The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has published an independent evaluation of the UK’s participation in Horizon 2020. It reports that UK projects backed by the EU framework programme achieved stronger academic reach and were more likely to proceed at full scope than comparable work without such funding. The release comes as the UK approaches two years as an associated country to Horizon Europe on 1 January 2026, following association taking legal effect on 1 January 2024.
According to the DSIT‑commissioned study led by Technopolis, Horizon 2020 funded 10,896 projects with UK involvement, delivering €7.8 billion to UK participants across the 2014–2020 period. Participation remained strong in excellence‑focused instruments, with the European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska‑Curie Actions accounting for 45 percent of EU contributions to UK organisations.
On research quality, the evaluation identifies 40,136 peer‑reviewed publications with at least one UK‑based author arising from Horizon 2020 projects and more than 1.8 million citations recorded as of March 2025. Using field‑weighted citation metrics, publications linked to Horizon 2020 outperformed comparator groups, including the same UK authors’ non‑Horizon outputs and other internationally co‑authored UK publications.
Counterfactual analysis underscores the additionality of EU funding. In survey responses, 73 percent of successful UK applicants said their projects would have been abandoned without Horizon 2020 support; over half of unsuccessful applicants reported abandoning their ideas after not securing funding, with many others reducing scope or delaying timelines.
The government frames the findings within the UK’s current association to Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme running to 2027 with a budget of around €95.5 billion. Ministers describe the UK’s objective as maximising participation in collaborative calls as the association period enters its third calendar year on 1 January 2026.
Near‑term performance indicators are encouraging. In the European Research Council’s 2025 Consolidator Grant competition, the ERC selected 349 mid‑career researchers for €728 million in awards, with 65 grants hosted by UK institutions-the largest share for any country in this round.
Case studies cited by officials illustrate the programme’s reach. INNODIA, a pan‑European Type 1 diabetes platform involving UK universities including Cambridge, King’s College London, Oxford, Cardiff and Exeter, has generated clinical evidence on age‑related differences in C‑peptide and disease progression that informs trial design and biomarker development.
The EBOVAC programme-co‑ordinated through the Innovative Medicines Initiative and involving the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine-advanced a heterologous prime‑boost Ebola vaccine regimen through Phase 1, 2 and 3 trials across Europe and Africa, contributing data towards licensure efforts and outbreak preparedness.
Ministers also signal plans to deepen cross‑border collaboration with Spain and Germany in 2026 through a targeted campaign to highlight the value of including UK partners in Horizon Europe consortia. One example of existing trilateral work is ESCALATE (grant 101096598), which brings together UK firm Electra Commercial Vehicles, Spain’s Primafrio and RWTH Aachen to demonstrate zero‑emission heavy‑duty vehicle technologies; DSIT highlights a £19 million consortium while the Commission’s CORDIS factsheet lists a total project budget of about €25.5 million.
For UK research managers and SMEs, participation rules are unchanged in substance: UK entities can lead and join consortia across Horizon Europe’s pillars, with the specific exception of the EIC Fund (equity element of the EIC Accelerator), for which UK applicants are eligible for grants‑only. DSIT continues to direct applicants to the European Commission’s Funding and Tenders portal and to Innovate UK’s Horizon Hub for guidance and partner search.