Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of research funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract.

• Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness.
• Participants from European Union member states and countries associated to Horizon 2020 are automatically funded.
• Participation from outside the European Union is explicitly encouraged.
• Associated countries have signed an association agreement for the purposes of this framework programme. To date, 14 countries are associated to Horizon 2020.
• Horizon 2020 itself is seen as a policy instrument to implement other high-level policy initiatives of the European Union, such as Europe 2020 and Innovation Union. The programme runs from 2014–20 and provides an estimated €80 billion of funding.