HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-03: AI integration in CCSI work practice: catalysing innovation and competitiveness

HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-03: AI integration in CCSI work practice: catalysing innovation and competitiveness is sponsored by European Commission. Projects on ethical, inclusive AI integration in cultural and creative sectors and industries, including guidelines and tools.

AI integration in CCSI work practice: catalysing innovation and competitiveness Find EU-funding for your projects now! Search for Funding Search for programs Reset all filters Select the type of organisation that you are interested in to implement projects. The role of an organisation involved could by lead partner, regular project partner, associate partner, and observers.

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Selection of eligible entities Reset all EU Body An institution, body, office or agency established by or based on the Treaty on European Union and the Treaties establishing the European Communities. Education and training institution All education and training facilities for people of different age groups.

International organization An intergovernmental organization having legal personality under public international law or a specialized agency established by such an international organization. An international organization, the majority of whose members are Member States or Associated Countries and whose main objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe, is an International Organization of European Interest.

Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) An NPO is an institution or organization which, by virtue of its legal form, is not profit-oriented or which is required by law not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members. An NGO is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that does not represent business interests. Pursues a common purpose for the benefit of society.

Other Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit) A partnership, corporation, person, or agency that is for-profit and not operated by the government. Public Body (national, regional and local; incl.

EGTCs) Any government or other public administration, including public advisory bodies, at the national, regional or local level. Research Institution incl. University A research institution is a legal entity established as a non-profit organization whose main objective is to conduct research or technological development.

A college/university is a legal entity recognized by its national education system as a university or college or secondary school. It may be a public or private institution. Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) A microenterprise, a small or medium-sized enterprise (business) as defined in EU Recommendation 2003/361 .

To qualify as an SME for EU funding, an enterprise must meet certain conditions, including (a) fewer than 250 employees and (b) an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. These ceilings apply only to the figures for individual companies.

Selection of eligible countries Reset all Belgium (Belgique/België) Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина) Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne) French Polynesia (Polynésie française/Pōrīnetia Farāni) French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Terres australes et antarctiques françaises) Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat/Grønland) Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل) Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово) New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Calédonie) North Macedonia (Северна Македонија) Saint Barthélemy (Saint-Barthélemy) Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Saint-Pierre et Miquelon) Switzerland (Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera) Wallis and Futuna (Wallis-et-Futuna) Selection of topics Reset all Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation This topic focuses on strengthening governance, fostering institutional capacity, and enhancing cross-border cooperation.

It includes promoting multilevel, transnational, and cross-border governance by designing and testing effective structures and mechanisms, as well as encouraging collaboration between public institutions on various themes. Innovation capacity and awareness are also key, with actions aimed at increasing the ability of individuals and organizations to adopt and apply innovative practices.

This involves empowering innovation networks and stimulating innovation across different sectors. Institutional cooperation and network-building play a crucial role, supporting long-term partnerships to improve administrative processes, share regional knowledge, and promote intercultural understanding.

This also includes cooperation between universities, healthcare facilities, schools, sports organizations, and efforts in management and capacity building. Agriculture & Forestry, Fishery, Food, Soil quality This topic focuses on strengthening the agricultural, forestry, and fisheries sectors while ensuring sustainable development and environmental protection.

It covers agricultural products (e.g., fruits, meat, olives), organic farming, horticulture, and innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture. It also addresses forest management, wood products, and the promotion of biodiversity and climate resilience in forestry practices.

In the food sector, the focus lies on developing sustainable and resilient food chains, promoting organic food production, enhancing seafood products, and ensuring food security and safety. Projects also target the development of the agro-food industry, including innovative methods for production, processing, and distribution.

Fisheries and animal management are essential aspects, with an emphasis on sustainable fishery practices, aquaculture, and animal health and welfare. This also includes efforts to promote responsible fishing, marine conservation, and the development of efficient resource management systems. Soil and air quality initiatives play a crucial role in environmental protection and public health.

This includes projects aimed at combating soil and air pollution, implementing pollution management systems, and preventing soil erosion. Additionally, innovative approaches to improving air quality—both outdoors and indoors—are supported, alongside advancing knowledge and best practices in soil and air management.

Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management This topic focuses on protecting the environment, promoting biodiversity, and addressing the challenges of climate change and resource management. It includes efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, develop low-carbon technologies, and reduce GHG emissions. Biodiversity promotion and natural protection are key aspects.

It also covers improving soil and air quality by reducing pollution, managing contamination, preventing soil erosion, and enhancing air quality both outdoors and indoors. Water management plays an essential role, including sustainable water distribution, monitoring systems, innovative wastewater treatment technologies, and water reuse policies.

Additionally, it addresses the protection and development of waterways, lakes, and rivers, as well as sustainable wetland management. Arts & Culture, Cultural Heritage, Tourism This topic focuses on preserving, promoting, and enhancing cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable way.

It includes efforts to increase the attractiveness of cultural and natural sites through preservation, valorisation, and the development of heritage objects, services, and products. Cultural heritage management, arts, and culture play a key role, including maritime heritage routes, access to cultural sites, and cultural services like festivals, concerts, and art workshops.

Tourism development is also central, with actions aimed at promoting natural assets, protecting and developing natural heritage, and increasing touristic appeal through the better use of cultural, natural, and historical heritage. It also covers the improvement of tourist services and products, the creation of ecotourism models, and the development of sustainable tourism strategies.

Circular Economy, Natural Resources This topic focuses on the sustainable management, protection, and valorisation of natural resources and areas, such as habitats, geo parks, and protected zones. It also includes preserving and enhancing cultural and natural heritage, landscapes, and protecting marine environments.

Circular economy initiatives play a key role, with actions aimed at innovative waste management, ecological treatment techniques, and advanced recycling systems. Projects may focus on improving recycling technologies, organic waste recovery, and establishing repair and re-use networks. Additionally, pollution prevention and control efforts address ecological economy practices, marine litter reduction, and sustainable resource use.

Competitiveness of Enterprises, Employment/Labour Market, SME & entrepreneurship This topic covers labour market development and employment, focusing on creating job opportunities, optimizing existing jobs, and addressing academic (un)employment and job mobility. It also includes attracting a skilled workforce and improving working conditions for various groups.

Strengthening small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and boosting entrepreneurship are key priorities. This includes enhancing SME capacities, supporting social entrepreneurship, and promoting innovative business models.

Activities may focus on creating advisory systems for start-ups, spin-offs, and incubators, fostering business networks, and improving the competitiveness of SMEs through knowledge and technology transfer, digital transformation, and sustainable business practices.

Demographic Change, European Citizenship, Migration This topic focuses on fostering community integration and strengthening a common identity by promoting social cohesion, positive relations, and the development of shared spaces and services. It supports initiatives that enhance intercultural understanding and cooperation between different societal groups.

Digitalisation, Digital Society, ICT All projects where ICT has a significant role, including tailor-made ICT solutions in different fields, as well as digital innovation hubs, open data, Internet of Things; ICT access and connecting (remote) areas with digital infrastructure and services; services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.); services and applications for companies (e-commerce, networking, digital transformation, etc.).

Disaster Prevention, Resilience, Risk Management This is about the mitigation and management of risks and disasters, and the anticipation and response capacity towards the actors regarding specific risks and management of natural disasters, for example, prevention of flood and drought hazards, forest fire, strong weather conditions, etc.. It is also about risk assessment and safety.

Education & Training, Children & Youth, Media This topic focuses on enhancing education, training, and opportunities for children, youth, and adults. It covers the expansion of educational access, reduction of barriers to education, and improvement of higher education and lifelong learning. It also includes vocational education, common learning programs, and initiatives supporting labour mobility and educational networks.

Additionally, it addresses the promotion of media literacy, digital learning tools, and the development of innovative educational approaches to strengthen knowledge, skills, and societal participation. This topic emphasizes the role of culture and media in education and social development. It supports initiatives that foster creativity, cultural awareness, and artistic expression among children and youth.

Activities include promoting cross-border cooperation in the audiovisual sector, enhancing digital content creation skills, and boosting the distribution of educational and cultural media products. Furthermore, it encourages the development of media literacy initiatives, helping young audiences critically engage with digital and media content.

By connecting education, creativity, and media, this topic strengthens cultural identity and supports inclusive, knowledge-based societies. Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy This topic covers actions aimed at improving energy efficiency and promoting the use of renewable energy sources. It includes energy management, energy-saving methods, and evaluating energy efficiency measures.

Projects may focus on the energy rehabilitation and efficiency of buildings and public infrastructure, as well as promoting energy efficiency through cooperation among experienced firms, institutions, and local administrations. In the field of renewable energy, this encompasses the development and expansion of wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal, and other sustainable energy sources.

Activities include increasing renewable energy production, enhancing research capacities, and developing innovative technologies for energy storage and management. Projects may also address sustainable regional bioenergy policies, financial instruments for renewable energy investments, and the establishment of cooperative frameworks for advancing renewable energy initiatives.

Equal Rights, Human Rights, People with Disabilities, Social Inclusion This topic focuses on promoting equal rights and strengthening social inclusion, particularly for marginalized and vulnerable groups. It covers activities enhancing the capacity and participation of children, young people, women, elderly people, and socially excluded groups.

Activities can address the creation of inclusive infrastructure, improving access and opportunities for people with disabilities, and fostering social cohesion through innovative care services. It also includes initiatives supporting victims of gender-based violence, promoting human rights, and developing policies and tools for social integration and equal participation in society.

Health, Social Services, Sports This area focuses on improving health and social services, enhancing accessibility and efficiency for diverse groups such as the elderly, children, and people with disabilities. It includes the development of new healthcare models, innovative medical diagnostics and treatments (e.g., dementia, cancer, diabetes), and the management of hospitals and care facilities.

Additionally, activities addressing rare diseases, promoting overall wellbeing, and fostering preventive health measures fall under this theme. It also covers sports promotion, encouraging physical activity as a means to improve public health and social inclusion. Justice, Safety & Security This area focuses on strengthening justice, safety, and security through cross-border cooperation and institutional capacity-building.

It includes initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of police, fire, and rescue services, enhancing civil protection systems, and rapid response capabilities for emergencies like chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents. Activities also target the prevention and combatting of organized crime, drug-related crimes, and human trafficking, as well as ensuring secure and efficient border management.

Furthermore, it covers initiatives promoting the protection of citizens, community safety, and the development of innovative security services and technologies. Mobility & Transport This area focuses on the development and improvement of transport and mobility systems, covering all modes of transport, including urban mobility and public transportation.

Actions aiming at improving transport connections through traffic and transport planning, rehabilitation and modernisation of infrastructure, better connectivity, and enhanced accessibility. Projects promoting multimodal transport and logistics, optimising intermodal transport chains, offering sustainable and efficient logistics solutions, and developing multimodal mobility strategies.

Also, initiatives establishing cooperation among logistic centres and providing access to clean, efficient, and multimodal transport corridors and hubs. Please leave this field blank AI integration in CCSI work practice: catalysing innovation and competitiveness Horizon Europe: Cluster 2 - Culture, Creativity and Inclusive society HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-03 Estimated EU contribution per project € 4,000,000. 00 - € 5,000,000.

00 Funding Program Horizon Europe: Cluster 2 - Culture, Creativity and Inclusive society Call number HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-03 deadlines Opening 23. 09. 2026 17:00 Funding rate 70% (NPO: 100%) Call budget € 15,000,000.

00 Estimated EU contribution per project € 4,000,000. 00 - € 5,000,000. 00 Link to the call ec.

europa. eu Link to the submission ec. europa.

eu AI technologies are transformative, providing unprecedented opportunities for human creativity, experimentations and co-creations. AI profoundly impacts cultural and creative sectors and industries, changing practices, facilitating new ways of working and making innovative services and products possible.

Artists, industry players, and cultural organisations increasingly use AI, for assistance in content creation, production, and management, to predict trends, personalise market content, engage audiences, enhance cultural heritage preservation and accessibility, and many more purposes.

Cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) need to fully harness AI's potential to maintain relevance, expand their impact and value, increase competitiveness, and keep their vibrant, inclusive nature.

Embracing and co-creating ethical AI solutions tailored to CCSI needs will, among other benefits, enable the automation of low-creativity tasks, allowing to increase focus on high-value activities that enhance creativity and productivity, thus unlocking unprecedented possibilities.

Production times and costs can be reduced, market reach expanded, preservation, interpretation and inclusive access to cultural heritage enhanced, and new job categories could emerge.

Although several initiatives are on the ground, a comprehensive understanding of enabling frameworks and factors and of what is still lacking in terms of data, standards, infrastructures, computing power, tools, knowledge and capacity for the CCSI to fully embrace the opportunities opened by AI is essential for effectively integrating AI technologies into CCSI practices and workflows.

Proposals should assess the current level of AI readiness in the CCSI, investigate the specific barriers to AI adoption in the sectors, and highlight areas where AI can offer the most benefits.

In continuous engagement with the sectors, based on the analysis of current practices and through concrete use cases, proposals should produce strategic guidance to extensively and seamlessly integrate AI into CCSI operations, enhancing efficiencies, averting risks, and facilitating cross-sector collaboration.

Based on this analysis, they should develop a set of tailored tools designed to address the specific gaps and leverage the opportunities uncovered during the assessment. These tools should be strategically aligned with the sector's needs, ensuring they provide targeted solutions to enhance AI adoption and maximize its potential benefits.

They should be scalable, affordable for smaller, less-resourced CCSI actors and accompanied by related documentation and training materials and documentation. Proposals should address one of the following two options, and are allowed to address both: Develop scalable pilots for innovative AI-enabled products and services across diverse segments of sectoral value chains, in cooperation with CCSI.

These pilots are expected to address identified gaps in CCSI operations and prioritise solutions that catalyse innovation in sectors whose business models are not yet taking full advantage of AI. Applicants should have flexibility to select their preferred application areas.

Design and pilot innovative, inclusive, ethically driven, transparent AI solutions to foster cultural and linguistic diversity, and enhance accessibility, with a focus on engaging individuals in vulnerable situations, particularly youth, older people, persons with disabilities and individuals with special needs. Applicants should have the flexibility to select their preferred application areas.

Pilots should aim at leveraging AI for facilitating new revenue streams for the CCSI, as well as sustainable business models, and will highlight marketable solutions. Financial support to third parties may be foreseen, with the aim of engaging entities external to the consortium in the development of pilots. Consortia should include representatives of the cultural and creative sectors and industries and technology developers.

Proposals should consider relevant policy initiatives, such as the AI Continent Action Plan , and build upon existing research and innovation outcomes, particularly insights and resources from Horizon Europe-funded projects focused on digital transformation, innovation, or competitiveness in the CCSI, and science-technology-art collaboration, and should liaise with the EIT KIC Culture and Creativity.

Whenever relevant, they might make use of existing facilities and platforms such as the European High-Performance-Computing network, the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH), the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage, ALT EDIC and other data spaces, European Digital Innovation Hubs, AI Factories, and relevant research infrastructures.

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Insights, recommendations, strategies, guidelines, methods and tools supporting full AI integration in CCSI practices become available to CCSI, policymakers, and stakeholders.

Scenarios for co-created solutions tailored to CCSI needs, utilizing quality data and federated data sources, along with digital infrastructures, and inclusive cooperation processes, become available.

Generally made available AI-powered and ethically designed solutions, tools and services in several CCSI areas benefit creators, cultural professionals, and society, including persons with disabilities and other specific needs, fostering innovative creative expressions and improving creative business models while preserving and enhancing cultural diversity, and inclusion.

By mastering ethical and inclusive AI, CCSI are empowered drivers of culture, innovation, competitiveness and societal wellbeing. short description AI technologies are transformative, providing unprecedented opportunities for human creativity, experimentations and co-creations.

AI profoundly impacts cultural and creative sectors and industries, changing practices, facilitating new ways of working and making innovative services and products possible.

Artists, industry players, and cultural organisations increasingly use AI, for assistance in content creation, production, and management, to predict trends, personalise market content, engage audiences, enhance cultural heritage preservation and accessibility, and many more purposes.

Call objectives Cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) need to fully harness AI's potential to maintain relevance, expand their impact and value, increase competitiveness, and keep their vibrant, inclusive nature.

Embracing and co-creating ethical AI solutions tailored to CCSI needs will, among other benefits, enable the automation of low-creativity tasks, allowing to increase focus on high-value activities that enhance creativity and productivity, thus unlocking unprecedented possibilities.

Production times and costs can be reduced, market reach expanded, preservation, interpretation and inclusive access to cultural heritage enhanced, and new job categories could emerge.

Although several initiatives are on the ground, a comprehensive understanding of enabling frameworks and factors and of what is still lacking in terms of data, standards, infrastructures, computing power, tools, knowledge and capacity for the CCSI to fully embrace the opportunities opened by AI is essential for effectively integrating AI technologies into CCSI practices and workflows.

Proposals should assess the current level of AI readiness in the CCSI, investigate the specific barriers to AI adoption in the sectors, and highlight areas where AI can offer the most benefits.

In continuous engagement with the sectors, based on the analysis of current practices and through concrete use cases, proposals should produce strategic guidance to extensively and seamlessly integrate AI into CCSI operations, enhancing efficiencies, averting risks, and facilitating cross-sector collaboration.

Based on this analysis, they should develop a set of tailored tools designed to address the specific gaps and leverage the opportunities uncovered during the assessment. These tools should be strategically aligned with the sector's needs, ensuring they provide targeted solutions to enhance AI adoption and maximize its potential benefits.

They should be scalable, affordable for smaller, less-resourced CCSI actors and accompanied by related documentation and training materials and documentation. Proposals should address one of the following two options, and are allowed to address both: Develop scalable pilots for innovative AI-enabled products and services across diverse segments of sectoral value chains, in cooperation with CCSI.

These pilots are expected to address identified gaps in CCSI operations and prioritise solutions that catalyse innovation in sectors whose business models are not yet taking full advantage of AI. Applicants should have flexibility to select their preferred application areas.

Design and pilot innovative, inclusive, ethically driven, transparent AI solutions to foster cultural and linguistic diversity, and enhance accessibility, with a focus on engaging individuals in vulnerable situations, particularly youth, older people, persons with disabilities and individuals with special needs. Applicants should have the flexibility to select their preferred application areas.

Pilots should aim at leveraging AI for facilitating new revenue streams for the CCSI, as well as sustainable business models, and will highlight marketable solutions. Financial support to third parties may be foreseen, with the aim of engaging entities external to the consortium in the development of pilots. Consortia should include representatives of the cultural and creative sectors and industries and technology developers.

Proposals should consider relevant policy initiatives, such as the AI Continent Action Plan , and build upon existing research and innovation outcomes, particularly insights and resources from Horizon Europe-funded projects focused on digital transformation, innovation, or competitiveness in the CCSI, and science-technology-art collaboration, and should liaise with the EIT KIC Culture and Creativity.

Whenever relevant, they might make use of existing facilities and platforms such as the European High-Performance-Computing network, the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH), the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage, ALT EDIC and other data spaces, European Digital Innovation Hubs, AI Factories, and relevant research infrastructures.

Expected results Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Insights, recommendations, strategies, guidelines, methods and tools supporting full AI integration in CCSI practices become available to CCSI, policymakers, and stakeholders.

Scenarios for co-created solutions tailored to CCSI needs, utilizing quality data and federated data sources, along with digital infrastructures, and inclusive cooperation processes, become available.

Generally made available AI-powered and ethically designed solutions, tools and services in several CCSI areas benefit creators, cultural professionals, and society, including persons with disabilities and other specific needs, fostering innovative creative expressions and improving creative business models while preserving and enhancing cultural diversity, and inclusion.

By mastering ethical and inclusive AI, CCSI are empowered drivers of culture, innovation, competitiveness and societal wellbeing.

Regions / countries for funding Candidate Countries, EU Member States, Eastern Partnership, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Liechtenstein, Morocco (المغرب), Norway (Norge), Switzerland (Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), United Kingdom EU Body, Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl.

private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl.

University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries: the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions; the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States; countries associated to Horizon Europe ; Albania, Arab Republic of Egypt, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom; the following low- and middle-income countries : Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic), Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt (Arab Republic), El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic), Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea (Democratic People's Republic), Kyrgyz Republic, Lao (People’s Democratic Republic), Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia (Federated States), Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St.

Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic), Vietnam, Yemen Republic, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.

A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or 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 own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.

Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows: at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

As affiliated entities do not sign the grant agreement, they do not count towards the minimum eligibility criteria for consortium composition (if any). Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.

other eligibility criteria Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.

Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any specific call/topic conditions.

Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.

EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act. International organisations — International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding.

International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions.

Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’) — Where provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC, but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text.

After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.

Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities (otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).

EU restrictive measures — Entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) as well as Article 75 TFEU, are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including