Strategic Funding Partners

Horizon Europe adds around €500 million for 2026–2027

05 October 2026 · Strategic Funding Partners

Published 05 October 2026 · SFP Pulse · Weekly Research

> Horizon Europe adds around €500 million for 2026–2027, with new routes for applicants and fresh decisions on partners, funding and preparation.

Horizon Europe's amended work programmes have landed, with new calls opening this week and a fresh route for startup hubs. Below, we pick out what has changed, who it matters for and what to do next, followed by policy news, results and the dates worth putting in your diary.

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Horizon Europe adds around €500 million in its 29 September programme update

The Commission has added around €500 million to Horizon Europe for 2026–2027, taking the two-year envelope to approximately €14.8 billion. The amended work programmes, published on 29 September, are now the documents to plan from.

The update includes two new cross-cutting strands. Bridging has a €260 million envelope: €203 million across six competitive calls and €57 million in three other actions. Nature also brings new calls; plan from the individual topic budgets, as the Commission's headline totals differ. The first Nature and climate Bridging calls are scheduled to open on Tuesday 6 October, with further Nature and Industry calls on Tuesday 13 October. Check each topic page to confirm it is open before you start.

The UK remains an Associated Country, subject to each topic's own restrictions. If you are building an international consortium, check the Commission's current country guide before confirming partner roles.

We have been working through the amended programmes since they were published. If your proposal was built on the earlier versions, talk to us and we'll check where the changes affect your topic, budget or timeline.

Sources: European Commission, Horizon Europe, work-programme index, Nature work programme, Bridging work programme and current participating-country guide.

A €40 million Hubs pilot puts the partnership and financing plan first

Startup Europe is out; the European Startup and Scaleup Hubs pilot is in. The amended European Innovation Ecosystems programme cancels Startup Europe (HORIZON-EIE-2027-01-CONNECT-01) and adds the pilot, HORIZON-EIE-2027-02-CONNECT-01, in its place: a €40 million Programme Co-fund Action expected to fund two projects of around €20 million each.

The catch is that the EU covers 50% of eligible costs, so the money question comes first. You will need a letter of intent identifying complementary funding, plus a network of at least ten hubs in ten Member States or Associated Countries, with at least two in widening countries. National hub limits and other restrictions also apply.

If you had been preparing for Startup Europe, this is a different proposition, with different partners and a different financing plan. The pilot is scheduled to open on Tuesday 6 October and close on Tuesday 5 January 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time. Check the live topic page before starting a submission.

Source: European Commission, European Innovation Ecosystems work programme, pages 9–10, 21–22 and 31–35.

ADACities expressions of interest must be emailed by 20 October

ADACities, the Commission's Autonomous Drive Ambition Cities initiative, aims to help EU cities put self-driving transport into use, from robotaxis and autonomous shuttles to car-sharing. Its expression-of-interest exercise gathers deployment plans and the barriers prospective participants face.

City authorities, vehicle makers, mobility operators and suppliers of autonomous-driving and AI technology are all in scope. Read the call and scoping paper to see where you fit. This stage gathers expressions of interest and helps form consortia; it does not award funding.

Submit your expression of interest by email, using the address and instructions in the Commission's notice, by Tuesday 20 October, close of business. The separate matchmaking survey helps organisations find potential consortium partners, but completing it does not submit an expression of interest.

The deadline is expressed as “close of business”, without an exact clock time. Send your response early rather than assuming a 17:00 cutoff.

Sources: European Commission, ADACities initiative and purpose and expression-of-interest notice.

Chips JU gives AI compute applicants until 27 October

Two Chips JU calls worth a combined €80 million support different parts of AI compute development: a €10 million Simple Grant call for AI chip demonstrators and a €70 million Grant for Procurement call for an evaluation and deployment platform. Applicants now have until Tuesday 27 October at 17:00 Brussels time, following a deadline extension announced on 23 September.

Working towards either call? Use the extra time to revisit the requirements of your chosen route. Both calls opened on 7 July; only the deadline has moved.

The two routes work differently. The larger call is a grant that supports procurement activity, so start with the conditions for the call you are targeting rather than treating the €80 million as one pot.

Sources: Chips JU, deadline extension, AI chip demonstrators and evaluation and deployment platform.

HaDEA lists 8 December for its €34 million PPE procurement

The EU FAB+ PPE pilot is a €34 million procurement for reserved manufacturing capacity and contractor-managed stockpiles of nitrile examination gloves and FFP2 masks. HaDEA's current tender page lists an extended deadline of 8 December 2026 at 12:00 CET for HADEA/2026/OP/0020.

If you manufacture or supply these products, read the tender documents and confirm the deadline in the Funding & Tenders Portal before building your bid timetable.

Source: HaDEA, current EU FAB+ PPE tender notice.

Information

MSCA adds more than €210 million for researcher development

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are receiving more than €210 million in additional funding for Postdoctoral Fellowships and Doctoral Networks across 2026 and 2027. The Commission announced the boost on 1 October, with total MSCA funding foreseen for 2027 now exceeding €1.3 billion.

For universities and research organisations planning researcher-development activity, the amended work programme provides the detail: €70 million in 2026 and €141.5 million in 2027, a total of €211.5 million. Doctoral Networks applications remain due on 24 November 2026. The extra funding does not reopen the closed 2026 Postdoctoral Fellowships round.

Sources: European Commission, MSCA funding announcement; amended MSCA work programme, pages 8 and 12–13.

Hungarian universities lose their court challenge as the access question continues

Six Hungarian universities lost their legal challenge on 30 September, when the General Court dismissed their actions. They were challenging the Council's 2022 ban on new EU funding commitments with Hungarian public-interest trusts and the universities they maintain, introduced over rule-of-law and conflict-of-interest concerns.

If you are working with an affected institution, the judgment needs to be read alongside a separate political process. On 23 September, the Commission proposed lifting the restrictions, as covered in last week's Pulse. Restoring access to Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ depends on the Council's decision on that proposal; the court ruling does not restore it.

For prospective consortium partners, that distinction matters when moving from discussions to new legal commitments. Check the formal Council position before assuming access has returned.

Sources: Court of Justice of the European Union, General Court ruling; European Commission, 23 September proposal and conditionality record.

Research organisations have a voice in the copyright and AI debate

How should protected content be used in AI? And how should copyright work for scientific research? The Commission wants to hear from research organisations on both questions, through a targeted consultation open until Tuesday 3 November 2026.

If these questions affect your institution or project, this is a chance to bring practical experience into the policy debate. The consultation, announced on 29 September, concerns possible future measures rather than a change in the law. Review the scope and respond through the Commission's targeted consultation form.

Source: European Commission, copyright and technology consultation.

Health applicants now have their 2027 timetable

The amended Health programme sets the timetable for 2027. HORIZON-HLTH-2027-01 and HORIZON-HLTH-2027-02-two-stage are scheduled to open on Thursday 29 October 2026, with single-stage and first-stage proposals due on Wednesday 17 February 2027. The two-stage final deadline is 16 September 2027.

That gives teams under four months from opening to first deadline. Build your plan around the stage that applies to you, and work from the current programme and application template from the start.

Cluster 4 applicants should also read their topic's evaluation conditions closely: two topics, HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-49 and the first stage of HORIZON-CL4-2027-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-52-two-stage, use partial randomisation within a defined score and budget band. The Cluster 4 information days below are a good place to raise questions.

Sources: European Commission, Health work programme, pages 6–7 and 21–24 and Cluster 4 work programme, pages 11, 85–88 and 184–187.

Results and pipeline

Three renewable-energy projects move a step closer to CEF support

WIND, DEPLOY and ZEGA-LINNK have gained cross-border renewable-energy status, opening a route to seek CEF Energy support for studies and works. CINEA announced the three approvals under the fifth CB RES status call on 1 October. The list now contains 15 projects following PONTIS's withdrawal.

Think of CB RES status as a ticket to apply, not a grant: it lets these projects seek CEF support, but the funding still has to be won.

CINEA expects the next status call in November or December 2026. Its subsequent live information session is reserved for projects that already hold CB RES status, but recordings and presentations will become publicly available for others considering the route.

Source: CINEA, three additional projects receive CB RES status.

I3 projects make technical progress, but follow-on finance remains harder to secure

Seven of eight completed I3 investment projects reached technology readiness level 8 or 9. Only three of those eight secured follow-on financing. That gap is the headline from EISMEA's I3 Forum report, published on 2 October, which also says recent call success rates have fallen to around 5%.

If you are developing an interregional investment project, those figures are a reason to think about end users, market demand and follow-on finance alongside the technical proposal. They come from a small group of completed projects and recent calls, so they cannot predict the prospects of an individual application.

A wider version of the same challenge appears in the Commission's Science, Research and Innovation Performance report, published on 1 October. It describes fragmentation, insufficient R&D investment and a late-stage financing gap as constraints on Europe's scientific strength. Neither report opens a new funding route, but both make a strong case for planning beyond the grant.

Sources: EISMEA, I3 Forum findings; European Commission, Science, Research and Innovation Performance report and executive summary.

EDF receives a record 612 proposals

The European Defence Fund's 2026 calls attracted a record 612 proposals, 49% more than the previous year, for an available envelope of €1.006 billion. Results are expected by March 2027.

Source: European Commission, EDF 2026 submission figures.

132 space proposals await their evaluation outcome

Applicants to the Horizon Europe space research call HORIZON-CL4-2026-03 are moving into the results phase after HaDEA received 132 proposals by its 16 September close. Evaluation outcomes are expected no later than 16 February 2027.

Source: HaDEA, 2026 space research submission figures.

Talk of the week

In last week's Pulse, the amended Horizon Europe work programmes were still on the watch list. This week, they are published. The question has moved from when the documents will arrive to which changes are worth acting on. That is a more useful conversation for any organisation planning its next proposal.

Our view is to start with the decision you need to make: which opportunity genuinely fits your priorities, capabilities and available resources? The Hubs pilot shows why that judgement matters. A 50% funding rate, a network across at least ten countries and a letter of intent identifying complementary funding all shape the case for pursuing it. A relevant topic title is only the beginning of that assessment.

The same thinking extends beyond the application. The I3 results show strong technical progress alongside a gap in follow-on finance. For a project team, that raises questions worth tackling early: who will use the results, what demand is there, and how could the work progress after the grant? Bringing those questions into the funding decision helps give the proposal a clearer purpose.

If you want to move from discussing the changes to deciding what to pursue, get in touch about SFP Analysis. We map live and upcoming opportunities against your organisation's priorities and capabilities, then build a prioritised shortlist. Bring us the goals you are working towards, and we can help you identify where to focus your attention.

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