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

Participating organisations:

Applications must be submitted by a consortium including at least three independent legal entities established in three different EU Member States or Associated Countries, at least two of which each established in a different Widening Country. Participation as coordinators to the call is limited to legal entities established in Widening countries, as defined in the Horizon Europe regulation.

Participating organisations must include participants from both academic[['Academic sector' means public or private higher education establishments awarding academic degrees, public or private non-profit research organisations for whom one of the main objectives is to pursue research or technological development, and International European Research Organisations (IERO).]] and non-academic sectors[['Non-academic sector' means any socio-economic actor not included in the academic sector and fulfilling the requirements of the Horizon Europe Rules for Participation. This includes all fields of future workplaces of researchers and research and innovation talents, from industry to business, independent research infrastructures (e.g. ERICs), government, civil society organisations, cultural institutions, hospitals, etc.]], and may include umbrella organisations or national/regional associations thereof.

Secondments:

Secondments must be between different sectors (from academic to non-academic or vice versa) and they must all include a widening dimension. Secondments and return phases beyond the project duration cannot be funded. Secondments can only take place between legal entities independent from each other.

Secondments must last between 3 and 24 months for the same staff member (independently of the number of organisations the staff is seconded to). The secondment of a staff member may be split into several stays with one or several beneficiaries.

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

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 decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].

Specific conditions

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

Applicable contribution:The grant covers expenses related to the ERA Talents participating organisations and individual talents hosted/seconded (such as administrative costs, recruitment costs, training costs, travel and subsistence costs and salaries for seconded staff, and costs associated with dissemination & communication and knowledge valorisation).Information on clinical studies (HE)

Documents

Call documents:

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

Standard application form (HE CSA)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)

MGA

Lump Sum MGA v1.0

Call-specific instructions

Detailed budget table (HE LS)

Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"

Information on clinical studies (HE)

Additional documents:

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

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 11. Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 12. Missions

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

The ERA Talents action aims to boost interoperability of careers and employability of research and innovation talents across sectors, with a centre of gravity in Widening countries.

Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Strengthened human capital base of Widening countries in R&I, with more entrepreneurial and better-trained researchers, innovators and other R&I talents;
• A more balanced talent circulation, both geographical and cross-sectoral;
• Boosted R&I capacity and R&I support capacity, as well as contribution to increased excellence of the research-performing organisation in Widening countries;
• A more structured and impactful collaboration between academia and businesses;
• Increased set of research, entrepreneurial and other transferable skills and competences;
• Improved employability and sustainable career prospects of diverse talents within academia, industry and beyond.

Cross-sectoral talent circulation and academia-business collaboration for knowledge transfer is requiring systematising and structuring efforts. Through ERA4You, as one of the ERA Policy Agenda outcomes[1], the European Commission aims to support and incentivise such transformations, towards a more balanced circulation of talents, both trans-nationally and across sectors. Within this scope, ERA Talents aims to support training and mobility of researchers, innovators, and other research and innovation talents across sectors with a particular focus on Widening countries.

Complementary to ERA Chairs, Excellence Hubs, ERA Fellowships and MSCA Staff Exchanges, the ERA Talents scheme promotes innovative inter-sectoral collaboration in research and innovation through cross-sectoral exchange of staff, with a focus on Widening countries. Grants awarded under this topic are expected to collaborate with each other and participate in mutual learning exercises.

Intersectoral mobility. Actions are invited to develop activities in view of realising one or more of the following European Commission’s objectives regarding intersectoral mobility. The European Commission aims at selecting a portfolio of complementary actions where possible.

• Strengthening academia/non-academia cooperation, and reinforcing innovation ecosystems, focusing on establishment of public-private links, private sector involvement booster, activities for the transfer of researcher know-how to businesses or public and social sectors, as well as activities that foster closer involvement of business sector staff in training of academic staff. To include social innovators, consistent with the title of this bullet point and the rest of the call description.
• Improving training and lifelong learning for researchers, innovators, and other research and innovation talents, characterised by opportunities for upskilling and interdisciplinary skill development. In particular, (i) training for specific in-demand skills by industry or other non-academic sectors in specific thematic areas, such as Missions and Partnerships, greening of society, to improve employability and interoperability, and (ii) training to build R&I support capacity (‘other research and innovation talents’), such as knowledge brokers, data stewards, research managers, research infrastructure operators, knowledge valorisation officers, etc;
• Boosting researcher entrepreneurship, focused on development of entrepreneurial skills (e.g., business economics, business creation, knowledge valorisation, intellectual property rights and other relevant legal framework) for researchers and commercialisation or other valorisation training and support for researchers, through preparatory activities for entrepreneurship and support for researcher start-up creation.

Participating organisations. ERA Talents actions must involve organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors. The consortium partners contribute directly to the implementation of a joint training and mobility methodology by seconding and/or hosting eligible staff members. The collaborative approach of ERA Talents should exploit complementary competences of the participating organisations and create synergies between them.

Seconded staff. Support is provided for inter-sectoral mobility of R&I staff leading to knowledge valorisation and increased employability between participating organisations. Costs to be claimed by beneficiaries should be mainly linked to seconded personnel in the form of salaries, training, travel, and subsistence packages. The joint training and mobility methodology presented by the applicant consortium should include an approach to identify a diverse audience of research and innovation talents engaging in the action, outlined in the application. The ERA talent must have a secondment term within one (or more) of the participating organisations. Supported staff members must be actively engaged in or linked to R&I activities or R&I support activities for at least 6 months (full-time equivalent) at the sending institution before the first period of secondment.

Proposals are requested to provide an estimate of the number of ‘ERA talents’ the action is going to provide with a mobility opportunity. Secondments are open to researchers, innovators, and other research and innovation talents – such as administrative, managerial and technical staff supporting R&I activities in their organisations from any career stage. For innovators and other R&I talents, emphasis should be put on staff at an early career stage (e.g., starting knowledge brokers, research managers, infrastructure operators, etc.). The consortium should demonstrate clear benefit of the proposed secondment methodology for Widening countries, for example, by a budget allocation of at least 70% to participants from Widening countries.

Return and reintegration. A mandatory return phase for every cross-border secondment from a Widening country has to be included in the secondment methodology, preferably at least equal to the duration of the secondment. Support, excluding salaries, for such return phase on the grant is allowed for up to 12 months after the first secondment, within the duration of the grant. A return phase is not mandatory for mobility within the same country or secondment from a non-widening to a Widening country.

Strengthening careers and collaboration. For participating staff members, the project should offer new skills acquisition and career development perspectives. Participating organisations should ensure that the seconded staff (ERA talents) are adequately mentored. Preference will be given to actions that propose secondment mechanisms offering improved and more sustainable career prospects to the ERA talents (e.g., with follow-up position at the sending organisation after the secondment duration), thus maximising the impact of the action for knowledge sharing and long-term collaboration. Specific attention should be paid to gender equality objectives, in line with the organisations’ commitments through their adopted gender equality plans, and in line with ERA objectives, as far as appropriate.

Exchanges should mainly occur between academic and non-academic sector entities (or vice-versa) from different EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Same-country exchanges are also possible under the condition that they serve the specific purpose of maintaining or reinforcing regional innovation ecosystems.

Grants should have an expected duration of up to 4 years.

[1] Council recommendation on a Pact for research and innovation in Europe and Council conclusions on future governance of ERA, including ERA Policy Agenda