Building on Horizon 2020, the Commission looks to strengthen the support for pollinator research needs in the next EU research framework programme for the 2021-2027 period - Horizon Europe - as reflected in the first Strategic Plan. The proposal for the first Work Programme (2021/2022) lists a number of topics aiming to support the development of tools for research on pollinators (tools for integrative taxonomy including DNA barcoding and machine learning), expert capacity building and networking. Furthermore, the draft proposal for a European Partnership on biodiversity aims to support monitoring schemes for biodiversity, which will be of vital importance also for the implementation of the EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme.