According to ScienceIBusiness, these are the main categories:

Horizon Europe, €97.6 billion. This is the flagship research and innovation programme, succeeding the current, €77 billion Horizon 2020....Its key parts include individual grants for scientists and entrepreneurs, group grants for collaborative research projects, and a wide range of politically de rigeur research programmes in Europe and across the world. While officially not yet approved, the detailed (leaked) plan for Horizon Europe includes creating a one-stop-shop for entrepreneurs seeking funding; cutting the number and kind of complex, cross-sectoral partnerships; advancing open science; expanding international research collaborations; strengthening east European science and creating high-profile “missions” to appeal to Europeans everywhere.

Euratom, €2.4 billion. This is the oldest EU research effort, dating back to the founding treaties in 1957. It started as a way to develop nuclear energy; but as national rivalry in this field intensified,

ITER, €6.1 billion. “Fusion is the energy of the future – and always will be.” Such is the oft-quoted quip about one of the world’s biggest research projects, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. Under construction in Cadarache, France, the project aims to move the world closer to a 60-year old goal of harnessing the energy that powers the stars. 

InvestEU, €15.2 billion. This is another EU attempt at financial alchemy. The idea, pioneered in the so-called Juncker Plan in 2014, is to use a bit of EU money to attract lots of other public and private investment – in essence, reducing the risk of investment for the private sector. 

Military R&D, €4.1 billion. War – or the fear of it – is big these days. In the EU budget, defence gets €13 billion overall  - and a tiny, €90 million pilot programme on military R&D explodes into a €4.1 billion campaign, run by the European Defence Agency.

Digital Affairs, €9.2 billion-plus. Nearly 40 years ago, Europe’s “technology gap” with the US in computing and electronics was a motivator for the first Framework Programme; now, with Google, Facebook and other American IT companies on a tear, it’s back on the agenda. The budget includes €9.2 billion for a Digital Europe programme to invest in supercomputing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, training and other fields.

Synergies-plus, Amount unknown. For several years, the Commission has been striving to overcome its internal turf battles and get its different departments working better together. Research is no exception, with dozens of pockets of research-related activities going on inside agriculture, regional development, transport, energy, health, environment, climate, international relations and other policy fields. The aim: to promote “synergies” among the different programmes.

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