Next-Generation AI Agents for Real-World Applications in the Apply AI sectors (RIA) (Partnership in AI, Data and Robotics)

The HORIZON-CL4-2026-05-DIGITAL-EMERGING-02 grant opportunity is a significant funding initiative under Horizon Europe, specifically aimed at supporting the development of next-generation AI agents for real-world applications. The total budget for this call is €38 million, with each of the two projects expected to receive up to €19 million.

Eligible applicants include legal entities established in EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, and several associated countries including Canada, Israel, South Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. There are restrictions regarding participation from entities controlled by non-eligible countries, particularly those deemed high-risk in supplying mobile networking equipment.

The funding type is classified as Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) under Horizon Europe, which typically provides budget-based action grants. Applicants are expected to create consortia, indicating a preference for collaboration among multiple entities, particularly as projects will develop innovative multi-agent frameworks and demonstrate effective decentralized coordination.

The call targets advancements in artificial intelligence, particularly in developing agentic AI and generative AI technologies, applicable across various sectors such as manufacturing, robotics, health, energy, agrifood, mobility, and aerospace. Projects must aim to enhance autonomous capabilities in AI agents, focusing on advanced planning, memory management, reasoning, and effective multi-agent collaboration.

The application process is a single-stage submission, opening on January 15, 2026, with a deadline of April 15, 2026. Success rates for funded projects are estimated to fall within a 10 to 39 percent range; however, specific success rates for this particular call have not been disclosed. Co-funding is typically required, but applicants are encouraged to demonstrate their financial and operational capacities for the project.

Selected projects will link to European resources such as AI Factories and Digital Innovation Hubs, potentially validating their results through experimental facilities. This initiative aligns with the broader Apply AI strategy and a commitment to ensuring European technological autonomy by reducing dependency on external sources.

Overall, this grant opportunity reflects the EU’s strategy to foster innovation in AI technologies that enhance the capabilities and applications of AI agents in critical sectors, thereby maintaining competitive and strategic independence within the global technological landscape.

This is a Horizon Europe call for proposals under the DIGITAL (HORIZON-CL4-2026-05) call, specifically targeting "Next-Generation AI Agents for Real-World Applications in the Apply AI sectors (RIA) (Partnership in AI, Data and Robotics)". The call is for HORIZON-RIA (Research and Innovation Actions).

The main goal is to foster research on next-generation AI agents, acknowledging the advancements in model architecture, memory, reasoning, and autonomous behavior that are unlocking their potential across various economic sectors, as highlighted by the Apply AI Strategy. The expected outcomes include significant improvements in the autonomy, robustness, and reliability of AI agents through advanced planning mechanisms, memory management, and reasoning capabilities, as well as innovative multi-agent frameworks and protocols demonstrating effective decentralized coordination and collaboration among multiple AI agents.

The scope of the call focuses on next-generation AI agents, which are defined as autonomous systems powered by large AI language models (including large language models or large multimodal models). These agents should be capable of planning, utilizing tools, and performing actions autonomously to achieve specified goals based on high-level instructions. The AI model acts as the agent's "brain," interpreting instructions, generating plans, and using tools to autonomously plan and adapt behavior in real-time for complex, multi-step tasks. The call recognizes the potential of AI Agents in areas like data analytics and coding.

Key aspects of designing effective AI agents include robust planning, reasoning, and search mechanisms, effective memory and state management, and the integration of external tools and APIs.

Potential research areas include:

Enhancing AI agent autonomy through advanced self-planning and self-optimization capabilities.
Innovation in memory-augmented AI agents to facilitate robust long-term reasoning and lifelong learning.
Developing advanced multi-agent frameworks specifically tailored for collaborative agents, including research on AI agent frameworks based on mixed AI architectures.
Advancing multimodal reasoning capabilities to enable real-world applications.

Proposals are expected to incorporate mechanisms for assessing and demonstrating progress, including qualitative and quantitative KPIs, benchmarking, and progress monitoring. They should also build on and reuse public results from relevant previous funded actions and share communicable results with the European R&D community through the AI-on-demand platform.

Projects selected under this topic should link to the resources offered by the AI Factories, including the Data Labs, and their results may be validated in the Testing and Experiment Facilities and further deployed via the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). This initiative contributes to the Apply AI strategy.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data, and robotics (ADRA). Proposals are expected to allocate tasks for cohesion activities with ADRA and the CSA HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18: GenAI4EU central Hub. Collaboration and synergies with other relevant international, European, national, or regional initiatives are also encouraged.

The admissibility conditions include adherence to proposal page limits and layout guidelines 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. Participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland and Norway, as well as Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Entities from third countries that may become associated with Horizon Europe during 2026 and 2027 may also be eligible if their country is identified as eligible at the time of submission.

Entities controlled by non-eligible countries or entities may not participate unless they can demonstrate that their participation would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security. High-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment cannot submit guarantees.

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

Evaluation and award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are detailed 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 also described in Annex F.

The legal and financial setup of the grants is 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 model grant agreements (MGA) are available in the Submission System. Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 (General Introduction, Digital, Industry and Space, and General Annexes), the HE Programme Guide, the HE Framework Programme 2021/695, the HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, decisions authorizing lump sum contributions, rules for legal entity validation, and the EU Grants AGA.

The budget overview for 2026 includes:

HORIZON-CL4-2026-05-DIGITAL-EMERGING-02: 38,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-15, deadline on 2026-04-15, indicative grant amount around 19,000,000 EUR, 2 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2026-05-DIGITAL-EMERGING-03: 25,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-15, deadline on 2026-04-15, indicative grant amount 12,000,000 to 13,000,000 EUR, 2 grants.
HORIZON-CL4-2026-05-MAT-PROD-25: 22,500,000 EUR, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-15, deadline on 2026-04-15, indicative grant amount around 7,500,000 EUR, 3 grants.

There are partner search announcements available, and LEARs, Account Administrators, and self-registrants can publish partner requests.

The submission system is planned to open on the date stated on the topic header.

Support resources include the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk, ETSI Research Helpdesk, and the European Charter for Researchers.

In summary, this funding opportunity aims to advance the development and application of next-generation AI agents, particularly those powered by large language models, to address real-world challenges in various sectors. It encourages research into enhancing agent autonomy, memory, reasoning, and collaboration capabilities, while also emphasizing the importance of demonstrating progress through KPIs and integrating with existing European AI initiatives. The call is open to a range of eligible countries, with specific conditions to safeguard the Union's strategic interests. Successful projects will contribute to the Apply AI strategy and the broader European Partnership on AI, data, and robotics.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are legal entities established in Member States, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, entities from third countries that may become associated with Horizon Europe during 2026 and 2027 may be eligible if their country is identified as eligible at the time of application submission. There are also restrictions based on control by non-eligible countries or entities, and for entities assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA). The Model Grant Agreement (MGA) type is HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG].

Consortium Requirement: While not explicitly stated, the nature of Research and Innovation Actions and the encouragement of collaboration with other projects and initiatives suggests that a consortium is preferred or even implicitly required. The text mentions multi-agent collaboration frameworks, which implies multiple entities working together. Partner search announcements are available.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It also includes third countries that may become associated with Horizon Europe during 2026 and 2027, provided they are listed as eligible at the time of application.

Target Sector: The target sector is primarily ICT, specifically focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI), data, and robotics. It targets the development of next-generation AI agents, large language models, multimodal models, data analytics, and coding. It also touches on areas like digital, industry, and space.

Mentioned Countries: Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, United Kingdom, EU Member States.

Project Stage: The project stage is research and innovation, focusing on development, validation, and demonstration of AI agent technologies. The call aims to move beyond the current limited capabilities of AI agents, suggesting a stage of development and demonstration.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary by topic:
HORIZON-CL4-2026-05-DIGITAL-EMERGING-02: EUR 38,000,000 (Indicative grant amount around EUR 19,000,000, 2 grants)
HORIZON-CL4-2026-05-DIGITAL-EMERGING-03: EUR 25,000,000 (Indicative grant amount EUR 12,000,000 to EUR 13,000,000, 2 grants)
HORIZON-CL4-2026-05-MAT-PROD-25: EUR 22,500,000 (Indicative grant amount around EUR 7,500,000, 3 grants)

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 grant.

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

Success Rates: The success rates cannot be determined from the text.

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

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, under the DIGITAL pillar (HORIZON-CL4-2026-05), aims to fund research and innovation actions (RIA) focused on developing next-generation AI agents. The call is part of the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data, and robotics (ADRA). The primary goal is to enhance the autonomy, robustness, and reliability of AI agents, enabling them to perform complex tasks in real-world applications. The call encourages projects that improve AI agent planning, memory management, reasoning capabilities, and multi-agent collaboration frameworks.

Eligible applicants include legal entities from EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, with specific restrictions to safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security. The call emphasizes the importance of avoiding technological dependency on non-EU sources.

The funding is provided through HORIZON-RIA grants, with varying budgets allocated to different topics within the call, ranging from EUR 22.5 million to EUR 38 million per topic. The submission process is single-stage, with a planned opening date of January 15, 2026, and a deadline of April 15, 2026.

Successful projects are expected to link to resources offered by the AI Factories, including Data Labs, and may be validated in Testing and Experiment Facilities and deployed via European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). The projects should also contribute to the Apply AI strategy and collaborate with other relevant initiatives.