Preparatory action for setting up joint programmes among innovation ecosystems actors

The EU funding opportunity HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-01, part of the Horizon Europe Programme, aims to foster interconnected innovation ecosystems across Europe. It involves a single-stage open call with a deadline of October 15, 2025. The total indicative budget is €5 million, and each project can receive around €1 million in funding.

Eligible applicants must form a consortium of at least three independent legal entities from different EU Member States or Associated Countries, including entities from both moderate/emerging innovator regions and strong/innovation leader regions. Possible applicants include research institutes, universities, SMEs, and other innovation actors.

The primary funding mechanism is a grant, specifically a Coordination and Support Action (CSA), which provides financial support to facilitate joint programs focusing on interregional innovation collaboration. Projects are expected to prepare long-term action plans and should address EU-level priorities such as digital transformation, green initiatives, and societal challenges, among other themes.

There are no specific countries named in the eligibility criteria; instead, eligibility is based on regions as determined by innovation rankings. The potential success rate for funding is estimated to be around five projects, given the budget allocation.

While co-funding is encouraged, it is not explicitly required. The funding can also be supplemented with support to third parties, allowing for grants of up to €60,000. Proposals should justify the added value at the EU level and demonstrate scalable activities.

In summary, this grant initiative seeks to enhance collaboration among innovation actors across varying EU regions, ultimately aiming for a more dynamic and interconnected innovation landscape in line with EU strategic priorities.

The EU funding opportunity is part of the Horizon Europe Programme, specifically under the call for Interconnected Innovation Ecosystems (2025.2) with call ID HORIZON-EIE-2025-02. It includes two topics: HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-01 which is a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (CSA) with a budget of 5,000,000 EUR and HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-02 which is a HORIZON Programme Cofund Action with a budget of 35,000,000 EUR. Both topics follow a single-stage submission process, opening on May 14, 2025, and closing on October 15, 2025, at 17:00 Brussels time. The expected EU contribution for HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-01 is around 1,000,000 EUR, and for HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-02 it is between 5,000,000 and 8,000,000 EUR. Approximately 5 grants are expected to be awarded per topic.

The HORIZON-CSA actions aim to foster open dialogue and agreement among Member States, Associated Countries, and their regions, involving public and private sectors, and research and innovation actors. The goal is to create more dynamic, inclusive, gender-diverse, and connected innovation ecosystems through co-planning, co-implementation, and co-investments aligned with the New European Innovation Agenda. These actions should prepare joint long-term programs and action plans that enhance collaboration, support common innovation activities, and create shared knowledge assets at EU, national, regional, and local levels. Synergies with other EU funding programs, including Cohesion Policy instruments, national or regional public funds, and private funds, are encouraged to complement Horizon Europe support.

The scope of the topics involves national, regional, and local authorities responsible for innovation policies and programs, along with other research and innovation actors, preparing joint multi-annual programs and action plans. These plans should strengthen the performance and capacity of innovation ecosystems, improve their interconnection, and align them with EU-level priorities as outlined in the New European Innovation Agenda. Projects should address challenges at EU, national, regional, and local levels.

Applicants are expected to prepare and agree on a common program of activities and action plans, with a suggested project duration of 12 to 18 months. Proposals should identify areas and activities for cooperation to enhance the coordination and directionality of research and innovation investments and policies, improving the efficiency and performance of EU innovation ecosystems. Thematic or technological areas of common interest should align with EU priorities, including the New European Innovation Agenda's "burning challenges," the Green Deal, the RePowerEU Plan, circularity, digital transformation, biotechnology and biomanufacturing, and advanced materials. Gender equality objectives should be considered.

Long-term action planning is encouraged for at least three years, focusing on joint cooperation activities. Proposals must justify the need for scalable joint activities with strong EU added value, explaining the potential for growth and competitiveness in the targeted sector. Synergies between EU, national, and regional funds and programs should be enhanced, and innovation agendas should be aligned. The process should be open, clear, realistic, and impact-oriented, including relevant guidance mechanisms and tools. Common knowledge assets expected from the action plans, and the benefits for intended beneficiaries, should be presented. Pilot schemes for specific actions can be designed, with the possibility of testing them using non-compulsory Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) schemes. Targeted milestones should be presented, and inclusiveness and diversity should be ensured through the involvement of varied innovation actors from the quadruple helix.

The development of a joint long-term action plan may include two phases: a first phase to foster close dialogue among key stakeholders for strategy/partnership building, mapping, and analysis of existing innovation agendas/strategies/policies/plans/activities, and a second phase dedicated to concretizing, setting up, and finalizing the joint action plan(s) and allocating activities over the period of the proposed action plans.

The implementation of the proposed action plans is not part of this topic, unless the project uses FSTP. Successful proposals may seek further financial support from other EU programs, including Horizon Europe, or other public and private programs.

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, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries outlined in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

The action requires the participation of at least three independent legal entities from three different Member States or Associated Countries, with at least one entity from a 'moderate' or 'emerging' innovator region and one from a 'strong' or 'innovation leader' innovator region. The Regional Innovation Scoreboard and the European Innovation Scoreboard are used as references.

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. Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F and the Online Manual. The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F.

Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants, with a maximum amount of EUR 60,000 per third party. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum, as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021. The legal and financial setup of the grants is described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Application form templates are available in the Submission System, including a standard application form (HE CSA). Evaluation form templates will be used with necessary adaptations, including a standard evaluation form (HE CSA). Guidance is provided in the HE Programme Guide. Model Grant Agreements (MGA) include the Lump Sum MGA. Call-specific instructions include a detailed budget table (HE LS), information on financial support to third parties (HE), information on clinical studies (HE), and guidance on lump sums. Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2025, the HE Programme Guide, the HE Framework Programme 2021/695, the HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, and various rules and agreements related to legal entities, financial capacity, and grant management.

The Funding & Tenders Portal provides an Online Manual, Terms and Conditions, and a Privacy Statement. LEARs, Account Administrators, and self-registrants can publish partner requests. The Electronic Submission Service can be accessed via the submission button, and existing draft proposals can be accessed through the Funding & Tenders Portal.

The Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, and CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks offer support. The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment provide general principles and requirements. A Partner Search tool is available.

In summary, this funding opportunity aims to connect innovation ecosystems across Europe by supporting the development of joint programs and action plans among various stakeholders. It encourages collaboration between regions with different innovation levels, promotes alignment with EU priorities, and seeks to enhance the overall performance and efficiency of the European innovation landscape. The funding is provided as a lump sum, and projects are expected to involve a diverse range of innovation actors and consider gender equality objectives. The ultimate goal is to foster a more dynamic, inclusive, and interconnected innovation ecosystem that can effectively address challenges at all levels.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types include national, regional, and/or local authorities in charge of innovation policies and programmes from Member States, Associated Countries and/or their regions, and other research and innovation actors, public and private sector and research and innovation actors, individual inventors, industry, startups, scaleups and SMEs investors, innovation hubs, business associations, clusters, public and private buyers of innovative solutions as well as citizens and civil society organisations.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant. Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants, with a maximum amount of EUR 60,000 per third party. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required. The action requires the participation, as beneficiaries, of at least three (3) independent legal entities from three (3) different Member States or Associated Countries.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes 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 target sectors include innovation ecosystems, Green Deal, RePowerEU Plan, circularity, digital transformation, biotechnology, biomanufacturing, and advanced materials. The proposals are encouraged to focus on one or several thematic/technological areas of common interest in line with one or more EU priorities, including the “burning challenges” specified in the New European Innovation Agenda.

Mentioned Countries: Member States, Associated Countries, non-EU countries.

Project Stage: The project stage involves preparing joint multi-annual programmes of activities and action plans, strategy/partnership building, mapping, and analysis of existing national and/or regional and/or local innovation agendas/strategies/policies/plans/activities, concretising, setting up, and finalising the joint action plan(s) and allocation of the activities over a period of the proposed action plans.

Funding Amount: For HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-01, the budget is EUR 5,000,000, with an indicative contribution of around EUR 1,000,000 per grant. For HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-02, the budget is EUR 35,000,000, with contributions ranging from EUR 5,000,000 to EUR 8,000,000.

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. Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants suggests that 5 grants will be awarded for HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-01 and 5 grants for HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-02.

Co-funding Requirement: HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-02 is a co-fund action, implying a co-funding requirement.

This opportunity, under the Horizon Europe Programme, aims to bolster innovation ecosystems across Member States and Associated Countries. It focuses on enabling national, regional, and local authorities, along with various innovation actors, to collaborate on multi-annual programmes and action plans. The goal is to enhance the performance, capacity, and interconnection of these ecosystems, aligning them with EU-level priorities outlined in the New European Innovation Agenda. There are two specific topics: one for Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) with a budget of EUR 5 million, and another for Programme Co-fund Actions with a budget of EUR 35 million. Eligible applicants include a wide range of entities, from public authorities to individual inventors and SMEs. A consortium of at least three independent legal entities from different eligible countries is required, ensuring representation from both moderate/emerging and strong/innovation leader regions. Projects should focus on thematic areas aligned with EU priorities such as the Green Deal, digital transformation, and biotechnology. The funding is provided as a lump sum, and projects can provide financial support to third parties up to EUR 60,000. The application process is a single-stage submission, with a deadline in October 2025. The initiative seeks to foster open dialogue, co-planning, co-implementation, and co-investments to create more dynamic, inclusive, and connected innovation ecosystems across the EU.