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Accelerating uptake through open proposals for advanced SME innovation

European Commission · Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)

Posted 5 May 2027 · About 13 months left

Summary

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following expected outcomes:

Development of a mature technological solution addressing EU security policy priorities in the areas addressed by the Cluster 3 work programme and in particular the destination of fighting crime and terrorism, disaster resilient societies, border management and resilient infrastructure;

Facilitate increased and sustained collaboration between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), public research partners, and academia, leading to improved knowledge transfer within the European innovative SME ecosystem;

Mitigate difficulties in access to finance and new international markets, thereby enhancing the growth and expansion of European innovative SMEs.

Scope:

Europe’s 25 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the EU economy. SMEs can bring innovation to societal challenges, including the security of EU citizens. Innovative SMEs and high-tech start-ups can transform and modernise EU security capabilities.

However, despite the innovation capacity of EU SMEs, these often experience difficulties in finding their way to the public markets. These include…

Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.

Eligibility and conditions

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">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.

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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

In line with the “restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China are not eligible to participate in the action.

Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.

The following additional eligibility conditions apply:

Consortia must include, as beneficiaries:

- A minimum of three (3) to a maximum of seven (7) partners.

- At least 2 SMEs[[See Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the User Guide for SME definition.]] from 2 different Member States.

- At least 1 end-user organisation in the areas addressed by the proposal, namely one of the following options:

Option A "Fighting Organised Crime and Terrorism’’

Option B ‘"Disaster-Resilient Society’’

Option C "Resilient Infrastructure’’ and

Option D ‘"Border Management’’.

Participation of non-SME industries and Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) is not excluded, but it must be limited to 15% of the proposed budget.

At least 50% of the proposed budget must be allocated to SMEs.

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

Eligible proposals submitted under this topic and exceeding all the evaluation thresholds will be awarded a STEP Seal [https://strategic-technologies.europa.eu/about/step-seal_en].

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.

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 Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link…

Themes