General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: 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 eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, participation in this topic is limited to legal entities established in Member States, associated countries, OECD countries. Proposals including legal entities which are not established in these countries will be ineligible.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes

5. Evaluation and award:

• Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes

• Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual

• 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: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Documents

Call documents:

Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

MGA

HE General MGA v1.0

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 6. Civil Security for Society

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Ownership control declaration (DEP, HE, EDF and CEF-DIG)

Projects’ results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following outcomes:

• Increasing the maturity of current post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and contribution to further standardisation;
• Easy-to-use tools for the large-scale implementation of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, based on state-of-the-art standards;
• Secure and efficient transition from pre- to post-quantum encryption through tools implementing a hybrid approach combining recognised pre-quantum public key algorithms and additional post-quantum algorithms;
• Phase-in of post-quantum algorithms or protocols to new or existing applications;
• Demonstrators and good-practice implementations of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms on varied hardware and software platforms;
• Application-oriented recommendations for the widespread implementation of post-quantum cryptography across the EU.

The advent of large-scale quantum computers will compromise much of modern cryptography, which is instrumental in ensuring cybersecurity and privacy of the digital transition. Any cryptographic primitive based on the integer factorization and/or the discrete logarithm problems will be vulnerable to large-scale quantum-powered attacks. The digital data/products/systems that derive their security ultimately from the abovementioned primitives will be compromised and must be upgraded - including their replacement when needed- to quantum-resistant cryptography. The massive scale of this foreseen upgrade shows that preparations are needed today in order to widely implement the relevant mitigations in the future. Many companies and governments cannot afford to have their protected communications/data decrypted in the future, even if that future still seems distant. There is a need to advance swiftly in the transition to quantum-resistant cryptography.

Post-quantum resistant cryptographic algorithms should be deployable in a dynamic manner in order to quickly react to new quantum computer developments. Recommendations for post-quantum cryptography have already been published, but have to be maintained up-to-date, Proposals received under this topic should contribute to developing coordinated European recommendations for the transition to post-quantum cryptography across the EU.

The identification and analysis of potential regulatory aspects and barriers for the developed technologies/solutions is encouraged, where relevant.