Skills for innovative SMEs
Bridging actions 2027 · HORIZON-CSA · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds a scheme that helps innovative SMEs across Europe recruit and train skilled researchers, especially PhD holders, to boost their innovation capacity. It will provide lump sum grants to SMEs facing skills shortages so they can hire researchers from abroad for one to two years, covering salary, relocation and training costs. The winning consortium will run the whole scheme, including promotion, evaluation, and support for transnational recruitment.
sme scaleup · education skills · research excellence
Who wins this
This call suits the Enterprise Europe Network beneficiaries that will design and manage a pan European support scheme distributing grants to innovative SMEs to recruit skilled researchers.
Could you win this call?
Only the website is required.
The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €30M
- Funding model
- Lump sum. Paid per completed work package, with no financial reporting of actual costs
- Submission
- Single-stage submission (full proposal at once)
- Type of action
- HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
- Partners
- Required. The call asks for a consortium: a group applying together, typically 3+ organisations from 3+ countries.
- Eligible applicants
- SME, non-profit, public body
- Support to third parties
- Financial support to third parties (FSTP) is mandatory, with a maximum of EUR 300 000 per third party for the entire action, and at least 90% of the total budget must be allocated to FSTP.
- Also required
- Only entities that are beneficiaries in the Enterprise Europe Network as a result of the call SMP-COSME-2024-EEN are eligible to apply, and the granting authority can fund a maximum of one project.
- Eligible countries (45)
- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Israel, Türkiye, Ukraine, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Tunisia, New Zealand
Read the full conditions from the official call ›
General conditions 1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout 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 The following additional eligibility criteria apply: Only entities that are beneficiaries in the Enterprise Europe Network as a result of the call SMP-COSME-2024-EEN are eligible to apply. described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds The granting authority can fund a maximum of one project. described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes The following additions to the general award criteria apply: The quality and efficiency of implementation criterion shall take into account the ability and experience of the applying entities to award grants to third parties outside their own jurisdiction. The implementation criterion shall include and emphasise the communication strategy proposed to reach out to both innovative SMEs with skills shortages and PhD-level experts. described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. 5c. Evaluation and award: 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 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 Horizon Europe for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). The consortium must provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) for the implementation of this action. Since providing FSTP is a core activity of this action, the EUR 60 000 threshold laid down in Article 207 of Financial Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 does not apply. The maximum amount of FSTP provided in form of grants that may be awarded to any single third party is set at EUR 300 000 for the entire duration of the action. This ceiling is justified by the fact that FSTP is a primary activity of this action, by its expected duration of 1-2 years, including costs of relocation and of a European competitive salary for an internationally mobile expert at PhD level, and by the extensive experience gained by the Enterprise Europe Network in providing business support to SMEs. However, if the objectives of the action would otherwise be impossible or overly difficult the maximum amount may be higher if duly justified in the proposal. The Consortium must allocate at least 90% of the total proposed budget to FSTP. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the specific topic "HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-05-01: Skills for innovative SMEs" of the Work Programme.