Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is the EU’s 9th multiannual framework programme for research and innovation which runs from 2021 to 2027. It follows on from Horizon 2020, the 8th framework programme, which ran from 2014 to 2020.

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, which:

• Tackles climate change;
• Helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals;
• Boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth;
• Facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges;
• Supports the creation and better diffusion of excellent knowledge and technologies;
• Creates jobs, fully engages the EU’s talent pool, boosts economic growth, promotes industrial competitiveness and optimises investment impact within a strengthened European research area (ERA).

Horizon Europe is made up of:

Pillar I — Excellent Science;

Pillar II — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness;

Pillar III — Innovative Europe;

the part ‘Widening Participation and Strengthening the ERA’.

Horizon Europe has a budget of €95.5 billion (current prices) for 2021-2027 (including €5.4 billion from NextGenerationEU — the recovery plan for Europe to help repair the economic and social damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic).

 

RIA, IA, CSA, and COFUND

Horizon Europe funds different types of collaborative projects including, for example:

• Research and Innovation Action (RIA): This type establishes new knowledge or explores new or improved technologies, products, processes, services, or solutions. EU funding covers up to 100% of the project costs.
• Innovation Action (IA): These actions involve producing plans or designs for new or improved products, processes, or services, including prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation, and market replication. EU funding covers up to 70% of the project costs.
• Coordination and Support Action (CSA): CSAs aim to improve cooperation among EU and associated countries to strengthen the European Research Area. Activities may include standardization, dissemination, awareness-raising, communication, networking activities, policy dialogues, mutual learning, or studies. EU funding covers up to 100% of the project costs.
• Programme Co-fund Action (COFUND): COFUND provides multi-annual co-funding for European partnerships that bring together public and private partners. EU funding covers between 30 and 70% of the project costs.

 

European Innovation Council (EIC)

The EIC Work Programme 2024 outlines funding across three main schemes:

EIC Pathfinder (€256 million): Dedicated to multidisciplinary research teams pursuing visionary research with the potential to yield technological breakthroughs. Grants of up to €4 million are available.

EIC Transition (€94 million): Aimed at transforming research results into innovation opportunities, this scheme builds on outcomes from EIC Pathfinder projects, European Research Council Proof of Concept projects, and for the first time, results from Horizon collaborative projects under Pillar 2/societal challenges. Grants of up to €2.5 million are offered.

EIC Accelerator (€675 million): Designed for startups and SMEs to advance and scale up innovations with the potential to establish new markets or disrupt existing ones. Grants range below €2.5 million, with investments ranging from €0.5 million to €15 million. Of the total, €405 million is allocated for investments managed by the EIC Fund, which will also receive an additional €180 million for follow-on investments in companies selected from previous EIC Accelerator calls.

 

EIC Pathfinder

The overall objective of the EIC Pathfinder for advanced research is to develop the scientific basis to underpin breakthrough technologies. It provides support for the earliest stages of scientific, technological, or deep-tech research and development. Pathfinder projects aim to build on new, cutting-edge directions in science and technology to disrupt a field and a market or create new opportunities by realizing innovative technological solutions through:

‘EIC Pathfinder Open’, which supports projects in any field of science, technology, or application without predefined thematic priorities.

The deadline for submitting your proposal is 7 March 2024 at 17:00 Brussels local time. You must submit your proposal via the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal before the given deadline. Sections 1 to 3 of Part B of your proposal, corresponding respectively to the award criteria Excellence, Impact, and Quality and Efficiency of Implementation, must consist of a maximum of 20 A4 format pages. You will be informed about the outcome of the evaluation within 5 months from the call deadline (indicative), and if your proposal is selected for funding, you can expect your grant agreement to be signed by 8 months after the call deadline (indicative).

‘EIC Pathfinder Challenges’ to support coherent portfolios of projects within predefined thematic areas with the aim of achieving specific objectives for each Challenge.

The call deadline for submitting your proposal is 16 October 2024 at 17:00 Brussels local time. You must submit your proposal via the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal before the given deadline. Sections 1 to 3 of Part B of your proposal, corresponding respectively to the award criteria Excellence, Impact, and Quality and Efficiency of Implementation, must consist of a maximum of 30 A4 format pages. You will be informed about the outcome of the evaluation within 5 months after the call deadline (indicative), and if your proposal is accepted for funding, you can expect your grant agreement to be signed by 8 months after the call deadline (indicative).

EIC Transition

EIC Transition funds innovation activities that surpass the experimental proof of principle in the laboratory. It supports both the maturation and validation of your novel technology from the lab to the relevant application environments, utilizing prototyping, formulation, models, user testing, or other validation tests. Additionally, it facilitates explorations and the development of a sustainable business case and business model towards commercialization into high-potential markets. Your proposed activities must include further technology development based on the results achieved in a previous project and follow user-centric methodologies to increase the innovation’s chances of future commercial success in the market.

EIC Transition projects should address, in a balanced manner, both technology and market/business development, potentially including iterative learning processes based on early customer or user feedback. These activities should include, based on the technology’s maturity level, a suitable mix of technology development and validation activities to advance the technology beyond proof of concept to viable demonstrators in the intended field of application (i.e., from minimum TRL 3 or TRL 4 up to Technology Readiness Level 5 to 6). The activities must, in all cases, address market readiness towards commercialization and deployment, encompassing market research, value proposition, business case and business model development, prospects for growth, intellectual property protection, competitor analysis, etc., as well as aspects of regulation, certification, and standardization (if relevant), aimed at preparing both the technology and the business idea for investment readiness.

EIC Transition aims to mature both your technology and business idea, thereby enhancing its technology and market/commercial readiness. The expected outcomes of your EIC Transition project are: a) a technology that is demonstrated to be effective for its intended application, and b) a validated business model and a business plan for its development to market. It is also expected that the intellectual property generated by your EIC Transition project is formally protected in an appropriate manner.

Your proposal must build on results already achieved within an eligible project that are, at least, at experimental proof of concept (TRL 3) or, ideally, technology validated in the lab level (TRL 4). Proposals building on project results at TRLs other than TRL3 or TRL4 are not eligible. EIC Transition is restricted to proposals based on results generated by the following eligible projects:

EIC Pathfinder projects (including projects funded under the Horizon 2020 EIC pilot Pathfinder, FET-Open, FET-Proactive, CSA and CSA Lump sum FET Innovation Launchpad, and FET Flagships calls).

European Research Council Proof of Concept projects funded Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe.

Research and Innovation Actions directly funded under Horizon 2020 Societal challenges and Leadership in Industrial Technologies and under Horizon Europe pillar II, with an eligible TRL.

European Defence Fund (EDF), including the Preparatory Action on Defence Research, research projects, but only for proposals which are focused on civil applications (including dual use)

 

The deadline for submitting your proposal is 18 September 2024 at 17:00 Brussels local time. You must submit your proposal via the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal before the given deadline. Sections 1 to 3 and the cover page (which includes information about the related project on which the current EIC Transition proposal is based) of Part B of your proposal must consist of a maximum of 22 A4 format pages.

 

EIC Accelerator

The EIC Accelerator supports companies, principally SMEs including startups, to scale up high-impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. It provides a unique combination of funding ranging from EUR 0.5 to EUR 17.5 million and Business Acceleration Services (see Section V). The EIC Accelerator focuses particularly on innovations built on scientific discoveries or technological breakthroughs (‘deep tech’), where significant funding is required over a long timeframe before returns can be generated (‘patient capital’). Such innovations often struggle to attract financing due to the high risks and lengthy time periods involved. Funding and support from the EIC Accelerator are designed to enable innovators to attract the full investment amounts needed for scale-up in a shorter timeframe.

The EIC Accelerator supports the later stages of technology development as well as scale-up. Therefore, the technology component of your innovation must have been tested and validated in a laboratory and other relevant environments (e.g., at least Technology Readiness Level 5). The EIC Accelerator seeks to support companies where the EIC support will act as a catalyst to attract other investors necessary for the scale-up of the innovation.

The EIC Accelerator provides:

1. a) grant component only (‘Grant Only’) that will take the form of a lump sum contribution50 via a grant agreement. Grant only shall be provided only once to any legal entity for the duration of the Horizon Europe programme (2021- 27)
2. b) blended finance support which is composed of:

• An investment component usually in the form of direct equity or quasi-equity such as convertible loans via an investment agreement.
• A grant component, that will take the form of a lump sum contribution via a grant agreement.

1. c) investment component only (Equity-Only) support to non-bankable SMEs, including start-ups, which have already received an eligible grant support, via an investment agreement.

The application process consists of a number of steps:

1. Short proposals which may be submitted at any time and which will be evaluated remotely by EIC expert evaluators on a first come, first served basis;
2. If successful, you will be invited to prepare a full proposal, where you will have access to support from EIC business coaches to develop your business plan;
3. Full proposals will first be assessed remotely by EIC expert evaluators. If successful, you will be invited to an interview with an EIC jury as the final step in the selection process;
4. If selected for (potential)funding, you will be invited to negotiate a grant agreement for the requested grant component (if you have applied for it) and to start the due diligence for the investment component (if you have applied for it).

Submission of short proposals

You may submit a short proposal at any time as from the 1st January 2024 via the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal. The short proposal consists of:

• A short form where you summarise your proposal and respond to questions on your company and team, your innovation and the potential market;
• A pitch-deck of up to ten slides in pdf format;
• A video pitch of up to three minutes where the core members of your team (up to three people) should provide the motivation for your proposal.

Submission of full proposals

If you succeeded with your short application under the 2024 Work programme, your full proposal can be submitted to any of the following cut-offs during 2024, and any of the cut-offs for 2025. Applicants who succeeded with a positive evaluation of their short proposal under the 2023 EIC Work Programme may apply to any of the following cut-offs in 2024. You may decide which cut-off to apply to. The two cut-off dates for 2024 are:

• 13 March 2024
• 3 October 2024

The full proposal consists of

• a full business plan and full information on the company’s finances and structure of the potential beneficiary/final recipient company. You will also need to propose a set of milestones to be used as a basis for the EIC to manage the funding for your innovation.
• a pitch-deck in pdf format and a video pitch of up to three minutes. You may decide to reuse or update the pitch-deck and video pitch submitted with your short proposal.

Interviews with an EIC Jury

All companies receiving a GO from the remote evaluation stage will be invited to the interviews. In case the number of applicants to invite exceeds the capacities of the initially planned interview sessions, a first batch of applicants will be invited according to the following prioritisation, starting with category ‘a’ below, proceeding to the next:

1. Gender balance: women-led companies (until 40% of invited companies is reached);
2. Submission date and time: any remaining companies will be prioritised based on the date and time submission of their short proposal.

The remaining batch of applicants to interview will be invited to a further set of interviews to be organised before the interviews of the next cut-off date. Interviews will be organised approximately three to four weeks after applicants are informed of the result of the remote evaluation (or longer if there is a need for a further set of interviews).

 

MSCA Doctoral Networks

The objective of Doctoral Networks is to implement doctoral programmes by partnerships of organisations from different sectors across Europe and beyond to train highly skilled doctoral candidates, stimulate their creativity, enhance their innovation capacities, and boost their employability in the long-term.

Doctoral Networks implement doctoral programmes, by partnerships of universities, research institutions and infrastructures, businesses including SMEs, and other socio-economic actors from different countries across Europe and beyond. These doctoral programmes will respond to well-identified needs in various research and innovation areas, expose the researchers to the academic and non-academic sectors, and offer research training, as well as transferable skills and competences relevant for innovation and long-term employability.

Besides standard Doctoral Networks, incentives have been introduced to promote two specific types of doctorates as well.

1. Industrial Doctorates. They train PhD candidates who wish develop their skills and step outside academia, in particular in industry and business. Individual participants must be enrolled in a doctoral programme and jointly supervised by the academic and non-academic partners.
2. Joint Doctorates. They provide a highly integrated type of international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration in doctoral training leading to a joint doctoral degree or multiple doctoral degrees awarded by the participating institutions. PhD candidates must be enrolled in a joint programme and be jointly supervised.

Doctoral Networks are open to international consortia of universities, research institutions, businesses, SMEs, and other non-academic organisations. They should include:

• at least three independent legal entities, each established in a different EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country and with at least one of them established in an EU Member State
• on top of this minimum, other organisations from any country in the world can also join
• specific conditions apply to Industrial and Joint Doctorates

 

All areas of research may be funded and Doctoral Networks can last for up to 4 years (up to 5 years in the case of Joint Doctorate projects).

The duration of each fellowship is between 3 and 36 months (between 3 and 48 months in the case of Joint Doctorate fellowships).

Each beneficiary must recruit at least one doctoral candidate and can also organise secondments for them anywhere in the world.

Researchers funded by Doctoral Networks

• must not have a doctoral degree at the date of their recruitment
• can be of any nationality
• should be enrolled in a doctoral programme during the project
• should spend at least 50% of their time outside academia, for Industrial Doctorates
• should comply with the mobility rules: in general, they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting organisation for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date

The EU provides support for each recruited researcher in the form of

• a living allowance
• a mobility allowance
• if applicable, family, long-term leave and special needs allowances

In addition, funding is provided for

• research, training and networking activities
• management and indirect costs

 

Next deadline: November 2024