Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

The Call for Proposals fosters innovation within the manufacturing sector by addressing pressing industrial challenges and facilitating a transition towards more resilient, sustainable, and human-centered manufacturing practices. It focuses on leveraging cutting edge technologies and methodologies to improve operational efficiency, sustainability, and the attractiveness of the manufacturing work environment. The call underscores the importance of advancing manufacturing technology, sustainability, and efficiency to maintain global competitiveness.

In the context of this call, EIT is looking for education proposals on the following 2 topics:

• Topic 1: Innovative Solution for Industrial Challenges
• Topic 2: Transition towards a resilient and human-centered Manufacturing

• The EIT funding per proposal is €7000.000.
• The EIT funding per proposal is €1.0000.000.

This call is open to proposals with duration of 12 months. The duration of the projects is 12 months. The consortium must propose an innovation with a TRL of at least 7 at the start of the project. The “demonstration in an operational environment” has to be proven in the “Business Plan” attachment. The solution is expected to achieve TRL 8 or higher by the end of the activity.

The business owner’s involvement and effort in the definition and execution of the commercialisation plan, and the instruction designer and effort in the development of the learning content, which are expected to start from activity kick-off, should be described in the workplan.

The exact number of activities to be funded will depend on the quality of the proposals received and total funding available. Activity proposals submitted to this call are expected to have a minimum co-funding rate (financial contribution other than EIT Manufacturing funding allocation) as follow:

• 12 months: 30 % minimum co-funding rate

• Industry
• Research, Technological Development and Innovation

• International Organisations
• Legal Entities
• Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2021/695 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing Horizon Europe (OJ L 170 , 12.5.2021, p. 1), along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.

A ‘legal entity’ means any legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law, or international law, which has legal personality, and which may, acting in its name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations.

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries at the time of proposal submission:

• the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: 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.
• the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States.
• the countries associated with Horizon Europe and the low- and middle-income countries.

While all EIT Manufacturing partners are eligible to apply for funding, applicants do not need to be EIT Manufacturing partners at the submission stage.

Consortium composition

The consortium must include at least 3 legal entities independent from each other established in countries covered by at least 2 different EIT Manufacturing ICs.

Additionally the following roles shall be clearly covered within the consortium:

• 1 Lead Partner. The organisation in charge of coordinating the consortium through the Activity Leader. The role of Activity Leader is open to any entity participating to the call for proposals.
• End-users. At least 2 different organisations that will deploy the key marketable innovation(s) in their production facilities to fulfil a specific need or achieve a business objective in a real-world industrial environment.
• 1 Business Owner. The organisation in charge of the commercialisation of the result(s). The role of Business Owner is limited only to organization with a legal entity established in a Member State or Country associated to Horizon Europe at the time of submission of the application.

All EIT Manufacturing partners are eligible to apply for funding, nevertheless, an entity does not need to be an EIT Manufacturing partner to apply for funding.

Additional consortia specific conditions apply and are explained in section 3.3, page 18 of the call guidelines (the call Guidelines can be downloaded from the call announcement page).

Research and Innovation Foundation
Address: 29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia, P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/

Contact Persons:

George Christou
Scientific Officer
Email: gchristou@research.org.cy

Nedi Kaffa
Scientific Officer
Email: nkaffa@research.org.cy

All applicants may contact EIT Manufacturing to ask questions and clarify any points on general/technical aspects and call content by contacting support@eitmanufacturing.eu and innovation@eitmanufacturing.eu.

• Funding&Tenders
• Call announcement