Five scenarios were designed in a process including the Horizon Europe Network - with horizon scanning, online workshops and scenario writing. The five context scenarios are: The long recession, Back to ‘normal’? Big Tech shapes Europe, The Circular Economy and Green Utopia - new hope. They include the numerous disruptions to our daily lives from the Covid-19 lock-downs to 2040 and describe the extent, to which the pandemic might raise new requirements for the EU’s future policy frameworks, initiatives and programmes, for example in terms of impact, time horizon of projects or investments.