Statistics on UK participation in EU Framework Programmes, 2014 to 2024: executive summary
Published 5 June 2026
© Crown copyright 2026
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistics-on-uk-participation-in-eu-framework-programmes/statistics-on-uk-participation-in-eu-framework-programmes-2014-to-2024-executive-summary
1. Executive summary
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the United Kingdom’s participation and performance in the European Union’s Framework Programmes for research and innovation, covering Horizon 2020 (H2020) from 2014 to 2020 and the first 4 years of Horizon Europe (HEU) from 2021 to 2024. Drawing on European Commission data, it examines overall trends in UK funding and participation, and collaborations, as well as the UK’s relative performance across pillars, organisation types, and regions.
1.1. Key findings
The UK showed strong initial performance in securing funding up to around 2015/2016, after which the trend changes, coinciding with the period of the UK’s vote to leave the EU. A declining trend is seen towards the end of H2020 and at the start of HEU, with recent signs of recovery showing in 2024. A similar decline is also seen in the UK’s share of grantees, eligible proposals and applicants. In 2024, the first year of full association to Horizon Europe, all of these indicators reversed trend, suggesting a partial recovery towards late Horizon 2020 (around 2018/2019) levels, although performance remains below earlier peaks.
Performance varies across the programme. It remains strongest in Pillar 1, where funding share has been the highest out of the pillars across all periods. Pillar 1 performance has also recovered the fastest. Pillars 2 and 3 experienced larger declines towards the end of Horizon 2020, although Pillar 2 is now beginning to show signs of recovery.
1.2. 2024 highlights
The UK’s performance strengthened across multiple metrics in 2024 relative to 2023, with key highlights showing:
- UK share of funding increased from 5.8% in 2023 to 9.3% in 2024
- UK share of eligible proposals increased from 19.0% in 2023 to 24.1% in 2024
- UK higher or secondary education organisations performed the strongest, relative to other organisations, in 2024 and had the highest absolute increase in funding share from 2023 to 2024 (from 11.3% to 15.9%).
- amongst the regions, London (22.6%), the South-East (16.5%) and East of England (12.4%) performed the strongest, in terms of their share of UK funding, in 2024
- between 2023 and 2024, UK funding share increased across Pillar 1 (from 11.0% to 14.3%) and Pillar 2 (from 3.7% to 6.2%)
- however, Pillar 3 saw a slight decline from 5.4% in 2023 to 5.1% in 2024