Spain achieves a return of over €3,000M with the Horizon Europe Program between 2021 and 2023
Between 2021 and 2023, Spain has achieved a record return of €3,416.9 million in the Horizon Europe Program, positioning itself as the third country with the most grants, behind only Germany and France. Additionally, it leads 16% of collaborative R&D&I projects and has increased its participation by more than 30% compared to the previous program.
At artica+i, we participate as the technical office of the RENOVATE project, led by UPC, whose goal is to address the transformation and modernization of the agricultural sector. For this purpose, 16 partners from 8 countries have joined forces in this ongoing project funded by the Horizon Europe Program.
The Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (MCIU) has published the results of Spanish participation in the Horizon Europe Program between 2021 and 2023.
Horizon Europe is the European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation for the period 2021-2027 and has a budget of approximately €95.5 billion for funding research, technological development, and innovation activities. Horizon Europe is primarily implemented through competitive calls for proposals, which are managed by the European Commission or its executive agencies.
According to data published by the MCIU, the Spanish entities participating have reached a record return in the calls awarded in the first three years of the program (2021-2023), amounting to €3,416.9 million.
Thus, Spain positions itself as the third country with the most grants obtained, only behind Germany and France, with a return rate of 11.7%, far surpassing the results of previous editions of the Framework Program.
These results come from the official database of Spanish participation in the Program based on sources from the European Commission after the closure of the first three-year period of the Horizon Europe Program, presented in a report by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI).
In addition to its strong presence and participation in Horizon Europe, Spain continues to consolidate itself as the leading country in collaborative R&D&I project leadership, ahead of 16% of the funded projects. This highlights the importance and international positioning of Spanish entities.
The participation of Spanish entities in successful proposals is very high. One in three funded proposals involves Spanish participation, increasing Spain’s presence by more than 30% compared to the previous Framework Program. Thus, 3,657 funded proposals involve Spanish partners, with 8,567 participations, placing Spain second in terms of participation numbers.
Spain also remains second in terms of participation numbers in a program that establishes funding lines for key R&D&I themes and missions, as well as participation rules for institutions and research staff.
Greater grants for companies
Among the Spanish beneficiaries, companies receive the highest grants, with 32.2% of the funding, followed by universities at 22%. The rest of the financial return is distributed among research associations (12.8%), technological centers (12.6%), public research centers (11.7%), public administrations (4.4%), associations (3.7%), and European organizations (0.6%).
By Autonomous Communities, there is a general improvement in results, especially in Extremadura and the Canary Islands, which have already accumulated more funding in the first three years of Horizon Europe than all the funding obtained in H2020. Catalonia maintains the first position with 31.5% of funds, followed by Madrid (22.4%), the Basque Country (12.8%), Valencia (8.2%), and Andalusia (6.1%). The rest of the funding is divided as follows: Galicia (3.6%), Aragon (3.5%), Castilla y León (3.1%), Canary Islands (1.8%), Navarre (1.6%), Murcia (1.3%), Asturias (1.2%), Cantabria and Extremadura (0.7%), Castilla-La Mancha (0.6%), Balearic Islands (0.4%), and La Rioja (0.3%).
Industry and innovation: leading the most subsidized areas
Spain achieves excellent results in many areas and themes, particularly in the top positions reached in the Industry area of Cluster 4 (17.6%, EU-27), European Innovation Ecosystems (16.0%, EU-27), Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (14.4%, EU-27), the Climate area of Cluster 5 (13.7%, EU-27), and Cluster 6, Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment (13.1%, EU-27).
Spain has also achieved an excellent second position in the Energy area of Cluster 5 (13.6%, EU-28), in Cluster 3, Civil Security (12.3%, EU-27), and in the Explorer calls and EIC – European Innovation Council transition activities. Additionally, it has reached third place in the Digital area of Cluster 4 (10.5%, EU-27) and in Mobility (13.3%, EU-27).
RENOVATE, a success story in progress
Within the Horizon Europe Program, the RENOVATE project, led by UPC, began in 2023, with our participation as the technical office for the project, and also coordinating its communication and dissemination strategy.
Titled “Digital innovation for more sustainable agriculture in Europe through the renewal of training experiences,” RENOVATE tackles one of the biggest challenges for modern agriculture: improving efficiency in the use of plant protection products while reducing their environmental impact.
With a budget of €3 million, funded through Horizon Europe, RENOVATE aims to drive the transformation and modernization of the agricultural sector by promoting knowledge, innovation, and digitalization. Furthermore, with the development of the RENOVATE platform, it is expected to make practical, educational, and legislative knowledge available in an accessible manner to optimize the use of plant protection products and improve sustainable crop management.
The RENOVATE project consortium is led by the Agricultural Mechanization Unit of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and works, over a 4-year period, alongside 15 other entities from 8 European countries: the University of Turin (UNITO), the National Institute for Agronomic Research in France (INRAe), Portuguese agricultural advisors DaTerra, the Belgian institute PCFruit (a center for intensive R&D), the Polish Institute of Horticulture (INHORT), the Ministry of Agriculture of Cyprus, the Regional Agency of Sardinia (LAORE), the Czech Phytomedicine Society (CPS), the main agricultural cooperative in Cyprus (PEK), the Federation of Agro-food Cooperatives of the Valencian Community (CACV), Spanish companies TALLENTTO and VIRMEDEX, and the Italian company HORTA, as well as the Italian national research center (CNR-Stems).
Additionally, the project includes our participation as the technical office, with our colleagues from the International Project Financing area overseeing its technical, economic, and administrative follow-up and justification.
On the other hand, our Innovation Communication team is also involved, leading the communication strategy for RENOVATE to share its progress and results and transfer the knowledge derived from it to the international agricultural sector.
