Skills for innovative SMEs
European Commission · Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Posted 1 Dec 2026 · About 5 months left
Summary
Expected Outcome:
Establishment of an SME support scheme through the Enterprise Europe Network, which delivers transnational skills-matching, recruitment support, and innovation management services to innovative SMEs across Europe.
This support scheme has the following expected outcomes: Innovative SMEs have reduced labour and skill shortages through a transnational mobility scheme, which allows them to recruit and train highly skilled researchers from abroad;
SMEs have improved innovation capacity to support research and innovation (R&I) projects and increased participation of highly skilled staff employed in R&I through recruitment and training;
Researchers gain new knowledge and skills in industrial innovation and business management, through employment and training in innovative companies.
Scope:
To facilitate the innovation to investment journey and boost competitiveness, the EU needs to promote skills and quality jobs and help SMEs strengthen their innovation potential, by addressing labour and skills shortages, as highlighted in the Competitiveness Compass for the EU. Europe faces a growing challenge in meeting the demand for skilled talent in strategic sectors like clean…
Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.
Eligibility and conditions
Show the eligibility text from the source
">General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligibility Conditions
The following additional eligibility criteria apply: Only entities that are beneficiaries in the Enterprise Europe Network as a result of the call SMP-COSME-2024-EEN are eligible to apply.
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
The granting authority can fund a maximum of one project.
described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
The following additions to the general award criteria apply:
The quality and efficiency of implementation criterion shall take into account the ability and experience of the applying entities to award grants to third parties outside their own jurisdiction.
The implementation criterion shall include and emphasise the communication strategy proposed to reach out to both innovative SMEs with skills shortages and PhD-level experts.
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Horizon Europe for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025).
The consortium must provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) for the implementation of this action.
Since providing FSTP is a core activity of this action, the EUR 60 000 threshold laid down in Article 207 of Financial Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 does not apply. The maximum amount of FSTP provided in form of grants that may be awarded to any single third party is set at EUR 300 000 for the entire duration of the action. This ceiling is justified by the fact that FSTP is a primary activity of this action, by its expected duration of 1-2 years, including costs of relocation and of a European competitive salary for an internationally mobile expert at PhD level, and by the extensive experience gained by the Enterprise Europe Network in providing business support to SMEs. However, if the objectives of the action would otherwise be impossible or overly difficult the maximum amount may be higher if duly justified in the proposal.
The Consortium must allocate at least 90% of the total proposed budget to FSTP.
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the specific topic "HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-05-01: Skills for innovative SMEs" of the Work Programme.
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates
Please use the application form that you will find in the Submission System. You can find examples of standard application forms in the Reference Documents page and below.
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
Guidance
HE Programme Guide
Model…