Deadline Date: June 16, 2026
The European Commission (EC) is offering a funding opportunity to advance the development of innovative scientific instrumentation, tools, methods, digitalisation, and solutions aimed at upgrading research infrastructures.
The focus areas include enhancing the scientific competitiveness of European research infrastructures, increasing research infrastructure capacity to address research challenges and EU policy priorities, promoting greening and resilience of research infrastructures, improving efficiency through digitalisation, fostering collaboration between research infrastructures, universities, research organisations, and industry to support innovation and EU technological sovereignty, facilitating industrial co-development and uptake of advanced technologies, integrating research infrastructures into broader innovation systems, and promoting entrepreneurial culture.
This initiative seeks to deliver transformative solutions that advance the state-of-the-art in European research infrastructures, enabling them to support new areas of research and expand access to a wider user community, including industrial users. Proposals should develop and validate new scientific instrumentation, tools, methods, and digitalisation solutions, alongside providing training for research infrastructure staff in operating and utilising these innovations. Where applicable, skill development should align with technical validation standards relevant to industry. The innovative potential for industrial exploitation, societal benefits, and demonstration of concepts or validation in laboratories for SMEs, startups, or scaleups is also a key element of the project.
Environmental considerations and resilience are integral, and all proposed solutions should address the minimisation of the research infrastructures’ environmental footprint, energy efficiency, climate-related challenges, and reliance on critical components and materials. Proposals must demonstrate complementarity with previous Horizon Europe initiatives, such as HORIZON-INFRA-2022-TECH-01-01 and HORIZON-INFRA-2024-TECH-01-01, while targeting different technologies or solutions to ensure clear added value.
Funding for this initiative totals €110,000,000, with individual projects eligible for a maximum funding range of €5,000,000 to €10,000,000. Any legal entity, including those from non-associated third countries or international organisations, may participate, provided they meet the eligibility requirements under Horizon Europe regulations. Entities must register in the Participant Register and obtain a validated PIC to receive funding and formalise the grant agreement.
For more information, visit EC.
