The Seal of Excellence: Turn a Near-Miss into National Funding

What Is the Seal of Excellence?

The Seal of Excellence (SoE) is a quality label awarded by the European Commission to proposals that scored above the quality threshold in a Horizon Europe evaluation but could not be funded due to budgetary constraints. It is not funding — it is formal recognition that your proposal was evaluated as excellent by international experts, and it is designed to help you secure alternative financing from national, regional, or private sources.

The mathematics tell the story. In the EIC Accelerator's October 2025 cutoff, 923 full proposals were submitted requesting approximately EUR 7 billion in total. Only 61 companies were selected — leaving hundreds of high-quality proposals unfunded. In EIC Pathfinder's 2025 round, 2,087 applications competed for 44 slots. The Seal of Excellence is the Commission's acknowledgment that many rejected proposals are genuinely excellent — they simply lost in a competition where budgets cannot match demand.

The Seal was introduced under Horizon 2020 and has been expanded under Horizon Europe. It is currently awarded under the EIC Accelerator (proposals scoring 13/15 or above at Step 2 but not invited to interview, or positively assessed by the jury but not funded), EIC Transition (228 Seals awarded from the 2025 call alone), MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (9,847 Seals from the 2025 call — a record year from 17,066 total proposals), MSCA COFUND, and ERC Proof of Concept.

The EIC Board formally called for stronger national and regional support for Seal holders in May 2025, recognising that the Seal's value depends on whether Member States actually provide alternative funding pathways.

Which Countries Fund Seal of Excellence Holders in 2026

National co-financing for Seal of Excellence holders varies dramatically by country. Some Member States have dedicated, well-funded programmes; others offer nothing beyond the certificate itself. Here is the current landscape based on published calls and confirmed budgets.

Spain leads in co-financing volume. CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial) runs the "SME Support Seal of Excellence" programme, which allocated EUR 21.96 million across 11 projects in November 2025 — approximately EUR 2 million per project. Maximum funding is EUR 2.5 million per beneficiary at up to 70% funding intensity. The programme uses ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) co-financing and covers regions including Murcia, La Rioja, Comunidad Valenciana, Andalucía, Galicia, Castilla y León, and Canarias.

Portugal's ANI (Agência Nacional de Inovação) funds SoE holders under the Portugal 2030 framework with a permanent call (rolling cut-off phases). Funding rates are 100% for EIC Transition Seals and up to 70% for EIC Accelerator Seals (50% maximum in the Lisbon region). Maximum funding is EUR 2.5 million per operation.

Slovakia has allocated EUR 31.1 million through the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency, with separate calls for the Bratislava region and less-developed regions, covering up to 17 SoE projects.

Belgium (Brussels) operates through Innoviris and Finance&Invest.Brussels, providing personalised advisory services and matchmaking to align SoE holders with the most appropriate regional funding schemes.

Other countries with active or recent SoE support include Slovenia (SPIRIT agency, EUR 17.08 million overall budget), Bulgaria (National Innovation Fund), Croatia (dual scheme for MSCA and ERC Seals, open until December 2026), Estonia (ETAG, since 2023, expanded May 2025), Lithuania (funding from Recovery and Resilience Facility, deadline April 2026), Czech Republic (Operational Programme through 2027), and Romania (scheme for MSCA Seals).

How to Apply for National Co-Financing

The process for converting a Seal of Excellence into national funding follows four steps, though the specifics vary by country.

Step 1: Obtain your Seal certificate. Log in to the EU Funding and Tenders Portal using the email associated with your proposal. Navigate to "My proposal(s)," click "actions," then "follow up." The PPGMS application opens, and you can download the Seal from "Process documents." The certificate is digitally protected and fraud-proof — national funding bodies can verify its authenticity.

Step 2: Identify available funding in your country. The European Commission maintains an official list of national and regional SoE support schemes, but it is not always up to date. Contact your National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe — every EU country has designated NCPs for each programme pillar. Also contact your Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) local partner, which provides training and advisory services specifically for SoE holders. Check your country's ERDF operational programme — many regions can transfer ERDF budget to support SoE projects.

Step 3: Prepare your application. National funders typically require: the Seal of Excellence certificate, your full original proposal as submitted to the EIC, the Evaluation Summary Report (ESR) showing your scores and evaluator comments, company registration and legal documents per national requirements, and updated financials. Some countries require you to adapt the original proposal to align with national programme priorities or state aid rules — this adaptation is usually minor.

Step 4: Submit according to national timelines. Some countries (Portugal) operate permanent calls with periodic cut-offs. Others (Spain/CDTI) run annual competitive calls. Others (Slovakia) keep calls open until budget is exhausted. Timing matters — do not assume you have unlimited time after receiving your Seal. Some national schemes have application windows that close within months of the EU evaluation results.

Maximising the Seal's Value Beyond Public Funding

The Seal of Excellence has value beyond national co-financing programmes. It is an independently verified quality label that signals to any investor, partner, or customer that your project was evaluated as excellent by international experts under one of the world's most rigorous evaluation processes.

For fundraising, the Seal is a credibility accelerator. When pitching to VCs, include the Seal certificate in your data room and reference it in your deck. The fact that 3–4 independent experts assessed your technology, market, and team as above-threshold carries significant weight — especially with European investors who understand the EIC evaluation process. Some VCs specifically look for SoE-holding companies as pre-validated deal flow.

For corporate partnerships, the Seal demonstrates that a neutral third party has validated your technology claims. This can accelerate due diligence and reduce the perceived risk of working with an early-stage company. Include the Seal in any RFP response or partnership proposal.

For hiring, the Seal signals that your company is building genuinely innovative technology recognised at the European level. In competitive talent markets, this differentiation matters.

For resubmission, the Seal provides a psychological and strategic advantage. You know your proposal is close to the threshold — it needs refinement, not reinvention. Use the Evaluation Summary Report to identify the specific weaknesses that kept you below the funding line, address them surgically, and resubmit with confidence. Many ultimately funded EIC companies went through one or more rejections before receiving the Seal or funding.

Member States may also transfer budget from ERDF Programmes to Horizon Europe specifically to support SoE holders — an option that the EIC Board actively encourages regions to utilise.