The aim of this paper is to better understand the European policies for research and innovation and to give an overview of Croatia's participation in framework programmes with a focus on participation in the Horizon 2020 programme. Horizon 2020, the eighth EU Framework Programme with a budget of € 74.8 billion for the seven-year period, is a key resource of the European Union for achieving the goals of Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Framework programmes have had significant and long-lasting effects since the European Union started investing in research and innovation in 1984 by establishing the First Framework Programme for Research and Development. The Republic of Croatia started participating in the framework programmes in 2005 during the Fifth Framework Programme in the status of a third country. During the Sixth and Seventh Framework Programme Croatia participates as an associated country, and since 2014 and the launch of Horizon 2020 Croatia participates as a Member State. In addition to opening up of numerous opportunities for financing research and innovation potentials, the way of paying financial contribution for the programme has also changed, so instead of the financial contribution for the programme Croatia now contributes to the general budget of the European Union in the same way as other Member States. Several analyses have been carried out in this paper, from the analysis of Croatia's participation in relation to the structure of the programme, the types of participants and activities, to the analysis of participation in relation to the total EU financial contribution received for the implementation of the Horizon 2020 projects and a comparison of participation with the new Member States. The results of the analysis indicate a reduced success rate compared to the previous framework programme, unequal regional distribution and a small number of projects coordinated by Croatian institutions. On the other hand, the most successful areas confirm the priorities set out in the Smart Specialization Strategy, namely the areas of Energy, Health and Food Security within Social Challenges, then the area of ICT within Industrial Leadership and Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions within Excellent Science. Most of the contracted funds have been allocated to participants from Member States, of which only 4.41% are participants from the new Member States (so-called EU-13), which is proportional to their share in EU investment in research and innovation. In order to increase participation in future framework programmes, it is necessary, among other things, to increase investment in research and innovation at national level, thus increasing the chance for success in framework programmes, and to take advantage of the opportunities offered through horizontal activity Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation aimed at reducing the gap between Member States in the field of research and development.