Horizon Europe 2026-2027 changed on 29 September: the updates applicants should know

The European Commission updated the Horizon Europe 2026-2027 Work Programme set on 29 September 2026. This was not a cosmetic republishing exercise. Across the parts that Ruthless Evaluator supports and tracks, the update changes application calendars, budgets, topic identities, action types and the active topic inventory.

For applicants, the most important consequence is simple: a proposal plan built from the December 2025 Work Programme can now be wrong even when the topic itself still exists. In Health, several 2027 calls now open months earlier and close earlier. In Cluster 4, multiple 2027 calls open later than previously indicated, three quantum topics are explicitly cancelled, and several budgets have changed. Cluster 5 adds a geothermal coordination topic and moves a CO2 infrastructure topic to another call. EU Missions gains a new cross-cutting topic that opens on 6 October 2026.

The European Commission Horizon Europe Work Programmes page now lists the 2026-2027 Work Programme parts with the 29 September 2026 date. Below is the practical delta applicants should know.

The short version: what changed on 29 September

The update creates five categories of applicant-relevant change.

• Deadlines and opening dates changed, especially in Cluster 1 Health, Cluster 4 and Cluster 5, plus the 2027 Cancer Mission topics.
• Three Cluster 4 quantum topics were cancelled, with the updated Work Programme showing EUR 0.00 indicative budgets for them.
• Three new selectable topics were added across Cluster 4, Cluster 5 and EU Missions.
• Several Cluster 4 budgets, project counts and one action type changed.
• Two Cluster 4 Space topics and one Cluster 5 energy topic moved to different calls, which also changes their opening and deadline dates.

Not every part changed materially. In the topic-level comparison used for the Ruthless Evaluator update, Clusters 2, 3 and 6 did not require substantive changes to the active topic set, budgets, action types or operative dates that Ruthless exposes. Their source provenance has still been refreshed to the 29 September Work Programme set.

Cluster 1 Health: the 2027 calendar moved significantly earlier

The biggest planning change in the Cluster 1 Health Work Programme is the 2027 calendar.

For the HORIZON-HLTH-2027-01 single-stage call, the previous schedule showed an opening on 10 February 2027 and a deadline on 13 April 2027. The updated Work Programme moves the opening to 29 October 2026 and the deadline to 17 February 2027.

That affects ten topics tracked by Ruthless Evaluator, including STAYHLTH-01, ENVHLTH-02, ENVHLTH-MISSCLIMA-03, DISEASE-05, DISEASE-06, DISEASE-07, DISEASE-08, DISEASE-10, CARE-02 and IND-01.

For applicants, this is more than a date correction. The call is now visible to the market much earlier, but the final submission deadline is also almost two months earlier than the previous April date. Consortium building, proposal reuse, clinical or technical evidence planning and internal review schedules should all be recalculated against the new calendar.

The HORIZON-HLTH-2027-02-two-stage call changes in the same direction. The opening moves from 10 February 2027 to 29 October 2026. The first-stage deadline moves from 13 April 2027 to 17 February 2027, while the second-stage deadline moves from 22 September 2027 to 16 September 2027. The affected two-stage topics are DISEASE-01, DISEASE-14, IND-02 and TOOL-01.

A separate 2027 Health call also changes. For HORIZON-HLTH-2027-03, the opening remains 3 June 2027, but the deadline for TOOL-02, TOOL-04 and TOOL-08 moves from 22 September to 16 September 2027.

There is also one important title change. HORIZON-HLTH-2027-03-TOOL-08 is no longer titled “Towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) for healthcare”. The updated title is “Towards the next generation of frontier Artificial Intelligence models for healthcare”. The topic identity remains the same, but teams using the old title in internal documents, consortium discussions or search notes should update it.

Cluster 4: cancellations, a new topic, budget changes and call moves

The Cluster 4 Digital, Industry and Space Work Programme contains the largest set of material changes in this update.

Three 2026 quantum topics are explicitly cancelled

The updated Work Programme marks the following topics as CANCELLED:

• HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-11, Grand Challenge on Quantum Sensors for Inertial Navigation;
• HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-12, Standards for Quantum Technologies;
• HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-18, Large-Scale Photonic Quantum Computing Platform Technologies.

For each, the updated specific conditions show an indicative topic budget of EUR 0.00 million. The Work Programme explains that the cancellations follow the expansion of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking mandate to include quantum technologies.

The practical consequence is straightforward: these topics should not remain in an active opportunity shortlist simply because they appeared in the original 2026-2027 Work Programme. Ruthless Evaluator has removed them from selectable Topic Fit opportunities while preserving the documentary trace of the cancellation.

A new venture-building topic appears in the 2027 Industry call

A new topic has been added:

HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-50: European network for upscaling venture builders’ roles in research performing organisations.

It is a CSA, with a EUR 1.00 million topic budget, an expected EU contribution of around EUR 1.00 million, and one expected project. The call opens on 13 October 2026 and closes on 2 February 2027.

This is a highly specific opportunity for networks working with universities, research performing organisations, technology transfer, venture building and research commercialisation. If that is close to the project profile, it is worth checking now rather than waiting for a generic 2027 funding search.

Several Industry budgets and project counts changed

Three material budget revisions stand out.

HORIZON-CL4-2026-01-MAT-PROD-48, the 2026 “Proof of market” topic, moves from a EUR 5.00 million topic budget to EUR 4.00 million, and the estimated number of funded projects falls from 25 to 20. The expected contribution of around EUR 0.20 million per project remains unchanged.

HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-49, the corresponding 2027 “Proof of market” topic, moves from EUR 5.00 million to EUR 4.70 million, while the estimated number of funded projects changes from 25 to 24.

HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-62, Fast Track to Innovation for breakthroughs in the Chemical Industry Action Plan, moves from a EUR 15.00 million topic budget to EUR 13.60 million.

These adjustments matter when applicants estimate competition, expected portfolio size and the realism of a requested contribution. Old spreadsheet assumptions should be replaced with the updated figures.

MAT-PROD-32 is an IA, not an RIA

HORIZON-CL4-2027-02-MAT-PROD-32-two-stage, Efficient energy input from renewable sources and energy management in the process industries, is classified as an Innovation Action (IA) in the 29 September Work Programme.

That distinction affects the proposal logic, maturity expectations and the standard Horizon Europe application and evaluation context. A team still treating the topic as an RIA should correct its planning before drafting further.

Cluster 4 opening dates also moved

A group of 2027 Industry and two-stage topics that previously showed an opening date of 22 September 2026 now open on 13 October 2026. This includes multiple HORIZON-CL4-2027-01 MAT-PROD topics as well as MAT-PROD-32-two-stage and DIGITAL-EMERGING-52-two-stage.

This is a useful reminder that an opening date is not a decorative metadata field. It affects when the Funding & Tenders submission workflow becomes available and when applicants can confirm the final portal package.

Space topics 83 and 84 moved to a new call

Two 2027 Space topics have moved from the old SPACE-03 identity to a new call:

• HORIZON-CL4-2027-SPACE-07-83, Space critical EEE components for EU non-dependence;
• HORIZON-CL4-2027-SPACE-07-84, Space critical equipment for EU non-dependence.

The new call opens on 7 October 2027 and closes on 20 January 2028. The Work Programme states an expected EU contribution of EUR 3.00 million to EUR 4.00 million per project, with two projects expected for each topic.

There is, however, an official-document inconsistency worth flagging. The detailed specific conditions currently display an indicative topic budget of EUR 0.00 million while the expected contribution and project count imply a non-zero funding envelope. Applicants interested in these topics should therefore verify the Funding & Tenders Portal before making financial assumptions.

Another Space topic, HORIZON-CL4-2027-SPACE-03-21, also changes substantially. Its indicative budget increases from EUR 0.98 million to EUR 3.92 million, while the expected contribution changes from EUR 0.80-1.00 million to EUR 3.50-3.92 million for one expected project.

Finally, eight 2026 Space topics had their deadline corrected from 3 September to 16 September 2026. Those dates are already historical at the time of this article, but the correction matters for accurate records and any later analysis of the 2026 calls.

Cluster 5: one new topic and one call migration

The Cluster 5 Climate, Energy and Mobility Work Programme adds one new 2027 energy topic:

HORIZON-CL5-2027-02-D3-33: Support to the SET Plan stakeholders’ groups in geothermal energy.

It is a CSA with a EUR 0.38 million topic budget, an expected EU contribution of around EUR 0.38 million and one expected project. It opens on 3 December 2026 and closes on 31 March 2027.

The update also moves HORIZON-CL5-2027-02-D3-31, Support to the implementation of an EU policy framework for CO2 transport and storage infrastructure, to a new call identity: HORIZON-CL5-2027-05-D3-31. The EUR 5.00 million budget and one expected project remain, but the new call opens on 5 May 2027 and closes on 15 September 2027.

Two sets of 2026 Cluster 5 deadlines were also corrected. Five D1 topics under HORIZON-CL5-2026-07 moved from 15 April to 21 April 2026. Six D5 topics under HORIZON-CL5-2026-05 moved from 14 April to 16 April 2026. These are historical corrections now, but they form part of the official 29 September source set.

EU Missions: a new cross-cutting call opens on 6 October

The EU Missions Work Programme adds a new cross-cutting topic that is immediately relevant because it opens only days after this article is published.

HORIZON-MISS-2026-07-CROSS-04: Demonstrating place-based experimentation and innovation spaces as enabling environments for scaling EU Missions is an Innovation Action with a total indicative budget of EUR 3.62 million. The expected EU contribution is EUR 1.00 million to EUR 1.50 million per project, with three projects expected.

The call opens on 6 October 2026 and closes on 13 January 2027.

Importantly, this is a genuine cross-cutting Mission opportunity. It applies across all five EU Missions: Adaptation to Climate Change, Cancer, Restore our Ocean and Waters, Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, and A Soil Deal for Europe. Applicants working on place-based experimentation, governance, deployment environments and scaling across Mission contexts should review it now.

The other material Missions calendar change affects the six 2027 Cancer topics CANCER-01 through CANCER-06. Their deadline moves from 21 September to 16 September 2027. The opening date remains 10 February 2027.

What did not materially change

An updated publication date does not mean every topic changed. In our semantic comparison of the Work Programme parts used by Ruthless Evaluator, Clusters 2, 3 and 6 did not require material topic-level changes to the active opportunity set, budgets, action types or operative dates exposed in the product.

That distinction matters. A byte-by-byte document comparison can make a revised Work Programme look enormous even when the applicant-facing delta is small. The useful task is to identify changes that alter whether a topic exists, when it opens or closes, how it is funded, what action type applies, or what official text controls the proposal.

What applicants should do now

If you are already preparing a 2026 or 2027 Horizon Europe proposal, do not assume your saved call data is still current. The 29 September update is a good reason to run a short source check before more drafting effort is invested.

First, reconfirm the topic ID and active status. This is essential for the cancelled Cluster 4 quantum topics and for topics that moved to a new call identity.

Second, reconfirm opening and deadline dates. The Health changes are particularly important because several 2027 deadlines are now much earlier than the previous schedule suggested.

Third, recheck the action type and financial conditions. MAT-PROD-32 is now clearly an IA, and several Cluster 4 budgets or project counts have changed.

Fourth, re-read the topic text before recycling proposal material. A proposal that matched an earlier title, expected outcome or call context can drift out of alignment after a Work Programme revision. Our guide on adapting an old Horizon Europe proposal to a new topic explains why changing the topic label is not enough.

Finally, once the source alignment is correct, check whether the proposal still tells one coherent story across objectives, methodology, work packages, resources, risks and impact. The Horizon Europe proposal consistency checklist is a useful second pass after the call update has been absorbed.

Ruthless Evaluator is fully up to date with the 29 September Work Programmes

Ruthless Evaluator has now been updated to the 29 September 2026 Horizon Europe Work Programme set for the supported Clusters and EU Missions.

The update covers the active topic registry, official topic titles, opening dates, deadlines, action types, budgets, expected contributions, project counts and the Work Programme source text used during evaluation. Cancelled topics are no longer presented as active opportunities, new topics are selectable, moved topics use their new call identities, and Topic Fit uses the refreshed opportunity data.

This is exactly why programme-specific evaluation cannot rely on static call summaries. A proposal can be well written and still be assessed against the wrong opportunity if the underlying programme data is stale.

If you are working on a Horizon Europe application, you can use the Horizon Europe proposal evaluator to stress-test the draft against the current programme context and evaluation logic.

The 29 September update does not require every applicant to rewrite a proposal. It does require every applicant to verify that the proposal is still being prepared for the right topic, the right dates, the right action type and the right financial conditions.

That check should happen before the next major drafting round, not the night before submission.