Amended Horizon Europe 2026-2027 Work Programmes to come – new opportunities and important changes

22nd June 2026 at 4:09 pm

The Horizon Europe Work Programmes 2026–2027 were published in December 2025 and set out the main funding opportunities for the final years of the programme. However, the EU funding landscape is not static and existing instruments are adapted to current and future needs while new instruments are launched.

In 2026, the European Commission has started discussing amendments to parts of the current Horizon Europe Work Programmes and already published the first new versions through the Comitology Register. This is relevant to all applicants and proposal writers because these amendments can change the practical conditions under which proposals are prepared, submitted and evaluated. This blog opens a new series on the Work Programme changes that will help consortia follow these developments and translate them into stronger proposal strategies until the official publication of the amendments in Autumn 2026.

Possible changes to the conditions

For consortia planning Horizon Europe proposals in 2026, amendment monitoring should be part of proposal preparation. This is particularly important for coordinators preparing multi-partner projects, where late changes can affect consortium design, budgets, impact pathways or eligibility.

Depending on the part of the Work Programme, amendments may affect:

• call conditions and eligibility rules
• budgets and topic allocations
• deadlines or call opening dates
• expected outcomes and scope wording
• links to EU policy priorities
• requirements in the General Annexes
• coordination with Missions, partnerships or cross-cutting activities

First amended Work Programmes

At the time of writing, the Work Programmes on Cluster 4 – Digital, Industry and Space, New European Bauhaus Facility, Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, Horizontal Activities, Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area (WIDERA) and HE General Annexes have been updated.

Below, we summarise the changes in CL4 and the Horizontal Activities Work Programmes, which we will detail in our upcoming blog posts. Remarkably, the amendment in the Horizontal Activities Work Programme creates new opportunities for consortia with strong results from previous or completed Horizon projects, especially where there is a need to validate, de-risk, scale or commercialise outcomes.

Cluster 4

One of the clearest early examples concerns Horizon Europe Cluster 4, Digital, Industry and Space, where a new draft Work Programme (v2 published 30.04.2026) has been published.

Three quantum technology topics that were originally expected under the 2026–2027 Cluster 4 Work Programme and due in April 2026 were cancelled or suspended shortly before the 15 April 2026 deadline. These are:

• HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-11 on quantum sensors for inertial navigation,
• HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-12 on standards for quantum technologies as a coordination and support action, and
• HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-18 on large-scale photonic quantum computing platform technologies as a research and innovation action.

Similar topics may be included in the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking work programme with potential deadlines in the second half of this year. Any relevant information on all calls decided under the EuroHPC work programmes is available here. For applicants, the practical message is straightforward: proposals linked to these quantum topics should not simply proceed on the assumption that the original Cluster 4 route remains valid. They may need to be monitored in relation to the relevant Joint Undertaking work programme and future topic publication.

Additionally, the following changes have been made:

• The topic HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-50: European network for upscaling venture builders’ roles in research performing organisations (CSA) has been added.
• The opening of calls for the 02 Feb 2027 deadline has been postponed by 3 weeks from 22 Sep 2026 to 13 Oct 2026.
• There are slightly reduced budgets for two call topics: HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-62 and HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-49 (also a reduced number of expected funded projects from 25 to 23)

Horizontal Activities: new 2027 opportunities added

The amendments to Horizontal Activities (v3 published 21.05.2026) appear more substantial from a strategic opportunity perspective. A considerable list of 2027 topics has been added, including two new areas: Bridging actions and Transformative change towards a nature-positive economy and society.

• Under the Bridging actions (BRIDGING), 12 call topics have been published. The deadlines for the different calls are as follows:
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-02: 28 Jan 2027
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-04: 16 Feb 2027
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-05: 16 Feb 2027
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-01: 18 March 2027
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-03: 15 Jun 2027

• Under the Transformative change actions (NATURE), 11 call topics have been published. The deadlines for the different calls are as follows:
  • HORIZON-NATURE-2027-01: 14 Jan 2027
  • HORIZON-NATURE-2027-02: 14 Jan 2027
  • HORIZON-NATURE-2027-04: 16 Feb 2027
  • HORIZON-NATURE-2027-03: 16 Sep 2027

• HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-02: 28 Jan 2027
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-04: 16 Feb 2027
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-05: 16 Feb 2027
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-01: 18 March 2027
  • HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-03: 15 Jun 2027

In our upcoming blog post, we will dive into each of these new funding opportunities.

Other changes in the Horizontal Activities Work Programme

In addition to the new opportunities, the Horizontal Activities Work Programme has a few more changes:

• In the HORIZON-RAISE-2027-01 call (which will now open on 13 October 2026), the budget for HORIZON-RAISE-2027-01-01: Automated Scientific Discovery (RAISE pilot) (RIA) has been lowered from 29.00 to 26.50 EUR million, with the expected total contribution per project now being 9 EUR million instead of 10 EUR million.
• In the call HORIZON-RAISE-2026-01-MSCA, 30 EUR million have been added for the HORIZON-RAISE-2026-01-03: RAISE Doctoral Networks for AI in Science (RAISE pilot) (Joint Doctorates).

Our track record

If you are preparing a proposal for 2026 or 2027, we are ready to support you from strategy to submission. At accelopment, we work closely with consortia across all major Horizon Europe clusters to translate Work Programme texts into competitive, evaluator-ready proposals. Our team of experts supports researchers, companies and institutions throughout the entire funding process – from strategic grant planning, to proposal writing, project management and communication and dissemination. With deep knowledge of Pillar II funding opportunities, we help our partners increase their chances of success in securing European research grants across the different clusters. Having collaborated with over 1,000 institutions in Europe and beyond, we are currently involved in over 30 projects. Our portfolio includes CL1 Health projects (such as ResPECT, EDiHTA, EU PAL-COPD, EXPOSIM and the Cancer Mission project GLIOMATCH), the CL3 Security project CapCell, several CL5 Energy and Mobility projects (such as PEPPERONI, ROADVIEW and SOLARX) and CL6 Food and Bioeconomy Projects, including DECIDE and PHOTONFOOD. We look forward to supporting researchers in upcoming calls. Ready to embark on this adventure? Get in touch with our team to discuss how to position your project idea and write a competitive proposal.

Dr. Johannes Ripperger
Research & Innovation Manager

Andreia Cruz
Research & Innovation Project Manager