Access to research infrastructure services to enable R&I addressing EU priorities and emerging challenges

The HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-02 is an opportunity under the EU's Horizon Europe programme that allocates €35 million in funding for research infrastructures aimed at providing transnational and virtual access to integrated research services. The primary eligible applicants are research infrastructures and organizations managing them, particularly requiring at least one ESFRI Landmark or European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) as a mandatory beneficiary. Various organizations, including universities, research institutes, public administrations, small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and even entities from specific third countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, etc.), can partake if they offer access to state-of-the-art infrastructures.

The funding mechanism is primarily a grant structured as Research and Innovation Actions (HORIZON-RIA) policy. It covers unit costs related to transnational and virtual access to these research facilities, prioritizing existing services rather than new constructions. Proposals must be submitted by consortia comprising multiple partners from different eligible states. The accepted geographic regions include EU member states and associated countries, with additional consideration for entities from specified third countries.

The grant focuses on six thematic areas: health and biomedical research, sustainable agrifood systems, environment and climate research, advanced materials and sustainability, semiconductor technologies, and geosciences related to natural hazards. Up to €6 million can be awarded per grant, with the funding cycle expected to result in around six awarded grants.

The application process is a single-stage call, with a submission opening date planned for March 9, 2027, and a final deadline on June 15, 2027. The opportunity provides financial aid and non-monetary support including access to research facilities, user training, and scientific support. Evaluation criteria stress a balanced portfolio and a focus on providing excellent infrastructures for wider accessibility issues, particularly supporting underrepresented researchers.

The strategic focus is on enhancing research competitiveness within the EU by democratizing access to infrastructure, promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration, and adhering to ethical practices and data management principles. Overall, this initiative aligns with various EU priorities, driving advances in several vital scientific sectors while upholding a long-term sustainability ethos.

This is a Horizon Europe call for proposals under the Research Infrastructures 2027 program, specifically targeting access to research infrastructure services to enable research and innovation addressing EU priorities and emerging challenges. The call, designated as HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-02, aims to provide transnational and virtual access to integrated and customized research infrastructure services.

The expected outcomes of this call are:

More efficient access to research infrastructures for challenge-driven research and innovation, irrespective of location, through single-entry points, integrated service catalogs, and converging access conditions.
Breakthrough research enabled by advanced research infrastructure services, made available to a wider user community.
A new generation of researchers trained to exploit essential research tools, with attention to early-stage researchers and those from widening countries.
Cross-disciplinary collaboration and wider sharing of knowledge and technologies across scientific fields.
Improved data management, implementing FAIR data principles for continuous data flow from research infrastructures.

The scope of the call includes:

Providing transnational, on-site, remote, and virtual access to integrated and customized research infrastructure services.
Adherence to the European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructures.
User training and scientific/technical support, including data stewardship skills.
Exploiting the training potential of transnational access user projects by inviting researchers from widening and candidate countries.
Prioritizing access provision to existing services, while supporting improvement and development of services with ensured long-term sustainability.
Addressing data management, interoperability, and connection to the European Open Science Cloud.
Considering major European and international initiatives and EU priorities, fostering the use of global standards.
Making available a wide portfolio of research infrastructure services, including data services and customized workflows.
Beneficiaries must include at least one ESFRI Landmark or European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).
Opening access to third countries’ researchers where appropriate.
Including an outreach plan to advertise services, especially to widening countries, candidate countries, and relevant industries, including SMEs.
Exploiting synergies and ensuring complementarity with other EU grants supporting access provision.
Listing services/installations opened for transnational or virtual access and the amounts of units of access made available for users.
Considering the integration of the gender dimension in research and innovation content.
Presenting access opportunities in the single-entry point portal of the most appropriate pilot under HORIZON-INFRA-2027-01-SERV-01.
Ensuring collaboration with the cross-domain preparatory action on access HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-05, the pilots under topic HORIZON-INFRA-2026-01-DEV-02, and the actions supported under topic HORIZON-INFRA-2027-01-SERV-01.
Considering the inclusion of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) Nanobiotechnology Laboratory for Area 1 and Area 2 and the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment for Area 4.

The topic targets the following areas:

Area 1: Advancing cancer research through integrated biomedical infrastructures: Integrating key research infrastructures to support the full cancer research lifecycle, facilitate innovative treatments, and promote the use of AI and digital technologies.
Area 2: Sustainable and resilient agrifood systems and agroecological transitions: Enhancing research and innovation in sustainable agrifood systems and agroecological transitions, promoting big data approaches and adhering to FAIR principles.
Area 3: Resilient and sustainable polar ecosystems: understanding and managing climate, biodiversity, and human activity interactions: Providing access to services supporting research and innovation in polar regions, addressing climate change impacts, biodiversity, ecosystem management, and involving indigenous and local communities.
Area 4: Increasing material circularity and improving materials’ environmental performance: Bringing together research infrastructures relevant for materials research and innovation for circularity and improved environmental performance of materials.
Area 5: Semiconductors: sustainable development of next-generation and future semiconductor chips and related technologies: Providing research infrastructure service that contribute to R&I activities that help strengthening manufacturing activities in the Union, stimulating the European design ecosystem, and supporting scale-up and innovation across the whole semiconductor value chain.
Area 6: Geosphere research infrastructures for advanced research on geohazards driven by the dynamics of the Earth and their dependency on human-induced changes: Bringing together geosphere research infrastructures for understanding the dynamics of the Earth driving natural hazards and their dependency on human-induced changes.

The admissibility conditions include a proposal page limit of 100 pages, as described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Eligible countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Other eligible conditions include restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium with zero funding. Access provision activities must be included in the proposal. Legal entities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and USA are exceptionally eligible for funding.

Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Evaluation and award criteria include ensuring a balanced portfolio covering the different areas. The award criteria are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. The excellence criterion will consider the extent to which access activities offer state-of-the-art infrastructures, high-quality services, and enable excellent research, as well as the project's contribution to facilitating access procedures and improving services.

The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Legal and financial aspects include additional access rights for beneficiaries, with royalty-free access to intellectual property granted to EU institutions and beneficiaries of EU-funded projects. Eligible costs may take the form of unit costs for transnational and virtual access to research infrastructures.

Application form templates are available in the Submission System, including standard application forms for HE RIA and HE CSA. Evaluation form templates will be used with necessary adaptations.

Additional guidance and documents include the HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements, Framework Partnership Agreement, call-specific instructions, detailed budget table, information on financial support to third parties, information on clinical studies, guidance on lump sums, and various annexes and regulations.

The budget overview for 2027 includes several topics with varying budget allocations and indicative numbers of grants. The opening date for submissions is planned for March 9, 2027, with a deadline of June 15, 2027.

This call aims to enhance research and innovation by providing access to advanced research infrastructures, promoting collaboration, and addressing key scientific challenges and EU priorities across various fields. It seeks to foster a new generation of researchers and improve data management practices, while also ensuring a balanced portfolio of projects across different areas.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are research infrastructures, including ESFRI Landmarks or European Research Infrastructure Consortiums (ERICs), legal entities hosting ERIC facilities, resources or related services, SMEs, and industries. Researchers from EU Member States and Associated Countries, and exceptionally, legal entities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and USA are also eligible under specific conditions.

Funding Type: The funding type is primarily a grant, specifically a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) and HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions (HORIZON-COFUND). Eligible costs may take the form of unit costs for trans-national and virtual access to research infrastructures.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity requires a consortium of multiple applicants. Proposals should bring together several complementary and interdisciplinary key research infrastructures. At least one ESFRI Landmark or ERIC must be a beneficiary.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States, Associated Countries, widening countries and candidate countries. Access could also be open to third countries’ researchers. Legal entities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and USA are exceptionally eligible for funding under specific conditions.

Target Sector: The program targets several thematic and industry sectors, including:
Area 1: Health, specifically cancer research, biomedical infrastructures, innovative treatments, immunotherapies, personalized medicine, advanced imaging, genomics, proteomics, clinical trials management, cancer heterogeneity and epigenetics, artificial intelligence, and digital technologies.
Area 2: Agriculture/Food, specifically sustainable agrifood systems, agroecological transitions, One Health approach, genetic resources, AI, and statistical applications.
Area 3: Climate, specifically polar ecosystems, climate change impacts, biodiversity, ecosystem management, pollution, tourism, and science diplomacy.
Area 4: Environment, specifically material circularity, materials research and innovation, Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, Critical Raw Materials Act, and Green Deal ambitions.
Area 5: Semiconductors, specifically sustainable development of next-generation and future semiconductor chips and related technologies, manufacturing, and the European design ecosystem.
Area 6: Geosphere, specifically geosphere research infrastructures, geohazards, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis, climate, and resource exploration.

Mentioned Countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, USA, EU Member States, Associated Countries, widening countries and candidate countries.

Project Stage: The project stage focuses on providing access to existing research infrastructure services, with support for improvement and development of services (short term R&D) and further development of new or improved services for use in the mid-term (2-3 years).

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary by topic, with indicative contributions as follows:
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-01-EOSC-01: around €40,000,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-01-EOSC-02: €2,500,000 to €4,000,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-DEV-01-01: €1,500,000 to €3,500,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-DEV-01-02: €2,000,000 to €5,000,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-DEV-01-03: €3,000,000 to €4,500,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-01: around €35,000,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-02: around €6,000,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-03: around €3,000,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-TECH-01-01: €10,000,000 to €15,000,000
HORIZON-INFRA-2027-TECH-01-02: €7,000,000 to €12,000,000

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage call.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to provide access to research infrastructures, training, and technical support.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants is provided for each topic, which can be used to estimate the potential success rate based on the expected number of applications.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding may be required, particularly for HORIZON-COFUND actions, but this is not explicitly stated as a general requirement for all topics.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call (HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-02) aims to enhance research and innovation by providing transnational and virtual access to integrated and customized research infrastructure services. It targets various scientific challenges and EU priorities, including cancer research, sustainable agrifood systems, polar ecosystems, material circularity, semiconductors, and geohazards. The call encourages collaboration between research infrastructures, industry, and SMEs, with a focus on widening participation and training the next generation of researchers. Funding is provided through HORIZON-RIA, HORIZON-CSA and HORIZON-COFUND actions, with varying budget allocations and expected outcomes for each topic. Eligible applicants include research infrastructures, ERICs, legal entities hosting ERIC facilities, and researchers from EU Member States, Associated Countries, and certain third countries. The application process is a single-stage submission, with a deadline of June 15, 2027. The call seeks to improve access to research infrastructures, foster breakthrough research, train researchers, and promote cross-disciplinary collaboration, all while adhering to FAIR data principles and relevant ethical considerations.