European Steel Research

The European Coal and Steel Research Fund 

The Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) was started in 2003 and is administered by the EU Commission. Each year about SEK 350 million is distributed for the benefit of steel research to companies, institutes and universities. 

The fund’s capital comprises the remaining funds in the former ECSC fund (European Coal and Steel Community, 1952–2002) which was built on annual payments from the European steel industry.

Normally, the RFCS grant represents 60 per cent of the total budget for a research project. Projects have participants from several European countries. A precondition for granting the application is a strong steel industry interest in the project. 

The project applications are evaluated by independent assessors from the member countries. Ongoing projects are scrutinised and evaluated on an ongoing basis and through five technical committees (Technical Groups Steel, TGA). 

Successful participation since 1995

Since Sweden became a member of the EU, project applications with Swedish participants have met with considerable success.

During the period 1995–2002, grants of about SEK 240 million were made to Swedish participants, in awards from the ECSC. 

From 2003 to 2025 Swedish participants, through a total of 270 projects, were awarded a total allocation from RFCS of just over SEK 850 million. 

Horizon Europe

The current framework programme for research and innovation, namely Horizon Europe runs during the period 2021–2027.

For the steel industry, an important component of Horizon Europe is the Clean Steel Partnership. This calls for proposals to advance the conversion of the European steel industry to producing climate-neutral steel while retaining its competitive edge. In the period from 2021 to 2025, Swedish operators were granted a total of SEK 330 million across 14 different projects.