‘Proof of market’ to improve valorisation and commercialisation of Horizon generated R&I results

Affiliated entities do not count toward the minimum consortium-composition threshold.

At least one of the qualifying independent beneficiaries must be established in an EU Member State.

The standard consortium must contain at least three independent beneficiaries established in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.

The three qualifying beneficiaries must be established in at least three different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

An entity that is not eligible for Horizon Europe funding may generally participate as an associated partner unless the call says otherwise.

Each beneficiary must be established in a country eligible for Horizon Europe funding, unless an explicit call-level or essential-participation exception applies.

If selected for funding, the consortium should be prepared to cooperate with the relevant Joint Research Centre activities identified for this destination.

The proposal should present a credible pathway to market and should envisage participation of a business partner.

The consortium must prove that it owns or can obtain suitable access to the knowledge assets and IPR needed to commercialise the results.

Applicants must complete the Horizon Europe ethics self-assessment as part of the application.

For an Innovation Action, the maximum Horizon Europe funding rate is normally 70%; non-profit legal entities may receive up to 100%, unless the specific topic sets a different rate.

For RIA and IA topics in this destination, a legal entity established in China is not eligible to participate.

An entity cannot participate in this topic if it is directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China.

The proposal must build on achieved results from an ongoing or completed eligible RIA/IA under Horizon Europe Cluster 4 or the predecessor Horizon 2020 LEIT activities.

The project should demonstrate commercial potential, a pathway to commercialisation, and meaningful startup/SME involvement in valorisation.

The expected EU contribution is around EUR 0.20 million per project, but this is not a hard funding cap.

The topic has an indicative total budget of EUR 5.00 million.

The proposal must identify the source project(s) by grant number and acronym.

The project must focus exclusively on civil applications and comply with the applicable prohibited-research conditions.

For up to four years after the action ends, the granting authority may object to certain transfers of ownership or exclusive licences of project results.