Improving the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families

The Horizon Europe grant titled "Improving the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families" is a call focusing on research and innovation actions aimed at developing innovative medical, technological, and digital solutions. It seeks to enhance the quality of life for individuals with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers. The funding mechanism is a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, with grant amounts expected to be between €6 million and €8 million per project. The total budget allotted is €210 million across various related research topics.

Eligible applicant types include consortia of organizations such as NGOs, technology providers, research institutions, and SMEs specializing in health tech and social services. Non-EU entities, particularly those bringing significant value, are also eligible to participate. The grant involves a two-stage application process, with the first deadline on September 16, 2025, and the second on April 16, 2026.

The projects funded under this grant are expected to address various aspects of intellectual disability, including its prevention, enhancement of autonomy, and reduction of caregiver burden, through innovative approaches such as early diagnostics, treatment protocols, and integrated care strategies. The call encourages collaboration among stakeholders including patients, families, and policymakers to ensure a comprehensive approach to research.

Projects must demonstrate scalability within EU regions and align with the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2021–2030). The importance of social sciences and humanities in the research process is emphasized, along with participation in networking activities for enhanced collaboration. The grant does not explicitly require co-funding, but alignment with other funding sources is encouraged.

Success rates for this grant are generally variable, typical of the competitive nature of Horizon Europe, with estimates ranging from 10% to 39%. The project's outcomes are intended to lead to improved health, autonomy, and overall quality of life for affected individuals and their families.

The EU Funding & Tenders Portal presents a Horizon Europe (HORIZON) call, specifically under Cluster 1 Health (Two stage 2025) (HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-two-stage). The topic is "Improving the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families" HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-STAYHLTH-01-two-stage. It is a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) with a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] mechanism.

The call is currently open for submission, following a two-stage deadline model. The opening date was May 22, 2025. The first deadline is September 16, 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time, and the second deadline is April 16, 2026, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcomes of this topic are:
1. Improved quality of life, empowerment, and increased independence for persons with intellectual disabilities and their families through innovative research support.
2. Development of innovative solutions (medical, technological, digital, etc.) by the scientific community to reverse or reduce the severity of intellectual disability as early as possible, especially in children, enhancing health and autonomy and relieving carers.
3. Informing policymakers, health and care services, patient organizations, funders, the scientific community, and other relevant bodies about research advances and best practices to address the health and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities, helping to reduce the impact of these disabilities on individuals, families, and society.

The scope of the topic includes:
1. Definitions provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) ICD11 under ‘6A00: Disorders of intellectual development’ and ‘20: Developmental anomalies’, including disorders like ‘LD40: Complete trisomies of the autosomes’ and ‘LD90: Conditions with disorders of intellectual development as a relevant clinical feature’.
2. Three types of autism with disorders of intellectual development (6A02.1, 6A02.3, and 6A02.5) under ‘6A02: Autism spectrum disorder’.
3. A human-centered approach focusing on persons with long-term intellectual disabilities and their formal and informal carers, including families.
4. Exploration of new ways to improve the quality of life for persons with intellectual disabilities and their families, reducing the negative impact of the disability through medical, technological, and digital perspectives.
5. Prevention of the worsening of the disability or conditions originating it, with research into the causes and severity of the originating diseases.
6. Innovative solutions such as novel medicines, diagnoses, treatments, protocols, technologies, and digital solutions to prevent the worsening of intellectual disability and related co-morbidities, reverse or reduce its severity, improve autonomy, and relieve carers.

Research actions should address areas such as:
1. Early diagnosis of diseases causing intellectual disability, especially in children, considering sex and gender-related differences and diagnostic biases.
2. Delivery of medical treatments, diagnoses, medicines, protocols, technologies, digital solutions, habilitation, and rehabilitation services to prevent the worsening of intellectual disability, reverse it, or reduce its severity, while supporting empowerment.
3. Addressing comorbidities or other disabilities, with awareness of sex and gender-related differences.
4. Providing evidence-based approaches for transitional care for young adults with intellectual disabilities, addressing sex and gender-specific challenges and needs.
5. Promoting empowerment among persons with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers, removing barriers to participation in society, and ensuring optimal autonomy with assistive technologies and digital solutions.
6. Proposing innovative solutions for high-quality, accessible, and affordable care services to allow carers to better balance work and family lives.
7. Developing innovative integrated care strategies to improve the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities of all ages and their families, focusing on those with the highest vulnerability.
8. Developing guidelines to provide adequate support and training for caregivers, formal and informal, addressing prevention of and protection from violence.

Applicants are encouraged to include patients, families, and carers in the research stages and involve stakeholders from within and outside the intellectual disabilities sector. The topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines. Participation in networking and joint activities is encouraged, with a budget included for attendance to regular joint meetings. Projects are encouraged to explore complementarities with projects funded under the Cluster 2 topic HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-09. Applicants invited to the second stage and planning to include clinical studies should provide details in the dedicated annex.

General conditions include:
1. Admissibility Conditions, Proposal page limit and layout: Applicants must not disclose their organization names, acronyms, logos, or personnel names in the proposal abstract and Part B of their first-stage application, adhering to Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout are described in Part B of the Application Form.
2. Eligible Countries: Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries. Legal entities established in the United States of America are eligible to receive Union funding.
3. Other Eligible Conditions: Projects using satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation, and/or related timing data and services must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: Described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds: This topic is part of the blind evaluation pilot. Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes: For the first stage, thresholds for each criterion are 4 (Excellence) and 4 (Impact). The overall threshold ensures the total requested budget of proposals admitted to stage 2 is as close as possible to four times the available budget. For the second stage, thresholds are 4 (Excellence), 4 (Impact), and 4 (Implementation), with a cumulative threshold of 12.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: 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. Legal and financial set-up are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and evaluation forms and additional documents include:
1. Standard application forms (HE RIA IA Stage 1 and HE RIA, IA)
2. Standard evaluation forms (HE RIA, IA and CSA Stage 1 and HE RIA, IA)
3. Guidance documents: HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreement (MGA), Lump Sum MGA, Call-specific instructions, Information on clinical studies (HE), Detailed budget table (HE LS), Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"
4. Additional documents: HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 4. Health, 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, 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, Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

The budget overview for 2025 includes:
HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-DISEASE-02-two-stage with a budget of EUR 50,000,000 and an indicative number of 7 grants, contributions ranging from EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000.
HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-01-two-stage with a budget of EUR 40,000,000 and an indicative number of 6 grants, contributions ranging from EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 7,000,000.
HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-02-two-stage with a budget of EUR 40,000,000 and an indicative number of 5 grants, contributions ranging from EUR 7,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000.
HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-IND-03-two-stage with a budget of EUR 40,000,000 and an indicative number of 5 grants, contributions ranging from EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000.
HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-STAYHLTH-01-two-stage with a budget of EUR 40,000,000 and an indicative number of 5 grants, contributions ranging from EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000.

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To start the submission process, applicants should access the Electronic Submission Service and select the appropriate type of action and model grant agreement.

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In summary, this Horizon Europe call aims to fund research and innovation projects that will significantly improve the quality of life for individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families. It encourages the development of new medical, technological, and digital solutions, as well as the implementation of best practices in care and support. The call emphasizes the importance of including patients, families, and relevant stakeholders in the research process and requires a multidisciplinary approach involving social sciences and humanities. The funding is provided as a lump sum, and the application process involves a two-stage submission with specific deadlines and evaluation criteria. The call also promotes networking and collaboration among funded projects to maximize their impact.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated, but based on the nature of Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), eligible applicants can include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other legal entities carrying out research and innovation activities. The call encourages the inclusion of patients, their families and carers, policymakers and public authorities, citizens and civil society organizations, end-users, and service providers.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, which falls under the HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA).

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity does not explicitly state whether a single applicant or a consortium is required. However, given the scope and nature of the research actions, a consortium is highly probable and encouraged.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): 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. Any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.

Target Sector: The target sector is health, specifically focusing on improving the quality of life for persons with intellectual disabilities and their families. It also encompasses medical, technological, and digital solutions related to intellectual disabilities, developmental anomalies, and autism spectrum disorders with intellectual development. Social Sciences and Humanities are also relevant.

Mentioned Countries: United States of America.

Project Stage: The project stage is research and innovation actions, which typically involve activities ranging from development to demonstration. The call encourages clinical studies, suggesting that projects can be in the development, validation, or demonstration stages.

Funding Amount: The funding range is variable, with indicative grant amounts ranging from EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000 for most topics, and EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000 for HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-DISEASE-02-two-stage.

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

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

Application Stages: The application process involves two stages. In the first stage, the thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence) and 4 (Impact). The overall threshold applying to the sum of the two individual scores will be set at a level that ensures the total requested budget of proposals admitted to stage 2 is as close as possible to four times the available budget, and not less than three and a half times the available budget. For the second stage, the thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence), 4 (Impact) and 4 (Implementation). The cumulative threshold will be 12.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned.

Co-funding Requirement: The co-funding requirement is not explicitly mentioned.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-STAYHLTH-01-two-stage, aims to fund research and innovation actions that improve the quality of life for individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families. The call falls under the "Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society" destination of the Horizon Europe Cluster 1 Health program. It seeks to support projects that develop innovative medical, technological, and digital solutions to prevent the worsening of intellectual disabilities, reverse or reduce their severity, and improve the autonomy of affected persons and relieve their carers. The scope includes disorders of intellectual development, developmental anomalies, and autism spectrum disorders with intellectual development, as defined by the World Health Organization's ICD11.

The call encourages applicants to include patients, families, carers, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders in the research process. It also emphasizes the importance of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and expertise. Projects are expected to participate in networking and joint activities and are encouraged to explore complementarities with other relevant projects.

The funding mechanism is a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, with indicative grant amounts ranging from EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000. The application process is a two-stage process, with deadlines in September 2025 and April 2026. Eligible applicants include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other legal entities carrying out research and innovation activities from eligible countries as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.