HORIZON-RIA / IA Research and Innovation Actions and Innovation Actions: the application, step by step

What it is

Research and Innovation Actions and Innovation Actions are Horizon Europe proposals written against a work programme topic, by a consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different countries, at least 1 of them in a Member State. Both use the same Part B, the technical description, in three sections — Excellence, Impact, and Quality and efficiency of the implementation — each scored out of 5. Innovation Actions differ in their maximum funding rate and in the weight of Impact when proposals are ranked.

Who can apply

Legal entities established in an EU Member State (including its outermost regions), an Overseas Country or Territory linked to a Member State, a country associated to Horizon Europe, or one of the listed low- and middle-income countries. Legal entities established in other countries are eligible for funding only if the topic provides for it, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action. The current list of associated countries is the Horizon Europe List of Participating Countries on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Consortium

A consortium including, as beneficiaries, 3 legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country: at least 1 in a Member State, and at least two others, each in a different Member State or Associated Country — unless the topic provides otherwise. Affiliated entities do not count towards the minimum.

Actions

Research and innovation action (HORIZON-RIA) · Innovation action (HORIZON-IA)

Duration

Not set in the General Annexes — check the topic's conditions on its topic page.

Funding

For topics using lump sum funding, the estimated budget is described in a detailed budget table, used as a basis for justifying and/or fixing the lump sum amount. Maximum funding rates: 100% for Research and innovation actions; 70% for Innovation actions, except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies. Indirect costs are a 25% flat rate of the total eligible direct costs, excluding subcontracting, financial support to third parties and any unit costs or lump sums which include indirect costs. The General Annexes set no amount per project: check the budget on the topic page.

Deadlines

Deadlines are set in each call. Check the current deadline on the call's topic page on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

How it is scored

Evaluation scores will be awarded for the criteria, and not for the different aspects listed in the table. For full applications, each criterion will be scored out of 5. The threshold for individual criteria will be 3. The overall threshold, applying to the sum of the three individual scores, will be 10. Proposals that pass the individual threshold AND the overall threshold will be considered for funding, within the limits of the available call budget. Other proposals will be rejected.

To determine the ranking for ‘Innovation actions’, the score for ‘Impact’ will be given a weight of 1.5.

Proposals with the same score: “1) Proposals that address aspects of the call that have not otherwise been covered by more highly ranked proposals will be considered to have the highest priority. 2) The proposals identified under 1), if any, will themselves be prioritised according to the scores they have been awarded for ‘Excellence’. When these scores are equal, priority will be based on scores for ‘Impact’. In the case of ‘Innovation actions’, priority will be given to the score for ‘Impact’, followed by that for ‘Excellence’.”

The form structure

Part B, the technical description, in the order of the standard template (Version 5.1), which Research and Innovation Actions and Innovation Actions share. Part A — administrative information about the participants, the summarised budget and call-specific questions — is filled in directly online on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

1. 1.Title and list of participants
2. 2.1. Excellence
   • 1.1 Objectives and ambition
   • 1.2 Methodology
3. 3.2. Impact
   • 2.1 Project's pathways towards impact
   • 2.2 Measures to maximise impact - Dissemination, exploitation and communication
   • 2.3 Summary (optional)
4. 4.3. Quality and efficiency of the implementation
   • 3.1 Work plan and resources
   • 3.2 Capacity of participants and consortium as a whole

How you write it in AvenEU

• ✦Part B section by section, with every question of the template and an estimate of the pages your text fills against the 45-page limit for topics using lump sum funding.
• ✦A field for the topic you apply to — its ID, expected outcomes and scope, copied from the topic page — which EUri reads when it analyses every other section.
• ✦EUri analyses each section against the General Annexes' three award criteria, each scored out of 5 with a threshold of 3, and 10 overall.
• ✦The detailed lump-sum budget table, per participant and work package, with each participant's funding rate (100% for Research and innovation actions; for Innovation actions 70%, or 100% for a non-profit legal entity, chosen per participant) and indirect costs at 25% of personnel and purchase costs. You copy the figures into the official workbook from your topic's submission system.
• ✦Partner suggestions from Erasmus+ data, filtered to the countries Horizon Europe admits.
• ✦Export in the structure of Part B, section by section, for transfer into the official template.