Pillar I: Facilitating development of institutional open access policies through the retention of intellectual property rights

The Horizon Europe grant opportunity, identified as HORIZON-WIDERA, focuses on enhancing the European research and innovation system by promoting open access policies and rights retention among research performing organizations (RPOs). This grant is specifically a Coordination and Support Action with a fixed funding amount of €2,000,000. Eligible applicants include research institutions, universities, libraries, and policy-makers from EU member states and associated countries, forming consortia of at least three independent legal entities from different nations, with two being from a member state. The call is designed to better develop and implement open access policies, which are essential for ensuring researchers retain rights over their work, allowing it to be openly accessible under licenses such as Creative Commons. The project aims to facilitate institutional development, capacity building, and effective implementation of open access strategies. Proposals should address multiple activities, including creating networks of institutions to align policies, generating guidance materials, and training aimed at boosting the understanding and approval of rights retention and open access practices. Successful projects are expected to increase the number of RPOs adopting these policies, enhance the share of research output available as open access, and improve the overall preservation of scientific knowledge through institutional infrastructures like repositories. The application process is straightforward, with a single-stage submission required by the deadline of March 11, 2027. The funding is categorized as a lump sum, meaning specified amounts are provided up front rather than reimbursing based on incurred costs. Overall, this grant aims for tangible improvements in the open science landscape within Europe, emphasizing collaborative efforts across a variety of stakeholders in the research community. The opportunity is particularly focused on achieving more equitable and inclusive access to scientific knowledge, which is vital in addressing the current imbalances in open access publication rates across different regions.

This is a summary of the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) call, specifically the "Enhancing the European R&I system (HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05)" call, focusing on the topic "Pillar I: Facilitating development of institutional open access policies through the retention of intellectual property rights" HORIZON-WIDERA. It is a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (HORIZON-CSA) with a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]. The deadline model is single-stage. The planned opening date is 08 December 2026, and the deadline date is 11 March 2027, 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcome of proposals is to deliver on the impact of "A more open, equitable and inclusive research and innovation ecosystem," contributing to the ERA Structural Policy of "Enabling open science via sharing and re-use of data, including through the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)". Project results are expected to contribute to:

Increased number of EU research performing organisations (RPOs) with well-developed policies on open access publications, which include clause(s) for rights retention.

Higher share of research publications in open access across the EU and Associated Countries, especially in low-performing countries with respect to open access.

Increase of access to and preservation of scientific information through institutional infrastructures, such as repositories.

The scope of this topic is to support RPOs across the EU to work strategically on rights retention policies to boost open access and reuse of scientific information. Proposals should enable RPOs to adopt and/or expand their policies on open access and rights retention tailored to specific national legal and policy contexts. They should also consider related issues such as research assessment and its reform, the costs of providing open access, and different disciplinary practices and needs, among others.

Consortia may comprise RPOs, libraries, policy-makers, funders, and others.

To achieve the expected outcomes, proposals should address at least the activities outlined below and propose any additional, complementary activities:

Develop networks of research institutions working towards aligned institutional policies to enable open access through rights retention.

Produce comprehensive guidance, tools and training materials, and document lessons learnt and best practice to support RPOs to adopt and expand policies on rights retention.

Design strategies to maximise approval and adoption of rights retention and open access policies by researchers.

Rights retention means that authors or their institutions retain copyright and sufficient rights over scholarly works under publication to make them immediately available and reusable under an open license, that is a CC BY or equivalent license, independent of publisher policies. Such rights retention may apply to either the final publishable form (Version of Record) and/or the version accepted for publication, including all changes made during the peer review process (Author Accepted Manuscript).

The guiding policy framework of this destination is the Communication "A New ERA for Research and Innovation", the Council Recommendation on the Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe (Pact for R&I), and the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda (2025-2027). The funded actions will strengthen the ERA by promoting the freedom of movement of researchers, scientific knowledge, and technology and by providing new evidence for better-informed policymaking.

The EU Member States, Associated Countries, R&I stakeholders, and the Commission work together to implement the ERA. This process is steered by the ERA Policy Agenda, which identifies specific ERA Actions (time-limited initiatives) and Structural Policies (long-term policies) designed to tackle concrete challenges faced by R&I communities in Europe. This work programme is designed to support this process. The funded actions will build knowledge and capacities at the level of institutions and ecosystems to adopt reforms and practices in line with the ERA Policy Agenda, thereby contributing to the implementation of the ERA.

The destination will be implemented in synergy with the European Higher Education Area and the European Education Area, especially in relation to R&I careers and institutional changes in universities and research organisations. Several call topics and other actions will also contribute to the implementation of the European framework for research careers.

The destination includes two calls with 13 topics in total as well as other actions, targeting a wide range of R&I stakeholders, e.g., universities, research performing and funding organisations, research evaluation agencies, networks of researchers, publishers, industry and start-ups, policymakers, local authorities, and public bodies.

The effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines is encouraged under this destination, including the involvement of SSH experts, institutions, and the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, to enhance the societal impact of project activities.

The ERA Platform showcases results from Horizon Europe-funded projects, making them available to a wide range of stakeholders to facilitate progress in ERA policy areas. Applicants are encouraged to consider these results as well as propose new tools, resources, and visual material that can be featured on the platform.

All topics in the 2026 and 2027 ERA calls are organised around four pillars, designed to enable the funded projects to strengthen R&I capacities across four complementary dimensions while addressing selected ERA Actions and Structural Policies.

2026 and 2027 ERA calls:pillar structure

Pillar I:Institutional changes for ERA

Type:coordination and support actions

Focus:capacity building and support to foster adoption of ERA policies/practices within institutions.

Activity types:providing tools, resources, training, services, and policy advice.

Policy areas:

Equity in open science

Inclusive gender equality

Research assessment reform

Research ethics and integrity

Open access policies

Pillar II:Ecosystems for ERA

Type:coordination and support actions

Focus:building and reinforcing networks and partnerships to foster broad uptake of ERA policies/practices.

Activity types:exchanging knowledge and practice, networking and cooperative actions.

Policy areas:

Research ethics and integrity

Environmentally sustainable science

Knowledge valorisation

Open science practices

Research careers

Pillar III:Citizens and science in ERA

Type:coordination and support actions

Focus:connecting R&I with citizens and other stakeholders.

Activity types:implementing and promoting participatory approaches, such as citizen engagement and citizen science.

Policy areas:

Trust in science

Knowledge valorisation

Citizen and societal engagement

Pillar IV:New knowledge for ERA

Type:research and innovation actions

Focus:creating new knowledge that supports design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and practices.

Activity types:conducting analyses, developing and testing new methods and practices.

Policy areas:

Reproducibility in research

Research ethics and integrity

Inclusive gender equality

Research careers

Global approach to R&I

Proposals under this destination should set out a credible pathway to one or several of the following expected impacts:

Effective and sustainable structural institutional changes aligned with the ERA priorities;

Sustainable ecosystems established around the ERA priorities through enhanced cooperation, coordination and alignment;

Increased trust in science and alignment of R&I with society’s needs;

Strengthened evidence base for advancing the implementation of the ERA;

Increased reproducibility, trustworthiness and transparency of scientific research;

A more open, equitable and inclusive research and innovation ecosystem;

A research ethics and integrity ecosystem continually enhanced with robust methodologies that encourage benefit sharing and prevent ethics dumping;

Systemic reform of research assessment through the recognition of the diverse outputs, practices, and activities which maximise the quality and impact of research;

Improved research careers and mobility, based on the European framework for research careers, fostering knowledge flows and career interoperability across sectors and countries;

Stronger translation of R&I results into society and economy;

Enhanced gender equality and inclusiveness, leading to research excellence and more innovative, socially relevant, and economically impactful outcomes;

Increased uptake, effectiveness and impact of environmentally sustainable research;

More resilient and future-proof R&I policies and long-term strategies with effectively integrated strategic intelligence and strengthened foresight communities;

A more strategic, coherent, and evidence-based approach towards cooperation with China in the area of science, technology, and innovation.

General conditions for participation include admissibility conditions, eligible countries, other eligible conditions, financial and operational capacity and exclusion, evaluation and award criteria, submission and evaluation processes, indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement, and 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 authorising 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).

Application form templates are available in the Submission System, including a standard application form (HE CSA). Evaluation form templates will be used with the necessary adaptations, including a standard evaluation form (HE CSA).

Additional documents include:HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 11. Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area, HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. 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 for HORIZON-WIDERA is €2,000,000, with an indicative number of 1 grant. Other topics under the same call include:

HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-02:€29,000,000, indicative grant amounts ranging from €2,000,000 to €4,000,000, with an indicative number of 12 grants.

HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-03:€6,000,000, with an indicative number of 1 grant.

HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-04:€2,000,000, with an indicative number of 2 grants.

HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-05:€3,000,000, with an indicative number of 1 grant.

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In summary, this Horizon Europe call aims to enhance the European Research and Innovation system by promoting open access to research publications through rights retention strategies. It seeks to support research performing organizations in developing and implementing policies that empower researchers and institutions to retain copyright and ensure their work is openly available. The call encourages collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the development of tools and training materials to facilitate the adoption of these policies across the EU and associated countries. The overall goal is to create a more open, equitable, and inclusive research ecosystem, contributing to the European Open Science Cloud and the broader European Research Area.

Eligible Applicant Types:Research Performing Organisations (RPOs), libraries, policymakers, funders, and other relevant stakeholders are eligible to form consortia and apply. The call targets a wide range of R&I stakeholders, e.g., universities, research performing and funding organisations, research evaluation agencies, networks of researchers, publishers, industry and start-ups, policymakers, local authorities, and public bodies.

Funding Type:The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (HORIZON-CSA) or a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) under the Horizon Europe Programme. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.

Consortium Requirement:A consortium is required. Applications must be submitted by a consortium including participation, as beneficiaries, of at least three independent legal entities: Each established in a different Member State or Associated Country; and two of which are established in a Member State.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States and Associated 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 the research and innovation sector, specifically focusing on open science, research ethics, research integrity, knowledge valorisation, and institutional changes within the European Research Area (ERA). It also encourages the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines.

Mentioned Countries:EU Member States, Associated Countries, China (in the context of international cooperation).

Project Stage:The project stage is aimed at development, adoption, and expansion of policies, tools, and training materials related to open access and rights retention. It supports strategic work on rights retention policies to boost open access and reuse of scientific information.

Funding Amount:The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic within the call:

HORIZON-WIDERA:around €2,000,000

HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-02:€2,000,000 to €4,000,000

HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-03:around €6,000,000

HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-04:around €1,000,000

HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-05:around €3,000,000

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

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

Application Stages:The application process involves a single stage.

Success Rates:The indicative number of grants for each topic suggests the relative success rates, but specific success rates are not provided.

Co-funding Requirement:The need for co-funding is not explicitly mentioned; however, eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.

Summary:This Horizon Europe call, Enhancing the European R&I system (HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05), aims to foster a more open, equitable, and inclusive research and innovation ecosystem within the European Research Area (ERA). It focuses on supporting research performing organisations (RPOs) in developing and implementing policies related to open access and rights retention. The call is structured around four pillars: Institutional changes for ERA, Ecosystems for ERA, Citizens and science in ERA, and New knowledge for ERA. It encourages consortia of at least three independent legal entities from different Member States or Associated Countries to submit proposals. The funding is provided as a lump sum grant, and the application process involves a single stage. The call targets a wide range of R&I stakeholders, including universities, research organisations, policymakers, and libraries, to promote structural changes, enhance cooperation, increase trust in science, and strengthen the evidence base for advancing the implementation of the ERA. The call aims to increase the number of EU RPOs with well-developed open access policies, increase the share of research publications in open access, and improve access to and preservation of scientific information through institutional infrastructures.