European network of national competence centers for innovation procurement

The Horizon Europe grant opportunity, specifically HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-01, aims to establish a European network of national competence centers for innovation procurement. This initiative is under the Interconnected Innovation Ecosystems initiative and is targeting capacity enhancement for public procurement in innovation. The funding mechanism is through a Coordination and Support Action utilizing a lump sum grant, with a budget of 4.5 million euros. The application process is a single-stage, with a submission deadline set for January 20, 2026.

Eligible applicants include public bodies mandated to create new competence centers and existing national competence centers specializing in innovation procurement. A consortium of at least fifteen independent legal entities from different EU Member States or Associated Countries is required, consisting of a minimum of ten existing centers and five public bodies creating new centers. The project aims for broad participation across various sectors such as ICT, health, energy, transport, and defense. Geographic eligibility encompasses all EU Member States and Associated Countries.

The project focuses on capacity building, networking, and implementation of innovation procurement strategies, with significant importance placed on enhancing the public procurer's capacity to conduct pre-commercial procurements and public procurements of innovative solutions. Moreover, the expected outcomes include increased awareness among companies, especially startups and SMEs, regarding opportunities in innovation procurements and enhanced recognition of their strategic importance by policymakers.

The call promotes synergy with national and ESIF funding, stressing that Horizon Europe funding should be prioritized for activities not covered by other sources. Cooperating with policy makers and fostering cross-border collaboration are also emphasized, along with scaling up impacts from completed procurements and developing a favorable environment for business scalability.

Projects under this initiative are anticipated to last for four years, aiming to create interconnected, inclusive, and efficient innovation ecosystems throughout the EU and to address societal challenges through focused innovation procurement efforts.

This is a Horizon Europe call, specifically HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-01, focused on establishing a European network of national competence centers for innovation procurement. It falls under the Interconnected Innovation Ecosystems (2026.1) call within the broader Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program. The action type is a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (HORIZON-CSA), utilizing a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] model grant agreement. The call is forthcoming with a single-stage deadline. The planned opening date is September 10, 2025, and the deadline for submission is January 20, 2026, at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The budget for this specific topic is 4,500,000 EUR, and it is anticipated that approximately one grant will be awarded.

The expected outcomes of the project include: Enhanced capacity of public procurers to carry out pre-commercial procurements (PCPs) and public procurement of innovative solutions (PPIs); Increased amount of PCPs and PPIs taking place at national level and across borders by transnational buyer groups; Enhanced awareness among companies, particularly startups and SMEs, of the possibilities offered by innovation procurements to grow their business; Increased amount of EU-wide published preliminary market consultations and calls for tenders for PCP and PPI procurements; Increased recognition of the strategic importance of PCP and PPI by policy makers; Expansion and intensification of innovation procurement support measures implemented by innovation procurement competence centers across Europe.

The scope of the call addresses the lack of experience among public buyers in Europe regarding innovation procurement. It aims to build upon previous initiatives, such as the procure2innovate project, to establish a European-wide network of national competence centers for innovation procurement. Activities will include creating new competence centers and expanding existing ones. The minimum participation requirement is 10 existing national competence centers and 5 public bodies mandated to set up 5 new national competence centers in different Member States or Associated Countries, with at least 2 of the new centers in emerging or moderate innovator countries. The network should include at least 15 different EU Member States or Associated Countries initially, with the goal of expanding to include competence centers from all Member States by the project's end.

The network's activities should encompass experience sharing on PCP and PPI implementation, promotion of Horizon Europe and ESIF funding for PCP and PPI, and support for public procurers in launching such procurements. Cooperation among public procurers is emphasized to increase market size and help firms grow across Europe. Scaling up the impacts of completed innovation procurements and creating national and transnational buyer groups are also vital. Attention should be given to reinforcing procurements involving strategic technologies for Europe’s economic security. The network is expected to promote national innovation procurement business opportunities to companies across EU Member States and Associated Countries, collaborating with the EIC business acceleration services and the Enterprise Europe Network to reach startups and SMEs.

Collaboration with national policy makers responsible for R&I and public procurement policies is also expected. Competence centers should cooperate with policy makers to develop and coordinate policy actions to mainstream PCP and PPI, such as implementing action plans, targets, monitoring, and incentive schemes. The network should maximize synergies with national and ESIF funding, focusing Horizon Europe funding on activities/partners not fundable by ESIF or national funding. Cooperation with other Horizon Europe-funded initiatives on innovation procurement is also expected. The expected duration of the action is 4 years.

The topic destination, CONNECT Interconnected Innovation Ecosystems (2025), aims to foster enabling innovation ecosystems across the EU through a systemic, inclusive, and collaborative approach. It seeks to increase the inclusion and interconnection of less represented regions and actors, strengthen innovation ecosystems, ensure the inclusion of key innovation players, mobilize policies and funding instruments, improve public and private buyers’ capacity to procure innovative solutions, promote interregional collaboration, and ensure openness and cross-fertilization of the innovation ecosystem.

Actions under this destination should promote links between various innovation actors, including individual inventors, industry, startups, scaleups, SMEs, investors, innovation hubs, business associations, clusters, public and private buyers, citizens, and civil society organizations. It also aims to increase innovation cohesion between innovation leaders and strong innovators with moderate and emerging innovators across the EU and Associated Countries. Synergies with other networks and programmes, such as National Contact Points, EIT, KICs, EIC, EEN, clusters, European university alliances, InvestEU, Cohesion Policy funds, the Recovery and Resilience Fund, and the Growth plan for the Western Balkans, are encouraged.

Proposals should set out a credible pathway to strengthening robust interconnected innovation ecosystems and creating a favorable environment to promote the scalability potential of businesses, including in the deep tech sector. Expected impacts include: Interconnected, inclusive, and more efficient innovation ecosystems across the EU; Enhanced cross-border network connectivity and inter-regional collaboration; Enhanced capacity building, experience sharing, and cooperation fostering wider implementation of innovation procurement; Increased innovation co-investments; Improved innovation policy coordination and networking activities.

General conditions for admissibility, eligibility, financial and operational capacity, exclusion, evaluation, award, and legal and financial setup are described in the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.

Application forms and evaluation templates are available in the Submission System. Additional guidance and documents include the Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements, the Horizon Europe Work Programme, EU Financial Regulation, and various helpdesks and contact points.

In summary, this opportunity is a call for proposals under Horizon Europe to establish and support a European network of national competence centers for innovation procurement. The goal is to enhance the capacity of public procurers, increase the use of PCPs and PPIs, raise awareness among companies, and promote the strategic importance of innovation procurement. The project aims to foster interconnected, inclusive, and efficient innovation ecosystems across the EU, contributing to the green, digital, and social transitions. Eligible applicants must form a consortium of at least fifteen independent legal entities from different Member States or Associated Countries, including existing competence centers and public bodies mandated to set up new competence centers. The funding will be provided as a lump sum, and the project is expected to last for 4 years.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types include existing national competence centers for innovation procurement and public bodies that have the mandate to set up new national competence centers for innovation procurement. Startups and SMEs are specifically mentioned as beneficiaries of the network's activities, but not as direct applicants. The quadruple helix model is mentioned, suggesting involvement of industry, academia, civil society, and public authorities.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, as indicated by the type of MGA (Model Grant Agreement) being HORIZON-AG-LS. There are also HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) and HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (HORIZON-RIA).

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required. The action requires the participation, as beneficiaries, of at least fifteen (15) independent legal entities, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country. The expected minimum participation is 10 existing national competence centers for innovation procurement plus 5 public bodies that have the mandate to setup 5 new national competence centers for innovation procurement in 5 different Member States or Associated Countries, with at least 2 of the 5 new ones in ‘emerging’ or ‘moderate’ innovator countries.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States and Associated Countries. Non-EU/non-Associated Countries may also be eligible if they have specific provisions for funding in Horizon Europe projects.

Target Sector: The program targets innovation procurement, specifically pre-commercial procurement (PCP) and public procurement of innovative solutions (PPI). It also targets the creation and strengthening of innovation ecosystems, including deep tech. Other sectors mentioned include green, digital, and social transitions.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity explicitly mentions EU Member States, Associated Countries, Western Balkans, Moldova, and Ukraine.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on capacity building, networking, and implementation of innovation procurement strategies. It supports the creation of new competence centers and the expansion of existing ones, suggesting a focus on development, demonstration, and scale-up.

Funding Amount: The funding range is variable, with specific topics having different budget allocations. HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-01 has a budget of EUR 4,500,000, HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-02 has a budget of EUR 5,000,000, and HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-03 has a budget of EUR 5,000,000.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant. The support also includes non-monetary services such as networking, experience sharing, and capacity building.

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

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants for each topic is specified. For HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-01, it is around 1 grant; for HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-02, it is around 5 grants; and for HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-03, it is around 1 grant. This information can be used to roughly estimate the success rates.

Co-funding Requirement: The network is expected to maximize synergies with national and ESIF funding and focus the budget requested from Horizon Europe on activities/partners that cannot be funded from ESIF or for which national funding is not available, suggesting a co-funding element.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call, part of the Interconnected Innovation Ecosystems (2026.1) initiative, aims to establish and support a European-wide network of national competence centers for innovation procurement. The goal is to enhance the capacity of public procurers, increase the amount of pre-commercial procurement (PCP) and public procurement of innovative solutions (PPI), raise awareness among companies (especially startups and SMEs), and promote the strategic importance of PCP and PPI to policymakers. The call requires a consortium of at least 15 independent legal entities from different EU Member States or Associated Countries, including existing competence centers and public bodies mandated to create new ones. The funding is provided as a lump sum grant, and the projects are expected to last for 4 years. The call encourages synergies with other EU, national, and regional funding programs and focuses on activities that cannot be funded from other sources. The call is structured around three main topics: HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-01, HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-02, and HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-03, each with specific objectives and budget allocations. The call seeks to foster more efficient, inclusive, and interconnected innovation ecosystems across the EU, promoting collaboration and addressing societal challenges through innovation procurement.