Implementing co-funded action plans for connected regional innovation valleys in widening countries

The HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-05-ACCESS-01 call, titled "Implementing co-funded action plans for connected regional innovation valleys in widening countries," is part of the Horizon Europe program focused on fostering interconnected innovation ecosystems across the EU. This initiative targets regions with lower innovation performance in order to bridge the innovation divide and enhance regional strengths as defined in their smart specialization strategies. The funding aims to create connected regional innovation valleys and support EU strategic priorities, particularly in areas like the green and digital transition.

Eligible applicants include national or regional authorities from member states or associated countries, with a requirement for at least three such authorities from different states, encompassing both widening and non-widening countries. The consortium must include elements from various innovation performance levels, along with participation from private sector entities and research institutions.

The funding mechanism is a COFUND grant, with EU contributions ranging between €5 million and €8 million per project, summing up to a total budget of €24 million for four projects. A co-funding requirement mandates that 50% of the project's total eligible costs be sourced from other funds, with proposals needing to demonstrate how they plan to secure this additional funding.

Projects are expected to focus on the development and scaling of innovations, with thematic areas aligning with EU priorities, including deep tech, biotechnology, and sustainability initiatives. Successful proposals will be highly competitive, as only four projects will receive funding, suggesting a low success rate.

The application process is single-stage, with a deadline set for October 15, 2025. Proposals must include clear joint action plans and demonstrate a commitment to building capacities across the participating regions. Core activities should involve networking, knowledge sharing, and development of implementation structures aimed at fostering innovation capabilities and creating synergies among different regions.

By enhancing collaboration among various stakeholders, the call seeks to establish more efficient and inclusive ecosystems that can adapt to emerging challenges, ensuring broader participation in innovation and technology initiatives across EU territories, ultimately contributing to the sustainability and competitiveness of the region.

The HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-05-ACCESS-01 call, titled "Implementing co-funded action plans for connected regional innovation valleys in widening countries," is part of the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program. It aims to foster efficient, inclusive, and interconnected innovation ecosystems across the EU, particularly in regions with lower innovation performance, in line with the New European Innovation Agenda. The call specifically targets the creation of connected regional innovation valleys by building on strategic areas of regional strength and specialisation, as defined in their smart specialisation strategies, to support key EU priorities. Regions represented by successful applicant national or regional authorities will be recognised as “regional innovation valleys”.

The expected outcomes of projects funded under this call include:

Efficient, inclusive, and interconnected innovation ecosystems across the EU, building on diversities and complementarities, enhancing joint definition of visions and strategies, involving actors from across the quadruple helix (academia, business, regional government, and societal actors), based on national/regional smart specialisation strategies, and strengthening their efficiency and potential to innovate.

Enhanced synergies, complementarities, and cooperation among European innovation ecosystems around strategic areas, technologies, and challenges of common European interest, designing projects building on Smart Specialisation Strategies and, where applicable, on participation in initiatives like Excellence Hubs, Digital Innovation Hubs, Hubs for Circularity, Circular Cities and Regions Initiative, Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, Hydrogen Valleys, Renewable Energy Valleys and Industry 5.0 System Innovation Hubs.

Creation of common knowledge assets within regional innovation valleys and support for their cross-border connectedness, including competitive advantages to strengthen their capacity for enhanced quality of their R&I ecosystems, such as biotech health security and biotech for food systems, and applicability of bioeconomy sustainability principles in regional case studies.

Increased innovation capabilities, including in deep tech, in Member States and Associated Countries, allowing innovators to bring their ideas to the market and enable innovations to be scaled up at EU level, and facilitating the link with the private sector, public and private buyers of innovative solutions and other research and innovation actors.

Better links between innovation 'leaders' and 'strong' innovator regions with 'moderate' and 'emerging' innovator regions across the EU and Associated Countries.

More innovation co-investments, mobilising other funding instruments, including European, national or regional public funds and/or other private funds, to complement Horizon Europe support.

Increased participation of all innovation ecosystems actors across EU territories in technology and industrial value chains (existing and emerging ones) relevant to the EU twin green and digital transition to achieve broader sustainability, the EU's open strategic autonomy and competitiveness.

The scope of the call is to support strategically oriented long-term programmes of activities (Annual Work Programmes) to enable authorities in charge of public national or regional innovation policies or programmes, with the participation of the private sector and research and innovation actors, to implement joint activities towards innovation development and deployment, possibly including innovation procurement, aimed at tackling challenges at EU, national and regional level. These activities should contribute to the twin green and digital transition, a resilient society, and the net-zero objective, particularly in areas like reducing reliance on fossil fuels, increasing global food security, mastering digital transformation (including cybersecurity and AI), improving healthcare, and achieving circularity.

Applicants are encouraged to consider a project duration of three to five years. Proposals should present the applicants’ commitment to enhance the coordination and directionality of their research and innovation investments and policies, their joint strategic visions, and their proposed joint innovation programme of activities. Before submitting the proposal, participants should have already selected a thematic/technological area and reached an agreement on what they want to achieve, in order to present concrete action plans.

Activities should be open, clear, realistic, impact-oriented, and ensure:

Participation of private actors, either for the joint implementation of proposed activities, and/or their possible co-funding.

Complementarity and synergies with other funds (EU, public, and/or private) and innovation-related strategies/policies/programmes/plans at national and/or regional level, including their smart specialisation strategies.

Annual Work Programmes should include clear steps: (1) capacity building activities, including information exchange and common guidelines; (2) setting common strategy and joint work/action plans; (3) concrete joint activities (including staff exchange, visits, etc.); leading to (4) concrete joint innovation actions (design and implementation of joint funding programmes/calls to select interregional innovation projects).

Annual Work Programmes should include the provisions and modalities for the competitive selection and funding (joint open calls implemented via financial support to third parties - FSTP) of at least three interregional innovation projects in the selected thematic/technological area, including deep tech, linked to key EU priorities.

These interregional projects are expected to be similar to HE Innovation Actions or close to market actions (TRL 6-8) and should focus on the development and/or deployment of technologies and innovations, including breakthrough and disruptive, through cooperation between research and innovation actors from the participating regions.

These interregional projects can also involve the implementation of a Pre-Commercial Procurement (similar as in Horizon Europe PCP grant actions, arriving also to TRL 8) or a Public Procurement of Innovative solutions (similar as in HE PPI grant actions, arriving to TRL 8).

Each of these interregional projects should aim to deliver concrete and tangible outcomes during the project implementation, and ensure their dissemination and exploitation.

These interregional projects should be managed in a coordinated manner, as a portfolio of projects, and should identify and establish links among the projects and with other relevant EU, national or regional projects in similar thematic/technological area (horizontal integration) or complementary areas (vertical integration) with a view to integrate into and contribute to existing or emerging value chains.

A consistent set of core collaborative activities should be included, such as: networking and coordination structures and tools to facilitate innovation development and access to and sharing of best practices, resources, research/technology infrastructures, talents, markets, expertise, services or knowledge; support to interconnections between innovation hubs/local pockets of excellence; market analysis, development and activities towards better access to new markets and finance for innovative SMEs and start-ups; training and skills development; interconnection of open innovation infrastructures; supportive activities towards scale up, exploitation and dissemination of innovative solutions; reinforcing public and private buyers’ capacity to procure innovative solutions; networking of and assistance to public and private procurers to facilitate the implementation of joint or coordinated innovation procurement initiatives; and enhancing place-based social cohesion across EU territories.

The reasons for selecting the proposed strategic areas of cooperation should be explained, and how this cooperation will improve the efficiency and performance of the EU's innovation ecosystems. The joint innovation activities should focus on a specific thematic/technological area, in line with the smart specialisation strategies of the participating regions, and should highlight how it will contribute to innovation priorities of common interest, EU strategic priorities, and, where appropriate, Horizon Europe Missions.

The consortium plans to design and coordinate the implementation of these joint activities should be presented and explained. A set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in line with the proposed objectives to measures/activities underpinned by verifiable indicators should be included. Long-term commitment towards engaging in the cooperation activities set up in the frame of their projects should be ensured (a letter of intent as part of the proposal).

The admissibility conditions include proposal page limits and layout as described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form. Eligible countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Other eligible conditions include:

Participation of at least three national or regional authorities, from at least three different Member States or Associated Countries, with at least two from a widening country and one from a non-widening country.

At least one authority from a ‘moderate’ or ‘emerging’ innovator region and at least one from a ‘strong’ or ‘innovation leader’ region.

The project coordinator must be established in a widening country, and the major share of the budget must be allocated to participants from widening countries.

The consortium must allocate at least 50% of their total eligible costs to financial support to third parties and/or to the implementation of the PCP or PPI procurements.

The consortium must provide a single letter of intent indicating the source of the required 50% of complementary funding.

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, while 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 also described in Annex F.

Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants, with a maximum amount of EUR 600,000 per third party. The funding rate is 50% of the total eligible costs. Grantees must submit annual work plans subject to Commission approval, with the first-year plan submitted with the proposal.

Application form templates are available in the Submission System, along with standard application and evaluation forms. Guidance is provided in the HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements (MGA), and call-specific instructions. Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2025 and annexes, the HE Programme Guide, the HE Framework Programme 2021/695, the HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, rules for legal entity validation, and other relevant documents.

The call budget for 2025 is EUR 24,000,000, with contributions ranging from EUR 5,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000. The indicative number of grants is 4. The call is a single-stage process, opening on 14 May 2025 and closing on 15 October 2025.

This funding opportunity aims to connect regional innovation valleys across the EU, particularly focusing on regions with lower innovation performance. It seeks to create efficient and interconnected innovation ecosystems by supporting long-term programmes that involve national and regional authorities, the private sector, and research institutions. The goal is to stimulate innovation, address key EU challenges, and promote the green and digital transitions. Eligible consortia must include partners from both widening and non-widening countries, and a significant portion of the budget must be allocated to third parties to foster interregional innovation projects. The funding rate is 50% of eligible costs, and successful projects will need to submit annual work plans for approval.

Eligible Applicant Types: National or regional authorities from Member States or Associated Countries are eligible. The consortium must include at least three such authorities from different Member States or Associated Countries, with specific requirements regarding the origin of these authorities from widening and non-widening countries, as well as from regions with different innovation performance levels ('moderate'/'emerging' and 'strong'/'innovation leader'). Private sector and research and innovation actors are also expected to participate in the projects.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON-COFUND action under the Horizon Europe Programme. This involves co-funding, meaning the EU provides a grant to support a programme that is also funded by other sources. Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants.

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required. The consortium must include at least three national or regional authorities from three different Member States or Associated Countries. Specific requirements apply to the composition of the consortium regarding the origin of the authorities from widening and non-widening countries, as well as regions with different levels of innovation performance.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes Member States and Associated Countries participating in the Horizon Europe program. The call specifically targets the creation of connected regional innovation valleys across the European Union (EU), involving regions with lower innovation performances. There are specific requirements for the participation of authorities from "widening countries". 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.

Target Sector: The program targets multiple sectors, including those critical for EU value chains, with a particular emphasis on deep tech. The thematic areas include, but are not limited to, the twin green and digital transition, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, increasing global food security, mastering the digital transformation (including cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence), improving healthcare, and achieving circularity. It also mentions biotech health security and biotech for food systems, applicability of bioeconomy sustainability principles in regional case studies, as described in the concept note on Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity mentions Member States and Associated Countries participating in the Horizon Europe program. It also refers to "widening countries" and "non-widening countries" within the EU and Associated Countries, which are differentiated based on their innovation performance as measured by the Regional Innovation Scoreboard, the European Innovation Scoreboard, and the Global Innovation Index.

Project Stage: The interregional innovation projects to be funded through this call are expected to be similar to Horizon Europe Innovation Actions or close-to-market actions, corresponding to Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 6-8. The projects can also involve Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) or Public Procurement of Innovative solutions (PPI), arriving to TRL 8.

Funding Amount: The budget for the topic is EUR 24,000,000. The indicative grant contribution ranges from EUR 5,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000 per project. The funding rate is 50% of the total eligible costs. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 600,000.

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

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant. Beneficiaries may also provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants, with a maximum amount of EUR 600,000 per third party.

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

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants to be awarded is 4. The success rate cannot be determined exactly from the provided information, but it will depend on the number of proposals received and their quality.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding is required. The funding rate is 50% of the total eligible costs, implying that the other 50% must come from other sources. The consortium must provide a single letter of intent indicating the source of the required 50% of complementary funding (e.g., national and/or regional funding, EU funding, or private investments).

This Horizon Europe call, titled "Implementing co-funded action plans for connected regional innovation valleys in widening countries," aims to foster efficient, inclusive, and interconnected innovation ecosystems across the EU. It specifically targets regions with lower innovation performance, intending to bridge the innovation divide by connecting them with stronger innovation regions. The call encourages collaboration among national and regional authorities, research institutions, and private sector entities to implement joint activities that promote innovation development and deployment. The projects should focus on strategic areas aligned with the smart specialisation strategies of the participating regions and contribute to key EU priorities such as the green and digital transition. The funding mechanism is a co-fund action, requiring consortia to secure 50% of the project costs from other sources. The selected projects will be expected to establish joint innovation actions, including funding programmes for interregional innovation projects, and to implement core collaborative activities such as networking, knowledge sharing, and skills development. The ultimate goal is to enhance innovation capabilities, promote the scaling up of innovations at the EU level, and increase the participation of all innovation ecosystem actors in technology and industrial value chains.