A Promising Horizon: How the 2025–2027 Horizon Europe strategic plan
will shape Europe’s tomorrow
Publication Date/Time
2025-04-25T13:00:00+00:00
Country
Global
Using open data to explore Horizon Europe’s planned investment in
the circular economy, space and artificial intelligence
In March 2024, the European Commission published the 2025–2027
Horizon Europe strategic plan
[https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/strategic-plan_en],
outlining the EU’s priorities for research and innovation in the
coming years. This forward-looking plan goes beyond funding –
serving as a strategic blueprint for driving research and tackling
some of the most pressing challenges faced by European citizens and
businesses.

The plan channels investment into areas where research and innovation
can deliver the highest impact. Among them, three key themes stand out
for their growing relevance, public support and transformative
potential:

	* advancing the circular economy and reducing raw material
consumption (RMC);
	* harnessing space technologies for societal benefit; and
	* promoting responsible artificial intelligence (AI) development.

This data story uses open data to illustrate how Horizon Europe is
turning strategic intent into action. It explores how investment in
these three areas – the circular economy, space and AI – helps
the EU meet its green, digital and geopolitical ambitions while
ensuring that innovation remains rooted in the values and needs of its
citizens.

 

INVESTING IN THE EU’S RAW MATERIAL CONSUMPTION

Through the European Green Deal
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en]
and the circular economy action plan
[https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/circular-economy-action-plan_en],
the EU has recognised the transition towards circular economies as a
key component in achieving its goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

In a circular economy, the focus is on reducing waste and extending
material life cycles, which decrease the need for new raw materials.
As displayed in FIGURE 1, Europe’s RMC per capita between 2013 and
2023 remained relatively stable. According to this open dataset, EU
Member States such as Finland, Sweden and Malta saw the most
significant declines in their RMC between 2013 and 2023, contributing
to the EU’s overall RMC stability and counteracting some increases
in RMC in other Member States. This overall stability in RMC was
observed notwithstanding a 15 % increase in the EU gross domestic
product between 2010 and 2021, according to a Eurostat dataset
[https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/namq_10_gdp__custom_12565145/default/table?lang=en].

The Horizon Europe strategic plan aims to help increase research and
innovation in this area, which can build on this stability in the
EU’s RMC and create momentum towards decreasing it. Leveraging open
data is crucial for monitoring this investment and assessing its
impact on the EU’s ongoing transition to a circular economy. You can
track this progress using Eurostat’s circular economy monitoring
framework
[https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/circular-economy/monitoring-framework].

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Section%201%20-%20Visual%20Final%20-%201%5B39%5D.png]
FIGURE 1: EU RMC per capita (2013–2023)

_Source:_ data.europa.eu, ‘EU Material footprint
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/gtxcdwitfrgwbcgp5mbeba?locale=en]’
dataset.

 

CONTINUED SPACE INVESTMENT TO TACKLE GLOBAL CHALLENGES

The EU space industry is an important and growing part of the EU
economy that plays a key role in the implementation of the EU Green
Deal
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en]
objectives. Copernicus, one of the EU’s flagship space initiatives,
is an Earth observation system that uses satellite and other data
sources to monitor the planet’s land, atmosphere and oceans.

A key outcome of the Copernicus programme is the Global Surface Water
Explorer [https://global-surface-water.appspot.com/#features] open
dataset, developed by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, which
tracks global changes in the distribution of surface water over time.
Specifically, this open dataset enables users to discover how water
occurrence has changed in vital regions, such as the Ebro River Delta
in Spain. The Ebro River Delta, one of Europe’s largest wetland
regions, is crucial for biodiversity, hydroelectric power and rice
farming. As displayed in FIGURE 2, the Global Surface Water Explorer
dataset highlights a clear rise in sea levels, with water levels
increasing across most areas on the map. Such insights on this topic
are relevant for shaping future land use and conservation strategies,
offering valuable information for professionals in environmental
management and planning.

Continued investment in programmes like Copernicus under Horizon
Europe helps ensure that the EU can lead the way in space-based
solutions for environmental challenges and produce open datasets that
support evidence-based policymaking, scientific research and
innovation. For those interested in exploring more about the dynamics
and impact of change in surface water, see our interactive story
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories/high-value-datasets/what-water-can-take-from-us.html]
visualising flood risk in Spain.

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Section%202%20-%20Visual%20Final%20-%201%5B8%5D.png]
FIGURE 2: Ebro River Delta Water Occurrence change intensity

_Source:_ data.europa.eu, ‘Global Surface Water Explorer
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/jrc-gswe-global-surface-water-explorer-v1?locale=en]’
dataset.

 

DEVELOPING AI WITH EUROPEAN VALUES

AI is advancing rapidly. To maintain global competitiveness,
prosperity and technological sovereignty, the EU is taking an active
role in shaping its own AI development through initiatives such as
the European AI strategy
[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2018:237:FIN]
and the AI Act
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/regulatory-framework-ai].
Such initiatives lay the groundwork for harnessing AI’s potential
while ensuring the protection of rights and privacy.

The 2025–2027 Horizon Europe strategic plan aims to enhance research
and innovation in AI in areas such as generative models,
next-generation robotics and autonomous devices. In general, citizens
are supportive of such efforts. FIGURE 3 displays the results of
the 2024 Special Eurobarometer SP551 survey
[https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/3174], highlighting
that 78 % of EU citizens think that it is important for public
authorities to shape the development of AI and other digital
technologies to ensure they respect their rights and values, with
36 % considering it very important. In contrast, only 12 % view this
as a low priority, while just 4 % regard it as unimportant.

For more insights into how EU citizens’ attitudes toward
digitalisation have evolved, explore this and other Eurobarometers
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/s3174_101_2_sp551_eng/similarDatasets?locale=en].

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Section%203%20-%20Visual%20Final%20-%201%5B74%5D.png]
FIGURE 3: EU citizens’ perspective on how important it is for EU
public authorities to shape the development of AI and other digital
technologies to ensure they respect their rights and values

_Source:_ data.europa.eu, ‘Special Eurobarometer SP551: The digital
decade
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/s3174_101_2_sp551_eng?locale=en]’
dataset.

 

CONCLUSION

The 2025–2027 Horizon Europe strategic plan is investing in
Europe’s future. Themes of investment, such as the circular economy,
space and AI, are particularly notable as they align with public
expectations and past successes, as evidenced by EU open data. Horizon
Europe continues to fund research and innovation in the circular
economy, with open data revealing that RMC has been stable in recent
years in spite of greater economic activity. Additionally, past
investment in the space sector, such as the Copernicus programme, has
provided valuable open data for policymaking and conservation.
Finally, Horizon Europe’s focus on AI investment addresses the
public demand for responsible AI development, ensuring competitiveness
while protecting citizens’ rights, as highlighted by open survey
data showing its importance to EU citizens.

As this investment is turned into further initiatives, citizens and
stakeholders can stay engaged and monitor impacts by exploring
relevant datasets available on data.europa.eu.

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