The European Commission is preparing to block Chinese institutions from significant portions of its €95.5 billion ($110 billion) Horizon Europe research program, citing intellectual property risks and links between Chinese universities and Beijing’s military.
A draft document for the Horizon Europe “main” work program for 2026/2027 proposes excluding Chinese entities from three of the six research areas: civil security and society; health; and digital, industry and space technologies.
The proposals have not yet been adopted or endorsed by the European Commission, although they are clearly being considered.
The restrictions respond to lack of progress on an EU-China cooperation roadmap established at the 2019 Innovation Cooperation Dialogue. The Commission points to persistent concerns about protecting trade secrets and potential transfer of knowledge to China’s military, which it says are “supported rather than deterred” by Beijing’s policies.
“In view of the persistent lack of progress in the discussions on the Roadmap and the substantive concerns in relation to the undesired transfer of IP to China supported by both legislative and policy initiatives, cooperation involving entities established in China needs to be calibrated accordingly,” it states.
The document specifically cites China’s civil-military fusion strategy and related measures aimed at strengthening China’s technological capabilities in both civilian and military domains.
Universities linked to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will be barred from all program participation, given Horizon Europe’s mandate that research must have exclusively civil applications.
The Commission argues that protecting the European Union’s technological edge and strategic autonomy is essential to its security, economic capacity, and resilience. It warns that Chinese participation in certain innovation areas poses specific risks due to “a fundamental regulatory imbalance” between the EU and China.
The Register asked the European Commission for comment.
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The UK, which rejoined Horizon in 2023 post-Brexit, is similarly limiting cooperation with China.
According to reports this week, science minister Lord Patrick Vallance said collaboration would be confined to “uncontroversial” areas: health, climate, planetary science, and agriculture – a narrower scope than previous commitments which included satellite technology and robotics.
The moves come amid ongoing reports of Chinese espionage targeting organizations across Western countries, with intelligence officials repeatedly warning about state-sponsored theft of sensitive data and technology. ®
