Funding opportunities under “Widening Participation & Strengthening of the European Research Area”

This part of Horizon Europe includes measures to support cooperation in the European Research Area and to contribute to reducing the R&I gap within the EU. In the context of the brokerage event, the following funding measure is particularly relevant:

Hop On Facility: Foresees the possibility for legal entities from low R&I performing countries to join already collaborative R&I actions from Pillar II and EIC Pathfinder, subject to the agreement of the respective consortium and provided that legal entities from such countries are not yet participating in it. The list of eligible projects is available here.

The work programme 2023-2024 of the programme part “Widening Participation & Strengthening of the European Research Area” has been published here. 

The next cut-off for the Hop on Facility under this programme part is foreseen on 28 September 2023.

Widening Corner with the NCP_WIDERA.NET project

In cooperation with the NCP_WIDERA.NET project, participants will have the opportunity to meet NCPs from this network and to exchange with them on participation and funding opportunities for institutions from widening countries (see below for information on widening countries). To do this, participants can select 'Meetings with NCP_WIDERA.NET' when registering. This offer is primarily addressed to participants from widening countries, but also to coordinators from non-widening countries who are interested in the 'Hop on Facility'.

In addition, the NCP_WIDERA.NET project will in future also offer its own grants and support opportunities as listed below.

Grants offered by the NCP_WIDERA.NET project through NCP organisations

The NCP_WIDERA.NET project offers a cascade grant facility for the benefit of applicants coming from Widening countries. It comes in form of:

• Travel Grants to facilitate networking at Horizon Europe brokerage events as well as within dedicated study visits to non-widening internationally leading organisations. For more information on how to access travel grants, please contact your country’s National Contact Point for Widening Participation and ERA, available on the Funding and Tenders opportunities Portal: NCP search on the F&T portal
• Proposal pre-check services: The service will be available for coordinators and work package leaders from Widening countries and facilitated through a dedicated experts’ data base hosted at NCP_WIDERA.NET webpage: https://ncpwidenet.eu/

Which are the widening countries?

According to the Horizon Europe regulation  the less advanced countries in R&I performance, eligible for hosting the co-ordinator of widening actions:

• Member states:  Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia
• Associated countries*: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Kosovo**, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine
  
• Outermost Regions (defined in Art. 349 TFEU). Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands

* Subject to valid association agreements of third countries

** This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.