The UK contributes around £2 billion per year to Horizon Europe, providing UK businesses and researchers with access to curiosity driven research funding, world-class collaborations, and opportunities to grow and scale up their innovations. The UK's association agreement includes a mechanism under which the UK would be compensated if UK researchers and innovators receive significantly less funding from the programme than the UK contributes.

The UK's current annual contribution to participate in Copernicus is approximately £130 million per annum, which is tied to annual Gross Domestic Product metrics. This contribution provides UK users with access to Copernicus Earth observation data and services, and enables UK organisations to compete for industrial contracts to develop and operate the system and create value-added products and services.

Whilst the UK has been successful in overturning all exclusions that were subject to assessment by the Commission, there remain a small number of exclusions, including in areas that are delivered through InvestEU, to which the UK is not associated.

The UK is following the Commission proposal for the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) with interest, including on the scope of associated country participation and implications for associated third country participation in Horizon Europe’s successor (FP10)

In the current financial year the UK has allocated £2.1 billion for association to EU programmes, this includes association to Horizon Europe, Copernicus, and the Horizon Guarantee. This covers access to the entire programme including pillars 2 and 3, giving our researchers and businesses the ability to participate confidently in the world's largest research and innovation programme. Thanks to constructive collaboration between the UK and the EU, the vast majority of the limited exclusions we faced on sensitive technology calls have been lifted.

Since the UK’s association to Horizon Europe, UK researchers and businesses can confidently participate in this programme which runs until 2027. Making the UK’s association to Horizon Europe a success is the Government’s priority. The Government has been providing extensive assistance to the UK’s R&D communities to maximise their chances of applying and succeeding with Horizon Europe. Constituents in South Holland and the Deepings, and wider Lincolnshire can participate in these initiatives.

The Honourable Member can access the data on how much Horizon Europe funding has been allocated to organisations – across both the South Holland and the Deepings constituency, and Lincolnshire – via the public EU Funding and Tenders Portal: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/horizon-dashboard. This data can be found in the R&I Projects section of the Funding and Tenders Portal, under the Key Figures page, using the relevant filters.

The UK is an Associated Country to Horizon Europe. UK applicants are eligible to apply to Horizon Europe calls both now and in the future. The Government strongly encourages researchers to do so.

Horizon Europe funding calls are set by the EU, who then evaluate applications and award funding accordingly. As Horizon Europe is a competitive fund, UK entities bid into the programme directly.

As a result of the UK’s association to Horizon Europe, institutions and organisations in Bradford and West Yorkshire have been awarded €10 million and €74 million, respectively, as of 13 June 2025. These figures include funding from the UK Government’s Horizon Europe Guarantee Scheme.

As an Associated Country to Horizon Europe, the UK actively contributes to the programme’s governance and development, including through participation in programme committees. This enables the UK to shape the direction of international research and maximise collaboration on areas of mutual interest in Horizon Europe, including within Cluster 5 of the programme which focuses on Climate, Energy and Mobility.

The Government cannot comment on the 2026-2027 Horizon Europe Work Programme, as it is still in development by the European Commission.

Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) play a critical role in helping the rail industry reduce its emissions and costs, optimise operations, improve resilience and safety and enhance passenger experience. The Department of Transport continues to engage closely with Horizon Europe, through the European Rail Joint Undertaking (ERJU), to collaborate. DfT officials represent the UK on the ERJU States Representative Group (SRG) to promote the UK rail sector and, working alongside Network Rail, access available funding for projects that are aligned to UK Government priorities. The Department of Transport also supports UK rail industry RD&I though funding the Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), First of a Kind (FOAK) programme, amongst other RD&I programmes. The FOAK programme aims to accelerate and increase the adoption of innovation within rail and received approximately £7.7m between FY2022-23 and FY2024-25.

The AI Opportunities Action Plan, which was developed by Matt Clifford, sets out how we will achieve our AI ambitions by laying the foundations for AI growth, driving adoption and building UK capability at the frontier.

The Action Plan was informed by a series of external roundtables with experts from across the AI ecosystem including civil society, academia, investors, and industry, including from UKRI. The department also regularly engages with the Horizon Programme and the responsible EU officials. These discussions have informed the action plan and continue to shape our ongoing work.

AI-generated content is captured by the Online Safety Act where it constitutes illegal content or content harmful to children on an in-scope service. We will also criminalise the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes through the Crime and Policing Bill.

We welcome research on this important topic. DSIT co-led the Deepfake Detection Challenge with the Home Office to assess existing capabilities and identify innovative solutions to overcome the challenges of deepfakes. In addition, we have engaged with a range of stakeholders across industry, academia and civil society to understand the potential for further detection, prevention and removal of deepfake content and identify future research priorities.

Space research in Horizon Europe is covered under Pillar 2, in the cluster ‘Digital, Industry and Space’. DSIT encourages UK researchers to take part in the available funding opportunities to support international cooperation.

The EU has restricted the participation of associated countries in a small part of the programme, which includes some calls focused on space technology. DSIT is working constructively with the EU to address these restrictions. We do not pay for areas in which we do not participate.

Making Horizon Europe association a success is DSIT’s priority and DSIT is working to boost UK participation and remove barriers to international R&D collaborations.

Space research in Horizon Europe is covered under Pillar 2, in the cluster ‘Digital, Industry and Space’. DSIT encourages UK researchers to take part in the available funding opportunities to support international cooperation.

The EU has restricted the participation of associated countries in a small part of the programme, which includes some calls focused on space technology. DSIT is working constructively with the EU to address these restrictions. We do not pay for areas in which we do not participate.

Making Horizon Europe association a success is DSIT’s priority and DSIT is working to boost UK participation and remove barriers to international R&D collaborations.

The UK’s association to Horizon Europe means that UK researchers and businesses can participate in the world’s largest programme of research cooperation, worth £80bn+, alongside their EU colleagues and those from other Associated Countries. UK researchers are fully eligible, and DSIT encourages them to apply for funding calls in Horizon Europe’s ‘Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment’ cluster.

Making Horizon Europe association a success is the Government’s priority, and that is why DSIT is engaging with key stakeholders to boost UK participation and remove barriers to international R&D collaborations.

It is our priority to make Horizon association a success. Government have launched a series of initiatives have been launched to help UK organisations engage with the programme. These include a marketing campaign and large-scale events around the country to promote Horizon Europe, and pump priming support to help increase application numbers, delivered by the British Academy and Innovate UK. On Copernicus, DSIT has been working closely with the UK Earth observation sector to promote the opportunities from renewed participation in the EU Copernicus programme. This includes hosting two Copernicus industry days, investing £250m to support industry and academics to stay at the forefront of Earth observation and through the UK Space Agency. For both programmes, the Department is actively working with European partners to promote UK expertise and capabilities and encouraging collaboration opportunities.

We expect to contribute over £8bn to Horizon Europe between 2024-2027, and are aiming for UK researchers to be awarded the maximum amount possible through successful funding bids. Our priority is to boost UK application and success rates to maximise this return. As we re-joined the programme in January of this year, and there is a lag between applications and awards, it is too early to properly assess UK success in the programme.

We have secured financial protections that ensure the UK can clawback funds if contributions to Horizon Europe exceed receipts that go to UK researchers and businesses and researchers by 16%.

Horizon Europe runs from 2021 to 2027. Data on UK receipts from the Framework Programmes between 2010 and 2020 is available via the EU’s Horizon Dashboard.

The UK associated to Horizon Europe in January 2024, and with a small number of exceptions, UK organisations have not received any funding from prior to association. UK participation between 2021 and 2023 was funded by the UK Guarantee, and the funding data is available on the UK Research and Innovation website. As 2024 data becomes available, this will be published via the Dashboard.

Framework Programme 10 is still being developed by the EU.