What this call funds
Expected Outcome
Excellence Hubs allow innovation ecosystems in Widening countries and beyond, to team up and create better linkages between academia, business, government and society. This will foster a place-based innovation culture in Widening countries based on a strategic agenda aligned with regional or national smart specialisation strategies, and clearly identified expectations for economic and societal impacts. Projects should contribute to the following outcomes:
- Excellent and sustainable regional R&I ecosystems in Widening countries and beyond in relevant domains of cutting-edge science and innovation;
- Long term joint R&I strategies underpinned by concrete action plans of European relevance;
- Common investment plans for R&I, including infrastructures, leveraging national, regional and European funds as well as private capital in a synergetic manner;
- R&I pilot projects alongside a joint strategy and in line with regional and national strategies, notably regional innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3);
- New competencies and skills for researchers, entrepreneurs and professionals in R&I intensive domains;
- Strengthened linkages between science, businesses and society;
- New business opportunities for SMEs, university spin-offs and start-ups, especially in deep tech areas.
Scope
The projects will foster a regional innovation culture in Widening countries, aligned with regional or national smart specialization strategies. Consortia should seek synergies and avoid overlaps with relevant initiatives such as European Innovation Ecosystems, EIC Pathfinder, the KICs of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), in particular the EIT Community Hubs established in Widening countries, the JRC’s ‘Partnerships for Regional Innovation’ and the Widening Dissemination and Exploitation Facility. This action supports the ERA’s third priority of translating R&I results into the economy, aiming to enhance European competitiveness in the global technology race while improving the environment for business R&I investment, technology deployment, and the uptake of research results in society.
The action targets regions as R&I actors, as they are where innovation and industrial ecosystems thrive, strengthening the connective tissue between higher education institutions, businesses, in particular SMEs and start-ups, research centres, and local communities and citizens. Regional ecosystems across the EU can drive new European strategic value chains.
Excellence Hubs are networks of innovation ecosystems in Widening countries, involving larger communities based on the quadruple helix principle. Legal entities form non-Widening countries may join if the consortium demonstrates that this is necessary to achieve the expected impacts.
Projects should include a well-balanced package covering at least the following activities:
- Design and implementation of a cross-border joint R&I strategy aligned with regional smart specialization strategies and European priorities;
- R&I collaboration strengthening academia-business linkages and providing evidence for strategy building and investment. The research component should be developed through joint research projects, closing knowledge gaps and advancing science and technology with market potential. The description of R&I component should include a long-term vision beyond the state of the art of the chosen R&I domain. The R&I component must be presented in a distinct work package in the proposal. The R&I component should be in balance with the other proposed activities and not constitute the dominant part of the project;
- Development of investment plans to implement the strategy, including business models for commercially sustainable products and services, leveraging private investments, as well as possibly national, regional and European funds,;
- If applicable, conceptual design and pre-planning for pilots and demonstrators in line with the strategy, financed by sources other than the Union contribution provided by the Excellence Hub grants. Proposals should outline how other financial resources will be accessed at a later stage;
- Complementary activities to promote knowledge transfer, visibility, mutual learning, skills development, and engagement with local governments and citizens. Secondments and staff exchanges should foster long-term collaboration.
Proposals should clearly illustrate the expected impact of the project, including new local and international partnerships, institutional changes, increased R&I intensity and other relevant indicators.
Expected project duration is up to 5 years.
Eligibility & conditions+
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
The page limit of the application is 40 pages.
described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible Countries
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. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
In order to achieve the expected outcomes, participation as coordinators to the call is limited to legal entities established in Widening countries as defined in the Horizon Europe regulation.
Proposals must involve at least two R&I ecosystems from two different Widening countries.
Each R&I ecosystem must be entirely based in a single Widening country and must comprise four different categories of actors i.e. a) academic institutions (universities and/or non-university research centres or labs), b) business entities, c) public authorities or authorised agencies operating at regional or local level and d) societal actors (e.g. civil society organisations, citizens, end users, media, cultural actors etc.).
A proposal may demonstrate involvement of a Widening country R&I ecosystem by either:
- The participation, as a beneficiary, by one or more umbrella organisations, whose membership comprises the four different categories of Widening country R&I actors for the relevant Widening country; or
- The participation, as beneficiaries, of individual legal entities representing each of the four categories of actors for the relevant Widening country. In the case of representative individual entities, at least one of the business entities per R&I ecosystem needs to be an established firm with turnover. More specifically, such business entities must at the time of the submission of the proposal be established for already at least two consecutive years with a proven operational turnover, i.e. by providing balance sheets and/or business reports as annex(es) to the proposal. These documents must be submitted in one of the EU official languages.
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
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
The following rules for dealing with ex-aequo applications apply: in the first place, ex-aequo proposals will be prioritised according to geographical diversity criteria, defined as proposals with coordinators established in a Widening country, not otherwise represented as coordinator by a more highly ranked proposal. The method described in Points 1), 2), 3) and 5) of General Annexes Part F (Procedure/Evaluation procedure and ranking) will then be applied to the remaining equally ranking proposals in the group. This rule establishing the priority order serves to better spread the impact of the action and to strengthen the efficiency of the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ programme.
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. The following exceptions apply:
The following rules for dealing with ex-aequo applications apply: in the first place, ex-aequo proposals will be prioritised according to geographical diversity criteria, defined as proposals with coordinators established in a Widening country, not otherwise represented as coordinator by a more highly ranked proposal. The method described in Points 1), 2), 3) and 5) of General Annexes Part F (Procedure/Evaluation procedure and ranking) will then be applied to the remaining equally ranking proposals in the group. This rule establishing the priority order serves to better spread the impact of the action and to strengthen the efficiency of the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ programme.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
The funding rate is 70 % of the eligible costs. An explanation should be provided in the proposal on how the remaining 30% will be secured and shared among the beneficiaries.
Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants and is limited to SMEs and start-up companies.The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the specific topic of the Work Programme
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
Guidance
HE Programme Guide
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
HE MGA
Call-specific instructions
Information on financial support to third parties (HE)
Information on clinical studies (HE)
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2025-2026 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2025-2026 – 11. Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area
HE Main Work Programme 2025-2026 – 14. General Annexes
HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
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
Source: EU Funding & Tenders Portal · synced 2026-09-02