even though it is falling behind China and the USA in terms of scientific excellence (i.e. world share of top 1% most-cited scientific publications) and of research and development expenditure as a percentage of GDP.
The analysis also states that the EU is lagging behind China and the USA with respect to the digital transition, but it is among the world leaders of the green transition.
The Strategic Plan sets out the policy priorities for Horizon Europe, as well as expected impacts. It is the basis for the work programmes covering Pillar II of Horizon Europe and its call topics. The current Strategic Plan covers the period 2021–2024.