Hop-On Facility

Topic description

Expected Outcome: The Hop-on Facility allows for legal entities from Widening countries to join already funded Horizon Pillar II ‘main’ work programme and EIC Pathfinder collaborative R&I actions, subject to the agreement of the respective consortium and provided that legal entities from such countries are not yet participating as beneficiary, associated partner, or affiliated entity. The scheme aims to improve the inclusiveness of Horizon Europe. Selected consortia will be invited to submit a grant agreement amendment request of the eligible already funded action. Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes: At system level, mobilise excellence in the Widening countries, increase visibility of the beneficiaries from the widening countries, improve knowledge circulation, and boost their participation in specific thematic domains; At consortium level, open up established networks to new connections and partnerships, improve research excellence of the Widening country’s institutions in specific fields, enlarge outreach of the participants’ R&I actions and provides access to new talent pools; At the level of the Widening beneficiary, develop new competencies and skills for working in transnational projects including research management and dissemination and exploitation. Scope: The Hop-on Facility integrates one additional beneficiary from a Widening country to an ongoing project under Pillar 2 or the EIC pathfinder scheme who contributes a relevant task, work package or another visible and distinguishable activity. Applications must demonstrate the R&I added value of the new beneficiary for the eligible already selected action. The proposal should include a detailed description of the profile of the new beneficiary and its R&I role and complementarity in the existing project. The additional beneficiary and activities should be presented in a dedicated proposal template with the Description of the Action (DOA) of the ongoing action uploaded as an annex. In case of a successful evaluation, the consortia (coordinator) of the eligible already funded action (i.e. relevant existing grant agreement) will be invited to submit an amendment request for accession of the Widening beneficiary, modification of the description of the action. If budget is reserved for the coordinator, the proposal should justify the amounts in terms of integration efforts for the new participant.

Conditions and documents

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 Eligible Conditions The following additional eligibility criteria apply: 1. The proposal must include only: One legal entity, as a beneficiary, established in a Widening country. One legal entity which is the coordinator of an ‘eligible already funded action'. 2. The proposal must be submitted by the coordinator of the ‘eligible already funded action’. No more than 10% of the maximum grant amount can be allocated to the coordinator as a coordination fee for the integration of the new widening beneficiary. No less than 90% of the max grant amount must be allocated to the widening beneficiary. An ‘eligible already funded action’ refers to an action stemming from a Horizon Europe grant agreement that also meets the following conditions: No legal entity established in a Widening country is already a beneficiary, affiliated entity or associated partner in the Horizon Europe grant agreement. At the time of submission of the proposal (and for any grant agreement signature), the granting authority of the Horizon Europe grant agreement is the European Commission or an Executive Agency. The Horizon Europe grant agreement was awarded to Horizon Pillar II ‘main’ Work Programme or EIC Pathfinder collaborative R&I actions. The first reporting period of the Horizon Europe grant agreement is ongoing at the submission deadline. Furthermore, the ongoing grant agreement is between 1 to 12 months from its starting date by the submission deadline. 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 In the first place, ex-aequo proposals will be prioritised according to geographical diversity criteria, defined as proposals with the additional beneficiary established in a Widening country, not otherwise represented as a beneficiary higher up the ranking list. The method described in Points 1), 2), 3) and 5) of General Annexes Part F (Procedure/Evaluation procedure and ranking) will then be applied to the remaining equally ranking proposals in the group. This rule establishing the priority order serves to better spread the impact of the action and to strengthen the efficiency of the ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’ programme. If the proposal is successful, the next stage of the procedure will be a grant agreement amendment preparation. If the outcome of amendment preparations is an award decision, the coordinator of the consortium of the eligible already funded action will be invited to submit an amendment to the grant agreement, on behalf of the beneficiaries. are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are 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 described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the specific topic of the Work Programme Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) Guidance HE Programme Guide Model Grant Agreements (MGA) HE MGA HE Unit MGA Lump Sum MGA Operating Grants MGA Call-specific instructions Detailed budget table (HE LS) Information on financial support to third parties (HE) Information on clinical studies (HE) Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" Additional documents: HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 2. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 3. Research Infrastructures HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 4. Health HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 5. Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 6. Civil Security for Society HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 7. Digital, Industry and Space HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 9. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 10. European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 11. Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 12. Missions HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 13. New European Bauhaus Facility (NEB) HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 14. Horizontal Activities HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes EIC Work Programme 2026 ERC Work Programme 2026 HE Programme Guide HE Framework Programme 2021/695 HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Budget overview

{
  "budgetTopicActionMap": {
    "112977": [
      {
        "action": "HORIZON-WIDERA-2026-03-WIDENING-01 - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions",
        "budgetYearMap": {
          "2026": "30000000"
        },
        "deadlineDates": [
          "2026-09-24"
        ],
        "deadlineModel": "single-stage",
        "expectedGrants": 60,
        "maxContribution": 600000,
        "minContribution": 200000,
        "plannedOpeningDate": "2026-01-13"
      }
    ]
  },
  "budgetYearsColumns": [
    "2026"
  ]
}