Consolidation of the research infrastructure landscape – individual support for evolution, long-term sustainability and emerging needs of pan-European...

The HORIZON-INFRA-2027-DEV-01-03 funding opportunity is part of Horizon Europe's initiative aimed at consolidating the European research infrastructure landscape. It focuses primarily on ESFRI Landmarks and European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs), which are key participants in Europe’s research infrastructure ecosystem. To be eligible, proposals must include at least one ESFRI Landmark or ERIC as a beneficiary, ensuring that the application reflects collaborative efforts within the infrastructure community.

The funding type is a grant provided through a Lump Sum Grant Agreement, covering 80% of eligible costs, with a co-funding requirement of 20% expected from beneficiaries and member nations. The grants are intended for development and implementation phases for infrastructures that have already reached operational and mature stages. The total funding available for this call is between €3,000,000 and €4,500,000 per grant, amounting to a budget of around €29,500,000 for approximately 8 expected grants.

The application process is structured as a single-stage submission, meaning that applicants submit their full proposal in one go, which is evaluated in a single review stage. The expected geographic scope of eligible applicants extends to EU member states, EEA countries, and associated countries, with the aim of including widening and candidate countries.

The initiative seeks to enhance the sustainability and service capacity of existing research infrastructures by supporting various key activities. These include expanding membership, fostering international cooperation, revising business models, developing skills, and adopting FAIR data principles. The overarching goal is to ensure the infrastructures can adapt to emerging societal needs and address challenges effectively.

While the specific success rates are not detailed, historical competitiveness for similar projects suggests a likelihood of success ranging between 10% and 39%. Proposals will be evaluated based on scientific excellence, strategic importance, and implementation quality.

Overall, this funding opportunity underscores the EU's commitment to strengthening its research infrastructure by providing targeted financial assistance to high-priority infrastructures, thereby enhancing Europe's position in global research and innovation. The project opens on March 9, 2027, with a submission deadline of June 15, 2027.

This EU funding opportunity aims to consolidate the research infrastructure landscape in Europe by supporting the strengthening, long-term sustainability, reorientation, or evolution of ESFRI Landmarks or European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs). This support is provided in conjunction with the countries that are members of these research infrastructures. The call falls under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program, specifically the Research Infrastructures 2027 call (HORIZON-INFRA-2027-01).

The expected outcomes of projects funded under this topic include: a better-structured and strengthened European research infrastructure landscape; new services available to a wider user community, including participants in other parts of Horizon Europe, allowing to better tackle scientific and societal challenges; increased capacity to address EU policy priorities and/or socio-economic challenges; reinforced global competitiveness of the European Research Area; reduction of environmental (including climate-related) impacts as well as optimisation of resource and energy consumption integrated through the full life cycle of research infrastructures; and increased long-term sustainability of European research infrastructures.

The scope of this funding opportunity involves providing support to activities that are critical for the sustainability and optimized use of ESFRI Landmarks or ERICs. These activities may include: enlargement of the membership or broadening of the base of participating countries, notably widening countries and candidate countries; addressing critical aspects raised following an assessment or monitoring exercise, e.g. in the context of ESFRI activities; reinforcing international cooperation; revision of business/funding plan; development of managerial and technical skills for research infrastructure staff; structuring and strengthening of national/thematic nodes; extension of remote and/or virtual access; management of research data according to the FAIR principles; reorientation or evolution of the research infrastructure scope; and development, update and or implementation of impact assessment of the research infrastructure.

In cases involving reorientation or evolution of the research infrastructure scope, activities should fill gaps in the research infrastructures landscape, enabling the research infrastructure to address new research or societal challenges and/or serve new user communities, increasing and improving service capacity and/or integrating new resources/facilities.

Applicants must pay due attention to related EU initiatives, strategies, and priorities, as well as complementarity and relevance to activities in other parts of Horizon Europe, such as better addressing SRIAs of Horizon Europe partnerships. Proposals should explain any synergies with previous or current EU grants, notably under the research infrastructures part of the Horizon Europe work programme, such as INFRADEV and INFRATECH grants.

Given the funding rate, proposals should ensure a minimum adequate backing by the beneficiaries, who should provide the remaining share for the activities covered by the Grant Agreement and foster the sustainability of the ESFRI Landmark or ERIC.

Specific attention should be given, where relevant, to the greening of technologies and methodologies used by the research infrastructure, to the interaction with industry/SMEs, to the fostering of the innovation potential of the infrastructures, and to their integration into local, regional, and global innovation ecosystems.

The general conditions for this funding opportunity include:

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries are 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: Proposals must include at least one of the ESFRI Landmarks or European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs) as beneficiaries. The research infrastructure(s) that they operate must be explicitly identified in the proposal. For distributed ERIC, the ERIC must be the beneficiary.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are 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: The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is 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 and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). The funding rate is 80% of the eligible costs.

The application form templates specific to this call are available in the Submission System, including the Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) and the Standard application form (HE CSA). Evaluation form templates will be used with the necessary adaptations, including the Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) and the Standard evaluation form (HE CSA).

Guidance documents include the HE Programme Guide, HE MGA, Lump Sum MGA, Framework Partnership Agreement FPA, Detailed budget table (HE LS), Information on financial support to third parties (HE), Information on clinical studies (HE), and Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?".

Additional documents include: HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 3. Research Infrastructures, HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes, HE Programme Guide, HE Framework Programme 2021/695, HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions, and Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

The budget overview for the year 2027 includes the following topics:

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-01-EOSC-01 - HORIZON-COFUND: Budget 40,000,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 1.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-01-EOSC-02 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 8,000,000 EUR, Contributions 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 2.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-DEV-01-01 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 30,000,000 EUR, Contributions 1,500,000 to 3,500,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 9.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-DEV-01-02 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 20,000,000 EUR, Contributions 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 4.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-DEV-01-03 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 29,500,000 EUR, Contributions 3,000,000 to 4,500,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 8.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-01 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 105,000,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 3.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-02 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 35,000,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 6.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-SERV-01-03 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 12,000,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 4.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-TECH-01-01 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 30,000,000 EUR, Contributions 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 2.

HORIZON-INFRA-2027-TECH-01-02 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 30,000,000 EUR, Contributions 7,000,000 to 12,000,000 EUR, Indicative number of grants 3.

This funding opportunity is designed to bolster the European research infrastructure landscape by providing financial support and strategic guidance to key research infrastructures. It aims to ensure their long-term sustainability, enhance their services, and promote their integration into the broader European Research Area. By focusing on ESFRI Landmarks and ERICs, the program seeks to address critical gaps, foster innovation, and contribute to solving societal challenges. The funding mechanism, based on lump sum contributions, encourages efficient resource management and accountability. Ultimately, this initiative aims to strengthen Europe's position as a global leader in research and innovation by providing researchers with access to world-class infrastructure and promoting collaboration across borders.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types for this opportunity are ESFRI Landmarks or European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs). For ESFRI Landmarks that are not an ERIC or an international European research organisation, the beneficiary must be the legal entity hosting the infrastructure in the lead country.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, under the HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA). There are also HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) and HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity requires proposals to include at least one of the ESFRI Landmarks or European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs) as beneficiaries. It is not explicitly stated whether a consortium is required beyond this, but the inclusion of at least one of these entities is mandatory.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU countries, associated countries, and potentially non-EU/non-associated countries that have specific provisions for funding participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Target Sector: The target sector is research infrastructures, with a focus on consolidating the EU research infrastructures landscape, strengthening long-term sustainability, and addressing emerging needs of pan-European research infrastructures. It also touches on areas like greening technologies, interaction with industry/SMEs, and innovation ecosystems.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity mentions EU countries, non-EU countries, associated countries, widening countries, and candidate countries.

Project Stage: The project stage targets the evolution, long-term sustainability, and addressing emerging needs of existing research infrastructures, suggesting a maturity level beyond the initial idea or research phase, focusing more on development, implementation, and optimization.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific action type:
HORIZON-COFUND: around €40,000,000
HORIZON-CSA: €2,500,000 to €4,000,000
HORIZON-RIA (DEV): €1,500,000 to €5,000,000
HORIZON-RIA (SERV): around €3,000,000 to €35,000,000
HORIZON-RIA (TECH): €7,000,000 to €15,000,000

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

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant, covering 80% of the eligible costs.

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

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants is provided for each topic, allowing a rough estimation of success rates based on the expected number of proposals.

Co-funding Requirement: Yes, co-funding is required. The funding rate is 80% of eligible costs, implying that beneficiaries must provide the remaining 20%.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call focuses on consolidating the research infrastructure landscape in Europe by providing support to ESFRI Landmarks and ERICs. The funding aims to strengthen these infrastructures, ensure their long-term sustainability, and enable them to address new research and societal challenges. The call includes various action types (COFUND, CSA, and RIA) with different funding ranges, all contributing to the overall goal of a better-structured, more sustainable, and globally competitive European Research Area. Eligible applicants must include at least one ESFRI Landmark or ERIC, and projects should focus on activities critical to the sustainability and optimized use of these infrastructures. The funding mechanism is based on lump sum grants, covering 80% of the eligible costs, with the remaining 20% expected to be covered by the beneficiaries. The application process is a single-stage submission, with specific guidelines on proposal format, eligible countries, and evaluation criteria detailed in the Horizon Europe Work Programme and related documents.