Research Infrastructures 2026

Consolidation of the research infrastructure landscape – pilots for strategic coordination, synergies and simplified access pathways, by large thematic clusters of pan-European research infrastructures <div class="eui-u-mt-l>"><h4>General conditions</h4><div><h4>1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p><strong><em></em></strong>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex A</a> and <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex E</a> of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.</p><p><strong>Proposal page limits and layout:</strong> described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.</p></div></div><div><h4>2. Eligible Countries</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex B</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p><p>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 <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/programme-guide_horizon_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Horizon Europe Programme Guide</a>.</p></div></div><div><h4>3. Other Eligible Conditions</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding as a beneficiary with zero funding, or as an associated partner. The JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal - see General Annex B.</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex B</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex C</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>To ensure a balanced portfolio covering the different domains, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to those proposals that are the highest ranked within each ESFRI domain, provided that the applications attain all thresholds.</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>are described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex D</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>are described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex F</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes and the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/om_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Online Manual</a>.</p></div></div><div><h4>5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex F</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>Beneficiaries will be subject to the additional access rights: beneficiaries shall grant royalty-free access to their intellectual property relating to tools, standards, specifications, and other relevant outputs generated by this action to the EU institutions and to the beneficiaries of projects funded by the EU in view of a more sustained and integrated EU access scheme. This access shall be provided through a mechanism to be defined in the proposal, during and beyond the lifespan of the Grant Agreement .</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>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 <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf"><u>decision</u></a> is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf"><u>https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf</u></a>]].</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex G</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div></div><div class="eui-u-mt-l"><h4>Specific conditions</h4> <div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in the specific topic of the Work Programme</p></div></div><div class="eui-u-mt-l"><div class="eui-u-mt-s"> </div><h4>Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):</h4> <div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p><strong>Application form templates</strong> <em>— the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System</em></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/af/af_he-ria-ia_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)</a> /!\ Topic HORIZON-INFRA-2026-DEV-01-02: Do not use the general templates available on this portal for your Part B. You must download the specific templates for this topic directly from the submission platform.</p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/af/af_he-csa_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Standard application form (HE CSA)</a></p><p><strong>Evaluation form templates</strong> <em>— will be used with the necessary adaptations</em></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/ef/ef_he-ria-ia_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)</a></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/ef/ef_he-csa_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)</a> </p><p><strong>Guidance</strong></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportuniti