Research: ENEA secured 10 million in funding for 39 new EU projects in 2024

ENEA is participating in 39 new projects funded by the European Commission in 2024, worth a total of €10 million, 63% of which through the Horizon Europe programme. This is reported in the ENEA Contracts with the European Commission report, by Francesco Beone, Carla Costigliola, Laura Adami, Andrea Fidanza, Laura Brunetti and Guido De Angelis, available on the Agency website. The report highlights that at the international level, ENEA main partners were research institutes and universities, while at the national level, collaborations with industry have grown steadily.

Including these 39 projects, the total number of ENEA projects active in 2024 reaches 161, with a cumulative value of €47 million. These projects involve more than 1,500 partners across 63 countries. ENEA coordinates 14% of them, a share that has increased compared to previous years.

The funded projects focus primarily on the energy sector (40%), particularly renewables (35.9%), followed by fission (16.5%) and energy efficiency (14.1%). Other thematic areas include environment (11.8%) and life sciences (9.6%).

Additionally, in 2024 ENEA secured nearly €16 million from Eurofusion, the European consortium for nuclear fusion, where ENEA serves as Italy’s Programme Manager.

“These results confirm not only the continuity of ENEA’s project excellence but also a strengthening of dialogue with Italian industry, demonstrating the Agency’s ability to seize Europe’s opportunities for research, innovation, and technology transfer,” said Francesco Beone, Head of the Technical-Operational Planning Service of ENEA Technology Transfer Directorate.

“The results show that ENEA consistently ranks in the upper-middle range of European performance, both compared to other Member States and similar institutions. Naturally, these assessments must always consider the cyclical nature of budgets made available by the European Commission through annual calls in each programming cycle. Nevertheless, all conditions are in place to maintain the quality of our proposals in the future: we are confident of positive evaluations for those currently under review or in preparation,” Beone added.

The report is divided into four sections: ENEA participation in 2021–2027 calls, involvement in Eurofusion, contracts signed in 2024 and ongoing contracts, broken down by thematic area, partnership, and coordination. It concludes with an extensive appendix containing project summaries.

The data were processed using ENEA EU project database, managed by the Technology Transfer Directorate, which harmonizes information on contracts with the Commission and integrates details from contractual documentation.