Horizon 2020 is a funding programme created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the European Research Area (ERA).

It is the eighth of the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development funding research, technological development, and innovation with the focus on innovation, delivering economic growth faster and delivering solutions to end users that are often governmental agencies.

The programme’s name has been modified to “Framework Programme for Research and Innovation”.

The framework programme is implemented by the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, either by various internal directorate general (DGs), such as the directorate general for research and innovation (DG RTD) or the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, or by executive agencies such as the Research Executive Agency (REA), the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), or the ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA).

The framework programme’s objective is to complete the European Research Area (ERA) by coordinating national research policies and pooling research funding in some areas to avoid duplication. Horizon 2020 itself is seen as a policy instrument to implement other high-level policy initiatives of the European Union, such as Europe 2020 and Innovation Union. The programme runs from 2014–2020 and provides an estimated €80 billion of funding, an increase of 23 per cent on the previous phase.