Grants

Excellence Hubs empower innovation ecosystems in Widening countries and beyond to foster place-based innovation culture by connecting academia, business, government, and society. These consortia are designed to create sustainable regional R&I ecosystems, long-term strategies, investment plans, pilot projects, and new skills, supporting regional smart specialization strategies in line with European priorities. The goal is to strengthen linkages between science, businesses (especially SMEs and start-ups), and society, delivering new business opportunities and advancing European competitiveness.

This grant supports the development of scalable, modular, and interoperable photonic quantum computing platforms in Europe. Projects must address current technical limitations such as the lack of deterministic high-efficiency photonic entanglement, loss-tolerant architectures, and the absence of standardised integrated control stacks combining photonic hardware and software. Expected outcomes include demonstrating photonic processors with ≥100 qubits by 2028 and a modular photonic quantum computer by 2030, contributing to the European quantum ecosystem, and accelerating industrial adoption and supply chain sovereignty.

This grant aims to support and accelerate the development and adoption of European and international standards for quantum technologies. It seeks to enhance the interoperability, quality/reliability assurance, and trust in quantum systems, strengthening Europe's leadership in the global quantum standardisation landscape. The action will deliver concrete, EU-relevant pre-normative standards and technical specifications in quantum computing, communication, and sensing, ensure substantial European stakeholder contributions to international standardisation bodies, promote cross-sectoral interoperability, and produce practical tools such as user guidelines and training modules for quantum standardisation.

This grant initiative aims to advance quantum-enabled inertial navigation systems (Q-INS) for robust and sovereign positioning in GNSS-denied environments. Phase 1 supports readiness-analysis, benchmarking commercial viability, and delivering comprehensive technical, industrialisation, and financial roadmaps validated by investor requirements. The focus is on fostering EU technological sovereignty in strategic navigation infrastructures, reinforcing investment readiness for subsequent funding through InvestEU. Category 1 targets cold-atom Q-INS for long-term navigation accuracy; Category 2 focuses on chip-scale Q-INS for integration into compact platforms like satellites and autonomous vehicles.

The ERC Plus Grant supports outstanding Principal Investigators addressing major scientific challenges that go beyond the aims of regular ERC projects, aiming to transform or open new fields of research. Applications are open to scholars at all career stages with an exceptional scientific record and demonstrated intellectual leadership. Approximately 30 grants are awarded annually, across all fields and career stages, with the grant awarded as a single lump sum contribution for the entirety of the project.

The aim is to advance the industrial readiness of European Ka-band user terminal technologies, subsystems, and manufacturing processes for cost-effective production of user terminals for IRIS² and GOVSATCOM. Projects should deliver tangible industrial outputs such as qualified production processes, pilot-run units, validated equipment chains, and manufacturing cost models, supporting the industrialisation and affordability of Ka-band terminals, particularly those operating in LEO and MEO. Proposals must focus on mature technologies (TRL5 or above), manufacturability, and compatibility with 5G NR NTN paths, and may include antenna subsystem, manufacturing, supply chain, and baseband processing advancements. Analytical deliverables may complement but not substitute industrial outputs.

The ERC Advanced Grant supports outstanding Principal Investigators who are established research leaders. The grant aims to enable active researchers with a track record of significant research achievements to pursue ambitious, groundbreaking research in any field of science. Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 2,500,000 for a period of 5 years, with the potential for an additional EUR 1,000,000 (or up to EUR 2,000,000 in special cases) to cover eligible costs such as start-up, major equipment, or relocation. All proposals are evaluated solely on excellence.

The EDCTP Prizes 2026-2027 are recognition prizes funded under Horizon Europe. The Scientific Leadership Prize aims to recognise growing mid-career women scientists who are permanent residents of an EU Member State or a country associated with the Horizon Europe programme. Prizes are financial contributions given as rewards for past achievements and outstanding work in research and innovation within the remit of the Global Health EDCTP3 programme. Applications must provide evidence of the applicant's involvement in research activities, proof of eligibility, and a written presentation of achievements, and will be evaluated by an independent panel of experts.

The Scientific Leadership Woman SSA Prize, funded under Horizon Europe, is a recognition prize that acknowledges growing mid-career women scientists who are permanent residents of a sub-Saharan African country that is a member of the EDCTP Association. The prize rewards outstanding scientific leadership and contributions aligning with the objectives of the Global Health EDCTP3 programme, specifically strengthening research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa and fostering South-South and North-South networking.