Horizon Europe is the funding programme for research and innovation of the European Union. Any type of organisation from both the private and the public sector is eligible for funding, provided that it performs research or develops innovative products or services. To a lesser extent, Horizon Europe also funds coordination and support actions that concern topics such as dissemination or support to researchers.
Horizon Europe funding is awarded based on calls for project proposals, which are published on the Funding and Tender’s Portal. The calls for proposals define the thematic areas for which funding is available and provide all criteria that need to be respected. They also include information on the total amount of budget available and the deadline for submitting a call. This deadline has to be respected to the minute – proposals that are submitted too late will not be taken into account.
Your National Contact Point (NCP) is available to help you identify calls for proposals that can be interesting for you, find project partners where needed, and advise on the submission and evaluation process.
The funding rate corresponds to the proportion of approved project costs that is covered by European funds. In order to simplify the management of Horizon Europe projects, there is one single funding rate per project, with an exception concerning non-profit organisations participating in innovation projects. The most important ones are:
Horizon Europe funding is distributed in accordance with thematic work programmes, usually covering two-year periods. Understanding these work programmes is your best starting point for finding the right calls for proposals and beginning to look for partners that can join you to form strong project consortia. As the National Contact Point for Horizon Europe, we have in-depth knowledge of the work programmes and can help you identify the topics and calls for proposals that are most relevant for your strategy and objectives.
Concrete Horizon Europe funding opportunities are made available through calls for proposals published on the Funding and Tenders portal. They usually give applicants 6 to 18 months to prepare their proposals. During this period – or even before the call is published – we can help you identify past and on-going projects and key actors that can be helpful for your proposal, advise on the proposal writing and review your draft, and provide legal and financial support at the proposal stage and during the implementation of the project. The deadline for submitting your proposal has to be respected to the minute – no proposals submitted after the deadline will be considered.
Once a call closes, submitted proposals will be reviewed by independent experts whose opinions will determine which proposals receive funding. Grant agreements are prepared for the selected projects. The objective of the European Commission is that it should not take more than 8 months between the closing of a call for proposals and the signing of the grant agreement:
In the case of ERC grants and exceptional justified cases, however, the overall time might be longer than 8 months.
