Guidance with application process

1. Find a call

The Funding & Tenders portal of the European Commission allows you to choose the appropriate funding programme (Horizon Europe or Digital Europe ) use keywords related to your field of interest and refine your search with further filters.
The EU F&T Portal has dedicated guidance under the Reference documents page.

NCP Federal BE keeps you informed about EU funding programmes and EC infodays, updates on open and upcoming calls, and provides advice in findings appropriate calls.

2. Find partners

Horizon Europe calls for proposals are open to legal entities in the private or public, profit or non-profit sectors. Most of the call topics require the formation of a project consortium with a minimum number of members (usually at least 3) coming from a minimum number of EU Member States and Associated Countries.

NCP Federal BE can help with detailed information on conditions and potential exceptions to specific call topics. Specific conditions also apply in the Digital Europe programme for reasons of security strategic autonomy of the EU.

There are several ways to find partners:

• Leverage your own network of experts and institutional contacts.
• Use online tools, such as:
  • The partner search function  on the Funding and Tenders Portal, linked to specific calls.
  • The CORDIS-database  - a valuable tool to explore both completed and ongoing EU-funded research projects. You can search by research area, call topic, or keywords to identify key players, coordinators, and partners with relevant experience.
  • The Horizon dashboard  offers a visual overview of project collaborations, helping you identify who has worked with whom and in which domains.
• Participate in brokerage or matchmaking events organized by the European Commission, the Research Executive Agency (REA), or the NCP networks.
• Contact your dedicated NCP, who has access to a specialized network of NCPs across Europe.

NCP Federal BE can help in partner search by providing updates on networking events and can assist in finding potential project partners through its own expert network and through its cooperation with other NCP networks all over Europe, which organise events tailored to specific clusters.

3. Create an EU login account

Each member participating in a EU research consortium has to login to use the Funding and Tenders portal. Create an account here .

4. Register your organisation

If you want to participate in a project proposal, your organisation needs to be registered and have a 9-digit Participant Identification Code (PIC). This unique identifier of your organisation will be used as a reference by the Commission in any interactions. You can check whether it is already registered here .

5. Submit the grant proposal

Select your topic and go to the Submission Service section of the topic page. Make sure that you select the application template of the right type of action before you start drafting a proposal. The link to the submission system is available, if the status of the call is 'open'.

NCP Federal BE is available for advice on meeting EU criteria and excellency standards from idea conception to proposal writing and during the entire project lifecycle, see our services.