GenAI4EU central Hub (CSA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

The GenAI4EU central Hub is a funding opportunity under the Horizon Europe framework, specifically aimed at fostering a strong and visible European ecosystem for generative AI. It is classified as a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) with a grant funding model, indicating that awards will take the form of lump sum grants. The application process is designated as a single-stage call, with the submission window opening on June 10, 2025, and closing on October 2, 2025.

Eligible applicants include consortia formed by a diverse range of stakeholders, such as startups, academia, large industries, IT suppliers, and integrators. The project particularly targets regions established within EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, associated countries, and some OECD nations, emphasizing collaboration and visibility among local AI communities.

The focus sectors for this initiative encompass artificial intelligence, data, and robotics, addressing applications in industries like health, energy, construction, and more. The overarching aim is to support the uptake of European generative AI solutions across various strategic application sectors while aligning with the goals of the EU's AI legislation.

The expected budget for this initiative is approximately €3 million, with the specific plans implying likely allocations that encourage innovative applications. The project is not set to engage in early-stage research but rather to offer support, coordination, and monitoring of existing projects and initiatives.

Success rates for proposals in this funding call are anticipated to be competitive, following typical Horizon Europe patterns. Co-funding requirements are not explicitly outlined but cooperation with other relevant initiatives is strongly encouraged.

The GenAI4EU Hub aims to establish mechanisms for data sharing, promote collaboration between stakeholders, and act as a global observatory for generative AI, monitoring the landscape and disseminating analysis effectively. The project intends to build synergies with existing EU initiatives, strengthening Europe's role in the global AI ecosystem while fostering public-private partnerships.

Overall, the initiative seeks to enhance the visibility and impact of generative AI technologies developed in Europe, ensuring that the continent remains at the forefront of innovation in this rapidly evolving field.

The EU Funding Opportunity: GenAI4EU Central Hub (CSA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

This opportunity falls under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program, specifically the DIGITAL CNECT (HORIZON-CL4-2025-03) call. It is a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (HORIZON-CSA) with a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] model grant agreement. The deadline model is single-stage. The planned opening date is 10 June 2025, and the deadline for submission is 02 October 2025 at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcome of this project is the creation of the GenAI4EU HUB, which involves developing a strong and visible GenAI4EU community and supporting the uptake of European GenAI solutions across strategic application sectors and the HE Clusters through collaboration and knowledge exchange. This CSA will also support and collaborate with the European Commission’s AI Office to promote an innovative ecosystem of trustworthy AI, to reap the societal and economic benefits.

The scope of this horizontal Coordination and Support Action for GenAI4EU is to develop a strong and visible European GenAI ecosystem of developers and users, aiming to strengthen the coordination, impact, and visibility of the GenAI4EU initiative across diverse sectors. The CSA should be prepared, managed, and coordinated by key stakeholders in this field, particularly those active in developing local GenAI communities, tech transfer, attracting investment, and making European GenAI stakeholders visible.

The project aims to serve as a hub for collaboration, streamlining efforts in developing high-impact GenAI-based applications and fostering cooperation among various GenAI stakeholders, from startups, academia, and large user industries, including large IT suppliers and integrators.

The project will support all the Horizon Europe Pillar 2 clusters by addressing their policy needs through the implementation of the GenAI4EU initiative, particularly in supporting mechanisms to efficiently pool and make high-quality data available (especially from the European Data Spaces, but also exploiting other sources of data as appropriate) and facilitate collaboration with the AI Factories.

The proposed project is expected to involve close collaboration and coordination among the projects implementing GenAI4EU, developing a strong community, and helping them maximize their impact and increase their visibility.

It should also foster the uptake in all strategic application sectors addressed in the GenAI4EU initiative, including the 14 industrial ecosystems, stimulating collaborations between European developers and users. The 14 strategic industrial ecosystems are construction, digital industries, health, agri-food, renewables, energy intensive industries, transport and automotive, electronics, textile, aerospace and defence, cultural and creative culture industries, tourism, proximity and social economy, and retail.

The selected proposal will foster collaboration between the AI Factories, the Data Spaces (as well as other data providers), and the SIMPL infrastructure, establishing mechanisms to make data available in the AI factories, particularly for training and possibly fine-tuning large GenAI models, while respecting IP or privacy/GDPR of the entities/industries providing their data. This should build on relevant initiatives, such as data intermediation services, with a view of using a trusted third party to ensure no exchanges between industry competitors, while defining mechanisms to access (and if needed, pool) critical amounts of data required for training very large models. This will require mobilization of industries owning large sets of data, defining with them such mechanisms acceptable to all, and implementing them through secure infrastructures, protocols, and interoperability mechanisms within the various projects implementing GenAI4EU in the various clusters.

The proposal will also support Common European Data Spaces to coordinate standard-setting approaches for further data sharing and data interoperability among them or with the AI Factories.

The selected proposal will also ensure collaboration between the GenAI4EU projects and the relevant AI Factories for computing resources and data spaces. Moreover, specific working groups among stakeholders should be established in key European industrial/application sectors (such as in Robotics/Manufacturing, Automotive, energy, pharmaceuticals, etc.). Their aim will be to bring together key stakeholders of the sector (including startups/SMEs and large companies) and foster discussions among them for stimulating their cooperation in developing GenAI models relevant for their sector, but also on how to address access to existing large data sets, including their interoperability and use for GenAI models and/or any other elements necessary for enabling an effective development and further growth of the sector’s GenAI ecosystem.

The proposal will also ensure connection with the AI on Demand platform, providing support for fine-tuning pre-trained models and developing innovative downstream applications, the GenAI4EU Skills, and relevant activities implemented under the EU’s Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe Programme, as well as national activities. The selected proposal is also expected to build on or seek collaboration with existing and upcoming projects and develop synergies and ensure complementarities with other relevant European, national, or regional initiatives, funding programs, and platforms.

The CSA is expected to constantly monitor the way the EU GenAI ecosystem, including the AI factories, is developing. More broadly, the selected proposal will act as a global observatory for GenAI, conducting a comprehensive landscape analysis of GenAI, including data on market, research, funding, patent, and more broadly, the state of the advancement of GenAI in the EU and worldwide. This includes an inventory of use cases, capabilities, evaluation tools, and methods to assess generative AI models. The selected proposal is expected to widely disseminate this analysis at least twice a year to the stakeholders, including the EU, the Member States, and Associated Countries.

It will also assess the uptake of GenAI by large European industry (including technology suppliers and user industry) and mobilize them to engage in GenAI4EU initiatives and drive the future strategy for the development and uptake of GenAI solutions “made in Europe” in all strategic industries.

By identifying prioritized sectors and sharing best practices, the project aims to bridge existing gaps, connect stakeholders, and foster innovation uptake.

Furthermore, the selected proposal will assess potential areas that require further R&D, including coordination with national initiatives, to ensure comprehensive coverage and collaboration. It will actively engage in networking and community animation to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration among stakeholders.

When possible, proposals should build on and reuse public results from relevant previous funded actions. Communicable results should be shared with the European R&D community through the AI-on-demand platform and, if necessary, other relevant digital resource platforms to bolster the European AI, Data, and Robotics ecosystem by disseminating results and best practices.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data, and robotics (ADRA), and all proposals are expected to allocate tasks to cohesion activities with ADRA and the funded actions related to this partnership under the call CSA HORIZON-CL4-2021-HUMAN-01-02. This initiative will capitalize on these existing initiatives, complement them, and ensure integration within the existing ecosystem developed by ADRA.

Regarding admissibility conditions, proposal page limits 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.

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.

Other eligible conditions include the following: to achieve the expected outcomes and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, it is important to avoid a situation of technological dependency on a non-EU source, in a global context that requires the EU to take action to build on its strengths and to carefully assess and address any strategic weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and high-risk dependencies which put at risk the attainment of its ambitions. For this reason, participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland, and Norway, associated countries, and OECD countries. For the duly justified and exceptional reasons listed above, to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, entities established in an eligible country listed above, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, shall not participate in the action.

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

Evaluation and award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorizing 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’. This is described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

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

Guidance documents include the HE Programme Guide, the Model Grant Agreements (MGA) Lump Sum MGA, Call-specific instructions, Detailed budget table (HE LS), and Guidance: "Lump sums what do I need to know?" and the Ownership Control Declaration.

Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 7. Digital, Industry and Space, HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. 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 2025 includes several topics:

HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-08 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 75,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-09 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 2,500,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 1,800,000 to 2,500,000 EUR, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-10 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 2,500,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 1,800,000 to 2,500,000 EUR, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-11 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 10,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-12 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 2,100,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 1,900,000 to 2,100,000 EUR, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-13 - HORIZON-IA: Budget 45,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 7,000,000 to 9,000,000 EUR, indicative 6 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 4,500,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-02 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 10,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 2 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-03 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 8,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 2,500,000 to 2,700,000 EUR, indicative 3 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-04 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 2,500,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-07 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 85,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 40,000,000 to 45,000,000 EUR, indicative 2 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-08 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 1,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-09 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 45,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 3 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-14 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 43,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 EUR, indicative 7 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-15 - HORIZON-IA: Budget 20,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 EUR, indicative 5 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-16 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 14,500,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, contributions 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 EUR, indicative 9 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-17 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 2,500,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 3,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-19 - HORIZON-CSA: Budget 3,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 1 grant.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-MATERIALS-46 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 10,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 2 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-MATERIALS-47 - HORIZON-RIA: Budget 15,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening 2025-06-10, deadline 2025-10-02, indicative 3 grants.

There are 18 partner search announcements available for collaboration on this topic. LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics after logging into the Portal, as well as any user having an active public Person profile.

The submission system is planned to be opened on the date stated on the topic header. There are currently 0 item(s) found in the Topic Q&As.

For support, it is recommended to read carefully all provisions before preparing the application. The Online Manual is a guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing the grant. The Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains detailed guidance on the structure, budget, and political priorities of Horizon Europe. The Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ provides answers to frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation, and grant management. The Research Enquiry Service can answer questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular. National Contact Points (NCPs) can provide guidance, practical information, and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. The Enterprise Europe Network can be contacted for advice to businesses with a special focus on SMEs. The IT Helpdesk can be contacted for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, and technical aspects of submission of proposals. The European IPR Helpdesk assists on intellectual property issues. The CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk can advise on how to tackle standardisation in the project proposal. The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment can be consulted for the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities, and entitlements of researchers, employers, and funders of researchers. Partner Search can help find a partner organisation for the proposal.

In summary, this EU funding opportunity aims to establish a central hub for the GenAI4EU initiative, fostering a strong European ecosystem for generative AI. It seeks to coordinate efforts, promote collaboration, and increase the visibility and impact of European GenAI solutions across various sectors. The project will act as a global observatory for GenAI, monitoring its development and uptake, and will engage with industry stakeholders to drive the future strategy for GenAI solutions "made in Europe". The funding is provided as a lump sum, and participation is limited to legal entities from Member States, Iceland, Norway, associated countries, and OECD countries. The call opens on June 10, 2025, and the deadline for submission is October 2, 2025.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types include startups, academia, large user industries, and large IT suppliers and integrators. The call specifically mentions key stakeholders active in developing local GenAI communities, tech transfer, attracting investment, and making European GenAI stakeholders visible, suggesting a broad range of eligible entities. Legal entities established in Member States, Iceland and Norway, associated countries and OECD countries are eligible, with specific restrictions on entities controlled by non-eligible countries.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (HORIZON-CSA). The eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity encourages collaboration among various GenAI stakeholders, suggesting a consortium approach is preferred, although not explicitly stated as mandatory. The text mentions the need for the CSA to be prepared, managed and coordinated by key stakeholders, which implies a consortium.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is primarily focused on entities established in EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, associated countries, and OECD countries. There are restrictions on entities directly or indirectly controlled by non-eligible countries.

Target Sector: The program targets the artificial intelligence (AI), data, and robotics sectors, with a specific focus on generative AI (GenAI). It aims to foster the development and uptake of GenAI solutions across various strategic application sectors and industrial ecosystems. The 14 industrial ecosystems identified in the European Industrial Strategy are: construction, digital industries, health, agri-food, renewables, energy intensive industries, transport and automotive, electronics, textile, aerospace and defence, cultural and creative culture industries, tourism, proximity and social economy, and retail.

Mentioned Countries: Iceland, Norway, OECD countries, EU Member States.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on coordination and support actions, which implies activities related to developing a strong and visible European GenAI ecosystem, fostering collaboration, and monitoring the development of the EU GenAI ecosystem. It is not focused on early-stage research but rather on supporting and coordinating existing and upcoming initiatives.

Funding Amount: The budget for the HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18 topic is EUR 3,000,000. The contributions are around EUR 3,000,000, and the indicative number of grants is 1.

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage call, as indicated by the "single-stage" designation in the call information.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant.

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 for the HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18 topic is 1, which suggests a competitive selection process.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18, focuses on establishing a central hub for the GenAI4EU initiative. It is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) with a budget of EUR 3,000,000, aiming to develop a strong and visible European GenAI ecosystem. The project should be prepared and managed by key stakeholders active in developing local GenAI communities, tech transfer, attracting investment, and making European GenAI stakeholders visible.

The primary goal is to create a GenAI4EU HUB that fosters collaboration, knowledge exchange, and the uptake of European GenAI solutions across strategic application sectors and Horizon Europe Pillar 2 clusters. The selected proposal will act as a global observatory for GenAI, monitoring the EU GenAI ecosystem, conducting landscape analysis, and widely disseminating this analysis to stakeholders.

Eligible applicants include startups, academia, large user industries, and large IT suppliers and integrators from EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, associated countries, and OECD countries. The funding will be provided as a lump sum grant, and the application process is a single-stage submission. The project is expected to foster collaboration between AI Factories, Data Spaces, and the SIMPL infrastructure, ensuring data availability for training and fine-tuning GenAI models while respecting IP and GDPR. It also aims to connect with the AI on Demand platform and other relevant initiatives under the EU’s Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe Programme.