Deadline Date: September 23, 2026
The European Commission is requesting grant applications to support studies on how governments are transforming their operations and preparing civil services for future challenges in a rapidly changing global context.
The focus areas of this call include new governance paradigms such as agile leadership, anticipatory governance, crisis preparedness, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, automation, open government, democratic participation, and strategic communication. It also includes innovative approaches to public service delivery and policymaking, including citizen participation, stakeholder engagement, systems thinking, experimentation, and evidence-informed decision-making. In addition, it focuses on public employment management and civil service empowerment through upskilling, reskilling, institutional reform, organizational development, and future-oriented human resource policies.
The funding available under this call is €8,000,000, with individual project funding ranging between €3,500,000 and €4,000,000.
The initiative aims to address the challenges faced by governments in an era of multiple crises, technological disruption, and declining public trust. It highlights the need to understand how civil services are adapting internally, how innovation is being implemented, and how governments are reshaping their structures, processes, and workforce to remain effective and resilient.
The call emphasizes documenting current governance practices, identifying innovative solutions, and analysing emerging trends across EU Member States and Associated Countries. It seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of how governments are reinventing themselves, including lessons learned from national and international examples of administrative innovation.
It further focuses on improving collaboration between countries, strengthening peer learning networks, and enhancing knowledge exchange among governments. The initiative also encourages the development of policy recommendations and training resources, including a comprehensive MOOC for public officials to support capacity building and future governance skills.
A key component of the research is to capture the perspectives of civil servants themselves, reflecting their experiences, challenges, and expectations regarding the evolving role of the state and public administration systems.
The expected results include policy recommendations at EU and national levels, dissemination of good practices and innovation trends, improved understanding of governance transformation, strengthened cooperation between administrations, and the development of training resources for civil servants.
Eligible applicants include any legal entity established under national, EU, or international law, including those from non-associated third countries and international organisations.
For more information, visit European Commission.
