EU Fact Sheets – Policy for research and technological development – 10-06-2025

Source: European Parliament

EU policy for research and technological development (RTD) has been an important area of European legislation since the start, and was extended in the 1980s with a European framework programme for research. In 2014, most EU research funding came under the umbrella of Horizon 2020, which covered the period 2014-2020 and aimed at ensuring the EU’s global competitiveness. Its successor Horizon Europe, the current EU research and innovation programme, was launched in 2021 for the period 2021-2027.