Demand-led innovation in security
European Commission · Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Posted 6 May 2026 · 36 days left
In plain terms
The European Commission funds consortia of civil security practitioners and public procurers to develop, test and commercialise innovative technology solutions for European security markets. Projects require at least 3 practitioners and 3 procurers from different EU or Associated Countries (with at least 2 independent public procurers and 1 from an EU Member State), grants range from 1.33 to 6 million euros, and applications close on 5 November 2026.
A generated summary of the donor's text; the original wording is below.
Summary
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following expected outcomes:
A community of EU civil security practitioners with common user/functional needs for innovative technology solutions is identified, supported by an industrial base, in particular SMEs and Startups, to access the public procurement market and scale up their business;
Procurers facilitated the commercialisation of the innovative solutions developed by their successful suppliers by providing them with first customer references for the validation and first pilot deployment;
Tested and validated capacity of EU technology and industrial base to develop and produce technology prototypes that meet the diverse needs of the EU user community, regardless of their gender, age and ability;
Improved delineation of the EU market (including demand and supply) for innovative civil security systems that can articulate alternative options for uptake in function of different industrialisation needs, commercialisation needs, acquisition needs, deployment needs and additional funding needs (beyond R&I funding).
Scope:
As past experience shows that pre-commercial procurement opens up the…
Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.
Eligible regions
- eu_only
Who can apply
- ngo_cso
- academia_research
- private_company
- government
- social_enterprise
- consortium_required
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 Eligible Conditions
Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.
The following additional eligibility criteria apply:
This topic requires the participation[[See General Annexes page 12 on the Consortium Composition as regards Pre-commercial Procurement.]], as beneficiaries, of at least 3 practitioners and 3 public procurers[[Under this topic, the participation is required of minimum three procurers as beneficiaries in the buyer’s group for the PCP. The third procurer in the buyer’s group can be a private procurer or an NGO that provides similar services of public interest as the public procurers.]]. These beneficiaries must be from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. One organisation can have the role of practitioner and public procurer simultaneously, both counting for the overall number of organisations required for eligibility. Among the public procurers[[Under this topic, the participation is required of minimum three procurers as beneficiaries in the buyer’s group for the PCP, out of which minimum two must be independent legal entities that are public procurers, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country and with at least one of them established in a Member State. The third procurer in the buyer’s group can be a private procurer or an NGO that provides similar services of public interest as the public procurers.]], minimum two must be independent legal entities that are public procurers, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country and with at least one of them established in a Member State.
For participants with practitioner status, applicants must fill in the table “Information about security practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool.
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
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
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are 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
The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5.
PCP/PPI procurement costs are eligible.
The specific conditions for actions with PCP/PPI procurements in section H of the General Annexes apply to grants funded under this topic.
Beneficiaries must ensure that the subcontracted work is performed in at least 3 Member States — unless otherwise approved by the granting authority.
Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be…