Startup Europe
Interconnected Innovation Ecosystems (2027.1) · HORIZON-CSA · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds projects that connect and support European startups and scaleups working in digital and deep tech fields, helping them scale across borders, access new markets, and become investment-ready. It prioritizes companies that already have some traction (a paying customer base or at least a seed round of funding), especially those based in less innovation-intensive countries or regions, and women-led ventures. Grantees can pass funding directly to these startups as financial support to third parties, up to €60,000 each.
deep tech · sme scaleup · fintech finance · artificial intelligence · regional development · gender equality
Who wins this
A consortium of organisations (such as accelerators, innovation agencies, or ecosystem builders) spanning multiple European countries, with at least half based in moderate or emerging innovator regions, aiming to run cross-border acceleration and investment-readiness programmes for high-traction startups.
Could you win this call?
We read your site to see what you build.
The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €2M
- Funding model
- Lump sum — paid per completed work package, no financial reporting of actual costs
- Submission
- Single-stage submission (full proposal at once)
- Type of action
- HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
- Partners
- Required. The call asks for a consortium — a group applying together, typically 3+ organisations from 3+ countries.
- Support to third parties
- Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants, up to a maximum of EUR 60,000 per third party.
- Also required
- At least 50% of consortium beneficiaries must be established in 'moderate' or 'emerging' innovator countries or regions as defined by the Regional/European Innovation Scoreboard or Global Innovation Index.
- Eligible countries (45)
- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, IL, TR, UA, RS, MK, ME, AL, BA, XK, GE, AM, MD, TN, NZ
Read the full conditions from the official call ›
General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout 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 At least 50% of the beneficiaries in a consortium must be established in 'moderate' or ‘emerging’ innovator countries or regions. 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 opening. Associated Countries which are not included in the European Innovation Scoreboard and are ranked below 25 on the Global Innovation Index 2024 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 (Horizon Europe country profile) will be taken as a reference and countries ranked below the average will be considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘emerging' innovators. Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. 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 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. 6. 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) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf ]]. Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. 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 topic conditions
Who has won calls like this
Organisations that most often win this call family · 84 past winners