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

The following additional eligibility criteria apply:

This action requires the participation of at least three (3) independent legal entities, of which at least one (1) is established in a 'moderate' or 'emerging' innovator region and at least one (1) in a 'strong' or 'innovation leader' innovator region.

The Regional Innovation Scoreboard is taken as a reference, and in the case of entities representing national authorities, the European Innovation Scoreboard. The applicants must use as a reference the latest version of the documents mentioned above at the time of the call closure. Associated Countries which are not included in the European Innovation Scoreboard and are ranked below 25 on the latest Global Innovation Index are considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘emerging' innovators. In cases of Associated Countries not included in any of the previously mentioned references, the participation rank of the country in the Horizon Europe programme (H2020 country profile) will be taken as a reference and countries ranked below the average will be considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘emerging' innovators.

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]

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

Information on clinical studies (HE)

Additional documents:

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

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

Projects results are expected to contribute to at least four (4) of the following expected outcomes:

• Reduced fragmentation of innovation ecosystems and national/regional start-up support schemes;
• Increased cooperation, learning, and exchange of knowledge between national and regional innovation support public authorities and agencies in order to ensure that their innovation funding schemes respond to the requirements of the Plug-in certification for step 2 of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator;
• Improved ongoing and/or set up of new national and regional innovation funding programmes whose criteria are fit to pass the certification for the Plug-in scheme;
• The use, requirements, and access to the Plug-in scheme are well communicated to the innovation ecosystem stakeholders, particularly start-ups and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs);
• A more homogeneous, equal, and aligned approach in the evaluation of projects under national and regional support schemes;
• Enhanced cooperation among national and regional public authorities and agencies and SMEs and start-ups, particularly between innovation 'leaders'/'strong' innovators and 'moderate'/'emerging' innovator countries[1];
• Stable pipeline of high-quality projects to the EIC Accelerator Step 2.

Target group(s): national or regional innovation agencies or similar organisations, national and regional authorities in charge of management of innovation programmes, EIC Plug-in contact points.

Start-ups and SMEs are the primary source of innovation in the European Union (EU) and globally. However, the fragmentation of innovation ecosystems and the lack of connectedness among public national and regional agencies and innovation support schemes appear to be one of the main bottlenecks towards ensuring sufficient support of the most promising start-up and scale-up companies in the EU.

Building on the outcomes of different INNOSUP actions on peer learning of innovation agencies[2], as well as the Horizon 2020 pilot action under the enhanced EIC Pilot Work Programme “Mutual learning and common tools and resources for national/regional schemes supporting innovation projects of start-ups and SMEs”, this action aims at bringing together public innovation authorities and agencies to increase the dialogue and networking towards the design and implementation of regional and national innovation funding programmes in line with the requirements of the Plug-in certification for step 2 of the EIC Accelerator. In line with previous activities supporting peer learning of innovation agencies, use of the 'Twinning+' methodology[3] is strongly encouraged in the context of this action. The project shall provide a Design Options Paper summarising the main findings in order to guide any innovation agency in translating and concretely implementing the identified good practices.

The pilot Plug-in scheme is a novelty under Horizon Europe and is a specific process applicable to the EIC Accelerator only. It applies to proposals that result from existing national or regional programmes and its specific modalities are outlined in the EIC Work Programme 2022 Annex 5[4].

Under the 'Plug-in' scheme, applicants do not apply directly to the EIC Accelerator calls. Instead, a project review is carried out to assess the innovation or market deployment potential of an existing project at national or regional level to decide whether the project is suitable for support under the EIC Accelerator.

The first pilot results of a mapping of national and regional programmes by the European Commission in close cooperation with Member States has shown that although 31 out of 52 programmes submitted were certified, several programmes did not pass the certification and some Member States have not submitted any programme to the review at all. This action aims to assist Member States and Associated Countries to improve or create national and regional funding programmes that could qualify for certification under the Plug-in scheme of the EIC Accelerator. Applications from regional and national agencies from 'moderate’ and ‘emerging' innovator countries and regions are particularly encouraged.

The proposals are expected to include specific activities that will allow applicants to:

• Enhance the quality of support provided at national and regional levels to the most promising innovative start-ups and SMEs;
• To improve or set up national and regional funding programmes that could qualify for certification under the Plug-in scheme of the EIC Accelerator;
• To share best practices in terms of design, functioning, operation, and monitoring of such programmes;
• To broaden access to information and communicate to the applicants (start-ups and SMEs) on the opportunities to access the national and regional funding programmes and have their chance to be selected under Plug-in scheme to apply to step 2 of the EIC Accelerator.

[1]References: the Regional Innovation Scoreboard, and in the case of entities representing national authorities, the European Innovation Scoreboard. Associated Countries which are not included in the European Innovation Scoreboard and are ranked below 25 on the Global Innovation Index are considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘emerging' innovators. In cases of Associated Countries not included in any of the previously mentioned references, the participation rank of the country in the Horizon Europe programme (H2020 country profile) will be taken as a reference and countries ranked below the average will be considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘emerging' innovators

[2]Results summarised in the “Handbook of service design for Innovation Agencies”

[3]Further information and examples can be found in the “Handbook of service design for Innovation Agencies.”

[4]EIC Work Programme 2022.