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Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. A total budget of €95.5bn is available until 2027. Grant competitions are highly competitive, and to win, you need to have the know-how and invest significant time in preparing your application.

Myriad is one of the leading specialist Horizon Europe grant bid writers. Our talented bid writing team boasts some of Europe's highest success rates.

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Horizon Europe

Guide Overview


We’ve created five simple sections to help you understand how Horizon Europe works and whether your business could be eligible for funding.

What is Horizon Europe?


Horizon Europe is the EU’s current funding programme for research and innovation.

Based on European values, Horizon Europe seeks to develop a sustainable, fair, and prosperous future for people and the planet.

Key aims of Horizon Europe include:

  • Creating jobs.
  • Fully engaging the EU's talent pool.
  • Boosting economic growth.
  • Promoting industrial competitiveness.
  • Optimising investment impact within a strengthened European Research Area.
What Is Horizon Europe (1)

What types of projects are likely to be funded?


Horizon Europe is unique in that it provides both “bottom-up” funding in Pillar I (Excellent Science) and Pillar III (Innovative Europe) and mission-orientated actions in Pillar II, Global Challenges, and European Industrial Competitiveness. 

Pillar III includes the European Innovation Council (EIC), part of the Innovative Europe pillar of Horizon Europe, and has a budget of €10 billion to support breakthrough and disruptive innovations with market-creating potential that are too risky for private investors. 70% of the European Innovation Council budget is earmarked for SMEs.

An outline of the Pillars can be seen in the image below.

Horizon Europe Pillars

What are the five key mission areas of Horizon Europe?

Smart Cities

Adaptation to Climate Change

Supporting at least 150 European regions and communities towards climate resilience by 2030.  

Climate Neutral And Smart Cities

Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities

Involving citizens, businesses, investors and authorities to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030.

Cancer

Cancer

Targeting more than 3 million lives saved, living longer and better by 2030.

Healthy Soils

Soil health and food

Ensure at least 75% of all soils in the EU are healthy for food, people, nature, and climate by 2030.

Healthy Oceans

Healthy oceans, seas and waters

Cleaning marine and fresh waters, restoring degraded ecosystems and decarbonising the blue economy.

What’s the process to prepare an application for Horizon Europe?


Applying for a grant is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. With our grant bid writing service, we can work with you to prepare an application that gives your project the best chance of success.

Each grant competition has its own rules and requirements. You need to ensure that your innovation meets the competition scope and that you are eligible to apply. For further guidance, you can contact us to determine whether you're applying for the proper competition.

Grant applications are usually examined by independent experts in the area of innovation identified in the application. The number of experts scoring the application depends on the grant awarding body.

Award-winning projects will involve breakthrough technologies and disruptive innovations that draw on unique strengths from Europe and provide global opportunities to scale up.

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How can we help?


Myriad have an enviable track record with R&D grant applications. Using our grant application services can give you a significant competitive advantage over other grant applicants.

Our grant bid writers have secured over €200m for our clients in the last 24 months. We are also very proud to have secured some of the highest-scoring applications in Europe, with five of our projects scoring 15/15.

About Myriad
R&D Grants video
  • #1 European grants team - We employ leading bid writers who write compelling applications.
  • Templates & tools - Our templates make it easy to collaborate & prepare a winning bid.
  • 70% Success rates - Dramatically improve your chances of success.
  • A complete service - On receipt of your offer letter, we help you with all administrative requirements to ensure prompt receipt of grant funds.
Grant Figures 2022

Our results

  • €70m in Disruptive Technologies Innovation funding won.
  • €97m in Horizon Europe funding won.
  • #1 European grants team - We employ leading bid writers who write compelling applications.
  • A complete service - On receipt of your offer letter, we help you with all administrative requirements to ensure prompt receipt of grant funds.

Frequently asked questions


Each programme within Horizon Europe has its own budget and its own funding guidelines. For the EIC Accelerator, the maximum grant is €2.5 million. Eligible costs are reimbursed up to a maximum of 70%. The minimum investment component is €0.5 million, and the maximum is €15 million.

Pillar I ‘Excellent Science’ strengthens EU science and technology due to increased investment in highly skilled people and cutting-edge research. It supports the search for breakthroughs in understanding and acquiring knowledge at all levels; the world-class facilities needed to achieve this include physical and knowledge infrastructures and the means to disseminate and share knowledge, methodologies, and skills.

The European Research Council will support the best researchers with flexible, long-term funding to pursue ground-breaking, high-gain/high-risk European research. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions focuses on excellent research that is fully bottom-up and open to any field of research and innovation, from basic research to market take-up and innovation services. It supports the mobility of researchers across borders, sectors and disciplines, excellent training of researchers, strengthening human resources and skills development and creating synergies with EU, national and regional programmes.

Research Infrastructures will endow Europe with world-class sustainable research infrastructures open and accessible to all researchers in Europe and beyond. The key objectives of Pillar I Excellent Science are to reduce research fragmentation, avoid duplication and better coordinate the design, development, accessibility and use of research infrastructures.

Pillar II ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ delivers on the EU’s strategic priorities, such as the Paris Agreement on climate change, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. Pillar II will be aligned with actions taken in other countries and regions to achieve a more significant impact. It is grouped into six integrated clusters of activities that aim at creating systemic and sustainable changes for society and the economy. Pillar II includes six clusters:

  • Health
  • Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society
  • Civil Security for Society
  • Digital, Industry and Space
  • Climate, Energy and Mobility
  • Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Pillar II is implemented primarily by collaborative research and innovation projects that respond to pre-defined challenges and bring together private and public actors, end-users, scientists, technologists, producers, innovators, businesses, educators, policymakers, citizens and civil society organisations. Pillar II also includes research and innovation missions and a range of partnerships with public and private partners.

Pillar III seeks to enhance the EU’s industrial competitiveness and innovation performance, notably by supporting the development and deployment of disruptive and market-creating innovation via the European Innovation Council, European Innovation Ecosystems and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

The European Innovation Council (EIC) is part of Pillar III Innovative Europe and supports European innovators in all fields of disruptive, market-creating innovations. It supports both research-intensive transdisciplinary projects (Pathfinder) and close-to-market mono-beneficiary projects (Accelerator).

All kinds of businesses are eligible, from startups to large multinational corporations. Research-performing organisations are also eligible.

It is crucial to keep the European point of view in mind and ensure that your project:

  • Focuses on cutting-edge research and innovation.
  • Leverages Europe’s scientific strengths into leadership in breakthrough and disruptive innovation.
  • Influences broader economic, social, and economic transitions and related societal challenges.
  • Has European value and impact

Each funding competition has its own evaluation process. For the EIC Accelerator, there are three stages: 1) evaluation of your short application by remote evaluators; 2) assessment of your entire proposal by remote evaluators; and 3) innovation pitch and interview in front of EIC Jury Members.

Each funding competition has its timelines. For the EIC Accelerator, you can expect results from the initial short application stage (expression of interest) in 2-4 weeks following submission. For the application, results are within five weeks of submission, with interviews nine weeks after the deadline.

The “Bottom-up” funding mechanism includes:

  • Grants for early technology to proof-of-concept, such as the EIC Pathfinder.
  • Grants for technology at the proof-of-concept to pre-commercial stages through programmes like EIC Transition.
  • Grants and investment (through the EIC Fund) for single SMEs and start-ups to take technology from pre-commercial to the market and scale-up stages in the EIC Accelerator.

The European Research Area (ERA) is a concept that seeks to establish a single unified area in which scientific knowledge, technology, and researchers can circulate freely. ERA provides a framework for European policies geared towards removing barriers to mobility and putting the necessary conditions in place for scientists to move more quickly, have better access to funding and concentrate on their research. 

The EIC Pathfinder and Accelerator are the two main funding instruments under the EIC. The Pathfinder funds lower Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), trans-disciplinary research-intensive projects in breakthrough areas of science through multi-beneficiary projects. The Accelerator funds mono-beneficiary and highly innovative projects at higher TRLs, which are viable but not bankable due to their level of risk.

The Work Programmes, including calls, are published biannually but with annual deadlines for proposal calls. The actual call publication date and deadlines may differ from one programme part to the other. Minor changes to the calls in the second year of the Work Programme may occur after the publication.

Need help applying for Horizon Europe funding?

Speak to one of our senior grant writers to see if your project is likely to win funding.

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Is your business registered for Corporation Tax in the UK or are you a partnership with corporate owners?

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Have you developed new or improved existing products, processes or services in the last 2 accounting periods?

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Have you incurred any R&D costs on staff, contractors and consumables?

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Does your business have fewer than 500 staff, and either: A turnover of no more than €100 million; or Gross assets of no more than €86 million?

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Sorry, you must be a UK limited company or be a Partnership with corporate owners to be eligible for R&D tax credits.

In order to qualify for R&D tax credits you must be seeking to advance science or technology within your industry. As you’ve not developed any new or improved any existing innovative tools, products or services, and not re-developed any existing products, processes or services in the last 2 years. It is unlikely you have any qualifying activity. If you’re unsure, email or call us and we’ll help clarify.

In order to claim R&D tax credits, you need to either employ staff or spend money on contractors, consumable items and other items. If you’re unsure, email or call us and we’ll help clarify.

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Congrats!! Based on your previous answers, you will qualify for the SME scheme. If you’d like some help maximising and securing your claim, please email or call us.

Congrats!! Based on your previous answers, you will qualify for the RDEC scheme. If you’d like some help maximising and securing your claim, please email or call us.

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