Horizon Europe's third pillar, "Innovative Europe", focuses on promoting innovation-related activities. These include the various funding instruments under the umbrella of the European Innovation Council (EIC), the European Innovation Ecosystems and the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

In addition to the three pillars of the Framework Programme, Horizon Europe also has a programme component, Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area, which is dedicated to supporting the European Research Area as a whole and, more particularly, to reducing the gap between EU Member States that tend to be stronger in research and those that tend to be weaker.

The different components of the Horizon Europe Programme should not be seen as independent funding lines, but rather as building on each other, complementing each other and exploiting synergies. Together with the missions and partnerships, there are also cross-cutting elements that thematically link parts of the Programme and promote cross-programme activities.