The EU’s 2016 budget was adopted by the European Parliament on November 25, restoring funding for the EU’s Horizon 2020 program that had been cut in the draft budget. Horizon 2020 is the EU’s primary mechanism for funding scientific research, with an estimated $103.4 billion budget from 2014 to 2020 (see IBO 12/31/13). Compared to the draft budget, the final budget for 2016 reinstates €31.8 million ($35.3 million = €0.90 = $1) in commitment appropriations for Horizon 2020. Commitment appropriations refer to funding that is contracted for a given year, while payment appropriations refers to funding that is paid out in a given year, including for past commitments.

The EU’s 2016 budget provides €9.529 billion ($10.588 billion) for Horizon 2020 commitments, flat with the prior year. Payments for Horizon 2020 increased 11.6% to €10.069 billion ($11.188 billion) for 2016, according to an EU official.

Horizon 2020 primarily consists of three main “pillars”: Excellent Science, which includes funding for research grants, such as those provided by the European Research Council; Industrial Leadership, which provides grants to small- and medium-sized businesses as well as financing through organizations, such as the European Investment Bank; and Societal Challenges, which addresses social needs, such as health, food safety and clean energy.

An EU official told IBO that 2016 commitments for Excellent Science were flat at €2.889 billion ($3.210 billion). However, payments for Excellent Science rose 25.9% to €1.523 billion ($1.692 billion). Commitments for Industrial Leadership declined 6.8% to €1.789 billion ($1.988 billion), while payments jumped 59.5% to €1.742 billion ($1.936 billion). Societal Challenges’ commitments increased a healthy 9.2% to €2.792 billion ($3.102 billion), and payments grew even faster, increasing 43.1% to €1.955 billion ($2.172 billion). The figures in the table on this page reflect selected programs within each pillar.

In addition, Horizon 2020 consists of four “horizontal activities,” which span all three pillars: Excellence in Science to connect science to social needs; Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation to promote inclusion of all Member States and cohesion; the European Institute of Innovation and Technology to integrate academia, research and business in order to promote innovation; and the Joint Research Service, which provides research services to the European Commission. The figures for these four headings are presented in the table for each program’s total commitment amount as presented in EU budget documents.

As the table highlights, notable increases in commitment appropriations for 2016 Horizon 2020 programs include a boost for “Securing sufficient supplies of safe, healthy and high quality food and other bio-based products,” which is part of Horizon 2020’s Societal Challenge 2, entitled “Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy.” Among the calls in this Challenge’s 2016–17 Work Programme, published in October 2015, are Sustainable Food Security and Bio-Based Innovation for Sustainable Goods and Services.