How to Win EU Horizon Europe AI Funding: A Guide for US Collaborators

The European Commission opened EUR 307.3 million in AI and digital technology funding in January 2026, with two flagship calls — HORIZON-CL4-2026-04 and HORIZON-CL4-2026-05 — closing on April 15, 2026. For US-based researchers who have written off Horizon Europe as a European-only program, that assumption deserves a second look.

Participation from American institutions is not only possible, it is increasingly common. The mechanism is narrow and the funding rules are strict, but for AI researchers who want to work at the frontier of European generative AI development, the collaboration window is real.

What EUR 307 Million in EU AI Calls Actually Covers

The two digital calls represent the largest single-wave AI investment the European Commission has made under the current Horizon Europe work programme. HORIZON-CL4-2026-04, the larger of the two at EUR 221.8 million and 15 topics, covers trustworthy AI services, data infrastructure, robotics, quantum technologies, and virtual worlds. HORIZON-CL4-2026-05 targets next-generation AI agents for real-world applications and advanced robotics platforms.

Several topics within these calls connect directly to the Commission's broader GenAI4EU initiative, a roughly EUR 700 million commitment across Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme, and the European Innovation Council to build "generative AI made in Europe." The specific topic HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-19, a "Challenge-Driven GenAI4EU Booster in Apply AI prioritised sectors," is designed to accelerate generative AI deployment in strategic industries — manufacturing, healthcare, public administration — and sits squarely in the crosshairs of where US-EU research collaboration can add the most value.

Running separately but on a parallel timeline is the RAISE initiative — Research for AI in Science in Europe — which closes April 21, 2026. HORIZON-RAISE-2026-01 funds two Thematic Networks of Excellence for AI in Science: one general track at EUR 15 million (HORIZON-RAISE-2026-01-01) and one focused on agriculture and environmental pollution at EUR 13 million (HORIZON-RAISE-2026-01-02). Both expect to fund exactly one consortium each, making these among the most selective calls in the current work programme.

How US Researchers Actually Get In

The core rule is this: US institutions are not eligible for direct EU funding in most Horizon Europe calls outside of Cluster 1 (Health). But that does not mean staying home.

The formal mechanism is the Associated Partner designation. Under standard Horizon Europe participation rules, entities from non-associated third countries — including the United States — can join a consortium as an Associated Partner. They implement meaningful parts of the project, are described in full in the proposal's Part B, and contribute their own funding. They do not sign the Grant Agreement and do not receive EU disbursements directly. The trade-off is visibility and access: Associated Partners are listed collaborators in a multi-year project that touches the Commission's highest-priority research areas.

For research universities with international collaboration budgets, co-investigators on federal grants with discretionary funds, or institutions building transatlantic partnerships ahead of anticipated future calls, this is a workable structure. The consortium coordinator must still be established in an EU member state, and the minimum consortium size for most calls is three independent legal entities from three different EU member states.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) offer a second pathway with more funding upside. The MSCA Staff Exchanges 2026 call, which opened December 16, 2025 and closes April 16, 2026, funds researcher mobility across international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary partnerships. US institutions can join as Associated Partners here too — sending and receiving staff at no cost to the EU-funded budget — while EU-based partners cover their own mobility costs under the grant. For AI labs at US universities that want to place graduate researchers or postdocs in European AI centers for 12 to 24 months, this is the most direct funding-backed exchange mechanism available.

Where the Funding Is Concentrated

Three program areas stand out for AI researchers mapping their entry points.

Horizon Europe Cluster 4 (HORIZON-CL4-2026-04 and -05). The EUR 307.3 million envelope covers the broadest range of AI topics, from AI agents to digital twins to GenAI deployment. Proposals are Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) or Innovation Actions (IA), meaning the Commission expects both foundational research and deployment-ready outputs. The April 15, 2026 deadline is firm.

RAISE. The two HORIZON-RAISE-2026-01 calls fund distributed European AI institutes that unite leading research organizations. Each call funds one consortium. The emphasis on "leading universities and research institutes with proven expertise in innovative AI solutions for scientific questions" means that established US AI programs — those with publication records in machine learning, computational biology, or climate modeling — carry real weight as Associated Partners. Deadline: April 21, 2026.

Digital Europe Programme. Running on a separate track, the DEP includes DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-GENAI-PA, a EUR 1.8 million coordination call focused on scaling generative AI solutions for public administrations across EU member states. Its deadline is March 3, 2026. The DEP has its own eligibility rules distinct from Horizon Europe, and US participation mechanisms differ — verify directly on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal before approaching any consortium about this specific call.

What a Competitive US Partnership Looks Like

The consortia that list US institutions as Associated Partners tend to share a few characteristics. They already have an established relationship — a joint publication, a shared dataset, a previous mobility exchange — rather than a cold introduction driven by a grant deadline. The US partner brings something the EU consortium genuinely cannot replicate internally: access to a specific computing infrastructure, a proprietary dataset, a clinical trial network, or a regulatory approval pathway in the American market.

Proposals listing US partners without clear task descriptions that only that partner can deliver are easy for reviewers to spot. The Commission's evaluators are experienced, and an Associated Partner listed for credibility rather than contribution is a proposal liability.

For US researchers currently engaged in NSF or DARPA AI work, the strongest pitch to a European coordinator is often the complementarity argument: your DoD-funded work on adversarial robustness, your NSF-funded work on AI fairness, your NIH-funded work on multimodal biomedical models gives the European consortium something it cannot build internally within a three-year project timeline. That argument, when it is true, tends to stick.

Moving Before April 15

Two months is a short runway for a Horizon Europe proposal. The consortium-building phase — finding a coordinator, agreeing on roles, drafting the Description of Action — typically takes longer than the writing phase. For US researchers who are not already in active conversations with European partners, the RAISE and Cluster 4 deadlines are likely too close for a cold start this cycle.

The more productive near-term use of this deadline is prospecting. The Horizon Europe Cluster 4 Matchmaking Platform is a Commission-facilitated tool for connecting researchers across member states — and its partner search function is not limited to EU entities. Registering now, identifying coordinators in your technical area, and establishing contact creates the relationship layer that makes 2027 calls actionable when they open.

The EUR 2 billion the Commission has committed to AI investment across the 2026-2027 work programme is not a one-time sprint. The current calls are the visible edge of a longer funding arc, and the researchers who close this cycle as Associated Partners will be the obvious first calls when the next solicitations drop — and tools like Granted can help you track every relevant opening as it appears.

Sources:

• GenAI4EU: Funding opportunities
• EU invests over €307 million into AI and related technologies
• Horizon Europe 2026 Digital Calls now published (HaDEA)
• HORIZON-RAISE-2026-01 on EU Funding & Tenders Portal
• List of Participating Countries in Horizon Europe (Jan 2026)
• MSCA Staff Exchanges 2026
• Horizon Europe 2026-2027: Complete Guide (GrantsFinder)