Expanding the international dimension of Horizon Europe

Update on the EU cooperation with South Korea and Canada.

The European Union and South Korea concluded negotiations on an Association Agreement for the Horizon Europe programme. The agreement will allow South Korea to benefit from funding under the second pillar of the programme from 2025. The signing of the association agreement itself is expected to take place in the second half of 2024, following ratification on both sides. 

Current cooperation between the European Union and South Korea is managed by the 2007 Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation. South Korea has already expressed its interest in joining the Horizon programme in 2022. 

During the Research and Innovation Days, an agreement between the European Union and Canada was also signed to allow researchers to benefit from ERC grants. With the new agreement, researchers supported by the Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research will be able to temporarily join the research teams of ERC grantees. The agreement provides Canadian Research Chairholders and Banting postdoctoral fellows with the opportunity to continue research collaborations with their ERC-funded partners.  

Both parties have agreed to continue a similar collaboration from 2016 and further deepen it under the upcoming agreement.