research grants europe

Funding programmes and open calls

Funding programmes that support research and innovation projects, with links to open and upcoming calls

Research and innovation programme

Horizon europe.

Horizon Europe is the EU's research and innovation programme for 2021-2027 with a budget of €95.5 billion.

It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth.

The programme facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges. It supports creating and better dispersing of excellent knowledge and technologies.

It creates jobs, fully engages the EU’s talent pool, boosts economic growth, promotes industrial competitiveness and optimises investment impact within a strengthened European Research Area.

Open and upcoming calls for Horizon Europe

The previous programmes (Horizon 2020 and FP7)

Horizon 2020

Research and Innovation funding 2007 - 2013 (Archived site)

The EU4Health programme, implemented by HaDEA, with a budget of €5.3 billion, is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes since their launch in 2003.

HaDEA call management

Cohesion Fund

The Cohesion Fund is aimed at EU countries whose gross national income (GNI) per inhabitant is less than 90% of the EU average. It aims to reduce economic and social disparities and to promote sustainable development.

LIFE Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

The  LIFE programme 2021-2027  is divided into four sub-programmes: “Nature and biodiversity”, “Circular economy and quality of life”, “Climate change mitigation and adaptation” and “Clean energy transition”.

LIFE Calls for proposals 2023

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

The European Regional Development Fund aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union by correcting imbalances between its regions. The ERDF focuses its investments on several key priority areas, including innovation and research.

Technical Support Instrument

The Technical Support Instrument provides tailor-made technical expertise to EU countries to carry out reforms..

European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF)

Over half of EU funding is channelled through the 5 European structural and investment funds (ESIF) . They are jointly managed by the European Commission and the EU countries. The purpose of all these funds is to invest in job creation and a sustainable and healthy European economy and environment. 

Open calls for proposal related to research and innovation can be found on the websites of the 5 individual funding programmes:

• European regional development fund (ERDF)
• European social fund (ESF)
• Cohesion fund (CF)
• European agricultural fund for rural development (EAFRD)
• European maritime and fisheries fund (EMFF)

European Union funding, grants and subsidies

What types of funding are available.

The EU provides funding for a range of projects and programmes. It applies strict rules, for tight control over how funds are used and to ensure money is spent in a transparent, accountable manner.

EU funding comes in many different forms:

• grants – typically, people apply for grants by submitting ideas for projects following a ‘call for proposals’
• subsidies managed by national or regional authorities
• loans, guarantees and equity as forms of financial assistance to support EU policies and programmes
• loans to EU Member States and non-EU countries
• prizes for winners of Horizon Europe contests.

Management of EU funding

Programmes funded by the EU budget can be managed in three different ways:

• direct management: EU funding is managed directly by the European Commission
• shared management: the European Commission and national authorities jointly manage the funding
• indirect management: funding is managed by partner organisations or other authorities inside or outside the EU

Direct management

Direct management of EU funding means that the European Commission is directly responsible for all steps in a programme's implementation. The Commission:

• launches the calls for proposals
• evaluates submitted proposals
• signs grant agreements
• monitors project implementation
• assesses the results
• makes payments

You can apply for this type of funding by answering calls for proposals.

See calls for proposals under direct management on the funding and tenders portal (SEDIA) .

There are special arrangements for funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which seek to support the green and digital transformation of EU countries following the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument. EU governments prepare national recovery and resilience plans in consultation with the European Commission, and receive payments once they have met the targets outlined in the plan. 

Shared management

Shared management of EU funding means that responsibility for running a given programme is shared jointly between the European Commission and national authorities in EU countries. Around 70% of EU programmes are run this way.

National, regional and local administrations in EU countries choose which projects to finance and are responsible for their day-to-day management. The Commission works together with the EU countries to make sure projects are successfully completed, and the money is well spent.

Cohesion policy and agriculture are the main areas where shared management is used – chiefly through the following funds:

• European Regional Development Fund – regional and urban development
• Cohesion Fund – for less developed regions
• European Social Fund Plus – social inclusion and good governance
• Just Transition Fund (JTF) – support for regions most affected by the transition towards climate neutrality
• European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
• European Maritime and Fisheries Fund

National websites (‘single portals’) for shared management funds

Regional and national funding authorities

Indirect management

Indirect management of EU funding means that the funding programmes are partly or fully implemented by third parties, such as national authorities or international organisations. Funding takes the form of subsidies, which you apply for at national level.

Most of the EU budget for humanitarian aid and international development is implemented under indirect management.

Indirect management programmes account for around 10% of the overall EU budget.

For information on where to apply for this kind of funding, see Application process – indirect management

Who can get EU funding?

Researchers

Farmers & rural businesses

Small & medium-sized businesses

Young people

Public bodies

Non-governmental, non-profit organisations

Other beneficiaries

Eligibility: who can get funding?

Common beneficiary profiles and the funding opportunities available to them.

Funding programmes

All European citizens and many in other parts of the world benefit directly or indirectly from the EU budget. It helps millions of students, thousands of researchers and many cities, regions and non-profit organisations.

All EU citizens can apply for EU funding. The EU has several different funding programmes that you may be able to apply for, depending on the nature of your business or project. Funding opportunities are also available through programmes that will be implemented directly by Member States , such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility or the Just Transition Fund. Before applying for funding, always consult the call guidelines to see if you are eligible.

Specific criteria are set out in each funding programme and individual call. For grants, if your proposal is admissible and eligible, the selection process usually starts with independent experts that will evaluate your proposal and score it against selection and award criteria.

Below you can find a selection of the most common beneficiary profiles that apply for EU funding.

Young people

The EU budget includes specific programmes to support young people to gain work experience or study abroad. There are also programmes targeting unemployment among young people.

Generally speaking, these programmes are open to

• young people (age 13-31)
• youth organisations
• other stakeholders working with young people

More detailed criteria can be found in the individual funding calls.

Funding opportunities for young people

Researchers

Research and innovation are so important to the EU's long-term strategy that special programmes and other sources of support are available for researchers across Europe.

The EU's principal funding programme for research is Horizon Europe , the successor of Horizon 2020 . It supports research projects in numerous fields, carried out by organisations or individuals.

Funding programmes and open calls

As a farmer or land manager, it is likely that you will be eligible to receive direct payments under the common agricultural policy.

To qualify for funding, you must comply with certain requirements in the areas of public, animal and plant health, environment and animal welfare. Funding is channelled through the relevant national authorities in your country.

Funding opportunities for farmers

EU funding is available for any size of enterprise in any sector including entrepreneurs, start-ups, micro companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, and larger businesses.

Every year the EU supports more than 200,000 businesses. You may apply for a grant or participate in a procurement procedure if you run a business or a related organisation (business associations, business support providers, consultants, etc.) that runs projects that further the interests of the EU, or if you contribute to the implementation of an EU programme or policy.

Companies interested in a large industrial procurement contracts may be interested by the calls for tender launched under programmes such as ITER , Copernicus or Galileo .

Furthermore, a wide range of financing is available for companies: business loans, microfinance, guarantees and venture capital.

EU programmes are specifically supporting Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), defined as:

Micro-enterprise

• fewer than 10 employees
• an annual turnover or annual balance sheet that does not exceed €2 million

Small enterprise

• fewer than 50 employees
• an annual turnover or annual balance sheet that does not exceed €10 million

Medium-sized enterprise

• fewer than 250 employees
• an annual turnover that does not exceed €50 million, or an annual balance sheet not exceeding €43 million

Note: These figures apply to individual companies only. A small company might not qualify for SME status if it has significant additional resources because it is part of a larger group.

For further details on SME eligibility criteria, consult the:

User guide to the SME Definition

Funding opportunities for small businesses

Public bodies: cities and regions

Public bodies – whether local, regional or national – can benefit from many EU funding opportunities, including investments to support the development of institutional capacity and efficiency, and local infrastructure projects.

Funding opportunities for public bodies

Non-governmental and civil society, non-profit organisations are eligible for EU funding where their areas of activity relate to EU policies.

Funding opportunities for NGOs

Accession to the European Union

The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) invests in the future of EU candidate countries and the EU itself by supporting reform in areas linked to the enlargement strategy, such as democracy and governance, the rule of law, growth and competitiveness.

Farmers in candidate countries are helped through a specific Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance in Rural Development (IPARD), which is part of IPA II.

Economic crisis

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) supports people who lose their jobs as a result of major structural changes in world trade patterns (globalisation) — e.g. when a large company shuts down or production is moved outside the EU — or of the global economic and financial crisis.

The EGF can co-finance projects that help people find a job, provide career advice, education, training and re-training, mentoring or coaching, or promote entrepreneurship and business start‐ups. The EGF does not co‐finance social protection measures such as pensions or unemployment benefit.

Only EU countries can apply to the EGF. Individuals, representative organisations or employers affected by redundancies and wishing to ensure that redundant workers benefit from EGF support should get in touch with the EGF contact person for their country .

Related links

Before you apply: EU funding for beginners

The application process

Share this page

Share this page

Ekaterina Zaharieva , European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said:

'One of my key priorities is to ensure Europe is a global leader in research and innovation. It can only be achieved by retaining and attracting top talent such as today’s laureates of ERC Consolidator Grants. It is my mission to expand the European Research Council which will help strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and fostering ground-breaking discoveries and solutions to the challenges we face'

President of the European Research Council Prof. Maria Leptin said: 

'Congratulations to all the researchers who have won ERC Consolidator Grants in this latest round for the mid-career stage. Whilst we had the funds available to back more applicants this year than in 2023, the fact remains that many applicants who were rated as excellent in this competition will still not be funded due to lack of budget. This waste of talent can only be tackled by increasing the investment in blue sky research in Europe.'

Projects selected for funding

The grants will support scientific projects spanning all disciplines of research from engineering to life sciences to humanities. For example, researchers will try to understand better what influences people’s responses to immigrants, or use the AI to improve firefighting strategies, or analyse how the voters of a losing party can come to accept their loss in democratic elections.

Facts and figures

The laureates of this grant competition will carry out their projects at universities and research centres in 25 EU Member States and other countries associated with Horizon Europe. The highest numbers of grants will be located in Germany (67 projects), France (38), the UK (38) and the Netherlands (37). There are nationals of 43 countries among the winners of this call, notably Germans (60 researchers), French (34) and Italians (29). The grants will likely create around 2 750 jobs for postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and other staff at the host institutions.

About the ERC

The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants , Consolidator Grants , Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants . With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council . Maria Leptin has been the President of the ERC since November 2021. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme.The European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva is responsible for this programme from 1 December 2024.

Title More info

Examples of the winning projects

Statistics List of all selected researchers Lists of selected researchers by domain:

• Physical Sciences and Engineering
• Life Sciences
• Social Sciences and Humanities

Title Press contacts

Eilish Brault  Press and Communication Adviser T: +32 2 295 24 71

Marcin Mońko Head of Sector Media and Content T: +32 2 296 66 44

Related links

Subscribe to our newsletter