Horizon Europe Funding

The programme is split into four key areas:

Excellence Science – reinforcing and extending excellence of the Union’s science base, through frontier research, mobility and training, and world-class research infrastructures.

Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness – boosting European competitiveness within key technologies and solutions that underpin EU policies and sustainable development goals, through collaborative R&I.

Innovative Europe – stimulating market-creating breakthroughs and ecosystems conductive to innovation, by supporting breakthrough and market creating innovation projects, connecting regional and national innovation actors, and nurturing innovation.

Widening Participation & Strengthening the European Research Area – widening participation to new regions, spreading excellence and benefit across the Union, and reforming and enhancing the EU R&I system.

Programmes that align well with innovating companies (new product development) include the ‘European Innovation Council (EIC)’ and the ‘European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)’ within the ‘Innovative Europe’ area, and the 6 thematic areas within the ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ programme.

All Horizon [RB1] Europe funding opportunities are promoted via the EU funding and tenders portal.

Recuring ‘open’ funding opportunities of particular interest within the EIC programme include:

• EIC-Pathfinder – very early-stage interdisciplinary science-towards-technology research to provide proof-of-concept and laboratory validation for radically new technologies with the potential to transform the economy and society (TRL1-4). Supporting collaborative projects requesting up to €3m funding.
• EIC-Transition – early-stage research supporting the maturation of novel technologies from the laboratory to relevant end-use environments (TRL4-5/6). Supporting single partner and collaborative projects requesting up to €2.5m funding.
• EIC-Accelerator – late-stage research supporting the translation of disruptive technologies from the demonstration stage to market readiness and beyond. Supporting single partner projects requesting up to €2.5m funding (and up to €15m equity finance for eligible EU companies).

The EIT program provides a diverse range of support services (and funding) for technology companies across several thematic areas. Specific thematic area websites include: Climate Change, Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries, Digitalisation, Future of Food, Health Innovation, Sustainable Energy, Added Value Manufacturing, Raw Materials, and Urban Mobility. 

The ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ is split across six cluster areas:

• Cluster 1 – Health 
• Cluster 2 – Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society 
• Cluster 3 – Civil Security for Society 
• Cluster 4 – Digital, Industry and Space 
• Cluster 5 – Climate, Energy and Mobility 
• Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment 

Each cluster area has a defined ‘work programme’ that lists specific funding calls. Calls are thematic in nature with a defined scope and expected impacts. Proposals typically need to be collaborative (3+ partners from 3+ different countries), target early- and/or late-stage research, and request in the region of €1m - €10 million in funding (average €3m - €5m). 

Call topics are often far reaching – targeting an industry step change – requiring innovation across multiple dimensions. This often aligns better with a company’s longer-term development strategy, rather than its shorter-term product development needs. 

However, periodic review of the work programmes as and when they become available quickly reveals relevant opportunities.

All details required to prepare a submission are available via the Horizon Europe funding call. Proposals are submitted via the EU funding and tenders portal. 

Following a call deadline, each proposal is evaluated by 3 to 5 assessors, who individually score each proposal section using defined scoring guidelines. 

Following individual evaluations, a consensus meeting takes place to agree a consolidated score for the proposal. Some calls may also require an interview stage with an expert panel.

Finally, a panel of experts reviews all proposals to ensure consistency and fairness in scoring, and a final funding decision is made. 

Horizon Europe funding is a competitive process, and only the top few % of proposals win funding. To maximise your chances of success, you must ensure that your project aligns fully with the call scope and that your proposal addresses all evaluation criteria.