The European Commission has earmarked €411 million for 73 new Research Infrastructure projects under Horizon Europe, according to the funding announcement published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. The figure works out to an average of roughly €5.6 million per project, a scale that positions the call alongside the programme's larger consolidated investments rather than typical individual investigator grants.

The Commission did not publish a full project-level breakdown alongside the headline numbers, so the distribution of funds across the 73 awards remains to be verified through the portal's project results database.

What does the funding cover?

Research Infrastructure is a dedicated Horizon Europe pillar that funds facilities, resources and services the scientific community needs to conduct front-line research. Typical beneficiaries include:

• Large-scale analytical facilities and observatories
• Data repositories, archives and scientific information infrastructures
• Technology platforms offering transnational access to researchers
• Networks that coordinate access and standards across member states

For R&D managers, the practical significance is straightforward: these awards determine which facilities European labs can access, on what terms, and with what level of technical support over the coming grant period.

Why the number matters for research managers

A €411 million commitment signals continuity in the EU's strategy of pooling infrastructure investment rather than leaving individual member states to build duplicate national facilities. Organisations that host or participate in funded infrastructures gain long-term service contracts; those that do not risk dependence on access programmes whose availability tracks the funding cycle.

The announcement arrives as Horizon Europe approaches the final stretch of its current budget horizon, meaning this tranche of projects will carry recipient consortia into the final years of the framework programme — and into the negotiation phase for its successor.

What happens next

Details of the individual projects, including coordinator names, participant lists and per-project budgets, are available through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal's projects and results database. Prospective partners and users of the infrastructures can expect grant agreement preparation and project launch activities to follow the standard Commission timeline before facilities and services funded under this round come online.