Implementing co-funded action plans for connected regional innovation valleys

General conditions General conditions 1. Admissibility conditions: 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. This action requires the participation, as beneficiaries, of at least five (5) national or regional authorities, from at least five (5) different Member States or Associated Countries, of which at least two (2) are representing a 'moderate' or 'emerging' innovator region and at least one (1) is representing a 'strong' or 'innovation leader' innovator region. The Regional Innovation Scoreboard is taken as a reference, and in the case of entities representing national authorities, the European Innovation Scoreboard. The applicants must use as a reference the latest version of the documents mentioned above at the time of the call closure. Associated Countries which are not included in the European Innovation Scoreboard and are ranked below 25 on the latest Global Innovation Index are considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘emerging' innovators. In cases of Associated Countries not included in any of the previously mentioned references, the participation rank of the country in the Horizon Europe programme (H2020 country profile) will be taken as a reference and countries ranked below the average will be considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘emerging' innovators. The consortium must provide a letter of intent at the moment of submission of the proposal indicating the source of the required 50% of complementary funding (e.g. national and/or regional funding, European funding, or private investments). 3. Other eligibility conditions: 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 Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described 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 Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The EUR 60,000 threshold provided for in Article 204 (a) of the Financial Regulation No 2018/1046 does not apply. The maximum amount of FSTP to be granted to an individual third party is EUR 600.000. This amount is justified since the cascading grants will support concrete interregional projects to be undertaken by research and innovation entities. Due to the nature of these projects (e.g. development or deployment of technological innovations) and their relatively small number of expected participants, a threshold lower than EUR 600.000 would constitute an obstacle to establishing effective collaborations. Grants awarded under this topic will have to submit the following deliverable(s): Annual work plans subject to approval by the Commission. For the first year, the annual work plan needs to be submitted together with the respective proposal. The funding rate is 50% of the eligible costs. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes Specific conditions 7. Specific conditions: described in the topic conditions