Horizon Europe: Status of association agreements with Japan and Egypt – new opportunities for Bavaria

The European Commission and Japan have reaffirmed their intention to finalize Japan's association with the European research and innovation program Horizon Europe by the end of 2025. Egypt is already one step further: as the second African country after Morocco (2023), it has now officially joined the program. This opens up further international cooperation opportunities for Bavarian research institutions, universities, and companies – supported by the Scientific Coordination Office Bavaria-Africa (WKS Bavaria-Africa) of the Bavarian Research Alliance (BayFOR).

Egypt becomes second African association country

Egypt is now officially associated with Horizon Europe – as the second African country after Morocco. This gives Egyptian research and innovation stakeholders full access to all parts of the program and enables them to lead EU projects, contribute research results, and strengthen national innovation capacities in the future.

The focus of EU-Egypt cooperation is on areas such as

water management, sustainable agriculture, and food security.

The association agreement was signed at the EU-Egypt summit in Brussels. It symbolizes the long-standing scientific partnership between the EU and Egypt and Africa's increasing integration into the European Research Area.

Further information can be found here.

Support from BayFOR's Scientific Coordination Office Bavaria-Africa

In addition to the associated countries of Morocco and Egypt, many EU calls for proposals are also open to researchers and institutions from other African countries, provided that the call explicitly refers to Africa and names the countries concerned.

Would you like to establish or deepen cooperation between Bavarian and African institutions?

The Scientific Coordination Office Bavaria-Africa (WKS Bavaria-Africa) of BayFOR supports you in:

• Application submission and project development
• Partner search and network building
• Strategic consortium planning
• As well as taking on work packages in project management, communication, and dissemination.

Contact: bayern-afrika@no-spam-pleasebayfor.org

Further information: www.bayfor.org/bayern-afrika

Japan's association with Horizon Europe

Negotiations on the association of Japan began on November 29, 2024. Both sides want to conclude them by the end of 2025 so that Japanese researchers and institutions can participate on the same basis as EU partners from the 2026/27 work program onwards. The focus is on Pillar II of Horizon Europe (collaborative research), which addresses global challenges such as climate, energy, mobility, digitalization, industry, space, and health.

At the same time, an EU-Japan expert group published a report on “Advanced Materials”, highlighting five priority areas: construction, energy, mobility, electronics, and data-driven research and development.

Further information can be found here.

Bavaria, Japan, and Africa: Strategic opportunities for research and innovation

New perspectives are opening up for Bavaria:

• Japan as an Asian high-tech partner with strong expertise in materials, energy, and digital technology
• Africa as an emerging innovation hub where research on climate, agriculture, energy, and health is gaining importance

Bavarian universities, research institutions, and SMEs will thus be able to join international consortia with an expanded circle of partners in the future—especially in key areas such as advanced materials, sustainable energy systems, mobility, digitalization, and health.