Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

The EIT Community is characterised by a focus on results and on achieving long-lasting impact in the way the EU approaches and manages innovation. It is therefore critical that the KIC demonstrates substantial impact at the socioeconomic level over time, and significant progress towards achieving its mission and objectives. The KIC should harvest intellectual, human, material and financial resources to create valuable outputs such as innovation communities, high quality curricula, start-ups, innovative products, services, technologies, through which it develops and sustains value-added business, enhances competencies necessary for innovation and entrepreneurship, and for developing solutions to major societal challenges.

A KIC is expected to create the following impacts:

• technological/economic/innovation impact by influencing the creation and growth of companies, as well as the creation and deployment at scale of new innovative solutions to address the global challenges, creating direct and indirect jobs and mobilising additional public and private investments;
• educational impact by strengthening human capital in research and innovation, enhancing innovative and entrepreneurial skills both at individual and organisational levels and fostering the creation and diffusion of knowledge and innovation openly within society;
• societal impact, including the impact derived by the delivery of systematic solutions within and beyond the EIT Community, also through Cross-KIC activities, by addressing EU policy priorities in the Water, Marine and Maritime Sectors and Ecosystems (‘Water’) through innovative solutions, engagement with citizens and end-users and by strengthening the uptake of innovative solutions in these areas in society.

The EIT may award a start-up grant of up to €5.000.000 indicatively, to the designated partnership to cover activities for legal readiness, operational readiness and fostering EIT identity and other initial KIC activities to support the efficient setting up. The practice shows that following the start-up period, the EIT grant for the first Business Plan is between €20.000.000 – €35.000.000 per year.

The long-term cooperation between the EIT and each KIC will be formalised through a seven-year Partnership Agreement, which will be concluded between the KIC (represented by the KIC Legal Entity) and the EIT.

The EIT financial contribution is allocated so that it balances the requirement to support the KICs’ long term strategy while rewarding each KIC for its excellence, impact ambition and implementation in the mid-term. As set out in the EIT Regulation, the EIT contribution to the KICs shall gradually decrease over time in compliance with the funding rates defined in the EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda 2021-2027 as follows:

• Education and training
• Industry
• Research, Technological Development and Innovation

• Associations
• Businesses
• Educational Institutions
• Legal Entities
• Other Beneficiaries
• Private Bodies
• Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions

The EIT Call for Proposals is for consortia consisting of leading organisations from business, education and research.

Following the admissibility check, only proposals complying with the following conditions will be considered eligible for further evaluation:

• the applying consortium must contain at least 3 independent partner organisations established in at least 3 different Member States;
• at least two thirds of the partner organisations forming the consortium are established in different Member States;
• the applying consortium includes at least one higher education institution, one research institution and one private company;
• the applying consortium shall not include the following entities that are part of a KIC under Partnership Agreement or a KIC under Memorandum of Cooperation:
  • KIC legal entity;
  • co-location centre;
  • other entities part of a KIC’s legal/corporate structure; (such as KIC subsidiaries, foundations, associations, etc. The requirement does not exclude KIC partner organisations).
  • the proposal must be submitted by a consortium containing a maximum of 50 partners. Only proposals satisfying all the eligibility criteria shall pass on to the evaluation stage.

Only proposals satisfying all the eligibility criteria shall pass on to the evaluation stage.

This Call for Proposals follows the main rules and principles established by the EIT rules and EU general principles. All Call processes respect the principles of openness, transparency, equal treatment, and efficacy.

Further information in relation to the call admissibility conditions and financial and operational capacity and exclusion, can be found in the EIT WATER Call Package .

Research and Innovation Foundation
Address: 29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia, P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/

Contact Person:

Nedi Kaffa
Scientific Officer
Email: nkaffa@research.org.cy

The applicants are invited to send in any questions they might have on the EIT Call for Proposals until 2 June 2025 via the following functional mailbox: EIT-KICs-Call-2025@eit.europa.eu. Replies will be given until 10 June 2025.

• Funding&Tenders
• EIT WATER Call Package
• EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda 2021-2027
• EIT Regulation