Forthcoming

Eu-india International Collaboration

HORIZON JU Coordination and Support Actions

Basic Information

Identifier
HORIZON-JU-SNS-2026-STREAM-CSA-03
Programme
HORIZON-JU-SNS-2026
Programme Period
2021 - 2027
Status
Forthcoming (31094501)
Opening Date
January 29, 2026
Deadline
April 29, 2026
Deadline Model
single-stage
Budget
€1,000,000
Min Grant Amount
€1,000,000
Max Grant Amount
€1,000,000
Expected Number of Grants
1
Keywords
HORIZON-JU-SNS-2026-STREAM-CSA-03HORIZON-JU-SNS-2026Communication technology, high-frequency technology

Description

Expected Outcome:

• In depth analysis of the 6G Indian vision, including Indian SDO (e.g. TSDSI), Indian Government institutions and Indian stakeholders (including Bharat 6G), with commonalities and differences between the European and Indian perspectives, including downstream industrial opportunities and risks. A comprehensive priority list supported by factual elements (e.g. mapping supply chains in both the EU and India, analyses of state-of the-art technologies, economic, policy and legal landscape etc.) for cooperation opportunities is expected.

• A comprehensive analysis of the industrial ecosystems in India and EU in relation to 6G, including supply chain cooperation opportunities.

• Support to the SNS JU, EC and 6G-IA to define and implement measures aiming at strengthening the position of Europe’s industry in the Indian 6G value chain.

• A detailed analysis of specific requirements on 6G in India and the EU and the potential impact on 6G specifications.

• Support future cooperation opportunities on 6G Vision, including relevant enabling technologies, platforms and testbeds for experimental research. Cooperation opportunities on societal and economic aspects of 6G should also be supported.

• Identification of commonalities, differences, and lessons learnt from the realization of trials and pilots in EU and India and proposals for future cooperation in 6G trials & pilots.

• Identification of potential synergies, areas of common research interests, and complementarities towards 6G systems design.

• Identification of common approaches towards the sustainability of 6G networks.

• Engaging with vertical industries to shape and promote 6G use-cases and business cases of common interest.

• Bridging EU and Indian 6G research communities (including Bharat 6G) and support the SNS JU in implementing actions related to research cooperation.

• Alignment of views on future exploitation in international standardisation as well as contributions to standardisation bodies and fora, supporting global views on open standards and interoperability, with particular focus on developments in ITU-T, ITU-R, 3GPP and other related standardization organizations.

• Factual elements (e.g. mapping supply chains in both regions, analyses of state-of the-art and emerging technologies in 6G) that help the SNS JU in assessing potential areas of cooperation.

Objective:

Please refer to the "Specific Challenges and Objectives" section for Stream CSA-03 in the Work Programme, available under ‘Topic Conditions and Documents - Additional Documents’.

Scope:

The goal of this CSA is to facilitate structured cooperation and exchanges between EU and Indian stakeholders in the field of advanced connectivity research. The scope covers the following topics:

• Analytical assessment of the industrial policies and approaches in India and the EU in the 6G context, including opportunities and risks.

• Comprehensive analysis of the industrial ecosystems in both regions focusing on 6G-related requirements, complementarities, and long-term areas where cooperation can support future research or address technological dependencies (e.g. supply-chain considerations).

• Identification of priority domains of 6G technological cooperation that can be in the short term stimulated by cooperative R&D and would result in tangible benefits for Europe.

• Joint exploratory EU-India work on 6G Vision, its relevant technologies, platform or testbeds for experimental research and societal and economic aspects of 6G.

• Preparation of research-oriented roadmaps for possible future collaborations (such as in the development of tools for experimentation, open-source software tools and repositories, prototyping and evaluation, tools for probing and data analytics, emulation, management and technology trials and pilots), workshops and scientific exchanges.

• Applicants are invited to describe how the EU-India cooperation will be organised within the project and the approach they will use to engage with Indian stakeholders. The selected project is expected to interact with relevant Indian organisations, including standardisation bodies (e.g. TSDSI), Indian institutions and other Indian stakeholders (including Bharat 6G). Proposals should include description of specific cooperation activities to be carried out such as exchange of information and results, sharing of data, sharing of methodologies, researcher exchanges and visits, joint workshops, joint testbeds etc. A strong and demonstrated innovation and industrial understanding of the 6G ecosystem of India is expected.

Eligibility & Conditions

General conditions

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout

General Annex A of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 20 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the SNS call 2026 covered by this Work Programme, with the following derogations to page limits:

The limit for a full proposal is 50 pages for CSAs submitted under CSA Stream.



2. Eligible Countries

General Annex B of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the SNS call 2026, with the following exceptions or amendments:

Restrictions on participation in accordance with Article 22(5) of the Horizon Europe Regulation

In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, it is important to avoid a situation of technological dependency on a non-EU source, in a global context that requires the EU to take action to build on its strengths, and to carefully assess and address any strategic weaknesses, vulnerabilities and high-risk dependencies which put at risk the attainment of its ambitions. For this reason, for proposals under topics identified as “subject to restrictions on participation in accordance with Article 22(5) of the Horizon Europe Regulation” (in the specific conditions for eligibility), participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Associated Countries, OECD and Mercosur countries, and India.

For the duly justified and exceptional reasons listed in the paragraph above, in order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, entities established in an eligible country listed above, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, may not participate.

Restrictions for the protection of European communication networks

These restrictions apply in accordance with General Annex B of the General Annexes of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027:

Entities that are assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment within the meaning of ‘restrictions for the protection of European communication networks’ ( (and any entities they own or control) are not eligible to participate as beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners.

Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine

Given the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the involvement of Belarus, there is currently no appropriate context allowing the implementation of the actions foreseen in this programme with legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine. Therefore, even where such entities are not subject to EU restrictive measures, such legal entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity. This includes participation as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any). Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons. With specific regard to measures addressed to Russia, following the adoption of the Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745 of 24 June 2024 (amending Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014), legal entities established outside Russia but whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 50% by legal persons established in Russia are also not eligible to participate in any capacity.



3. Other Eligible Conditions

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Gender equality plans and gender dimension of R&I:

According to the General Annexes, provision of a gender equality plan for public bodies, research organisations or higher education establishments (including private research organisations and higher education establishments) applies as per Part B of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027. Additional gender issues (related to award sub-criterion consideration of the gender dimension in research and innovation content) shall be addressed as appropriate in case research results are expected to differ when applied to different gender populations of users.



4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

General Annex C of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the SNS call 2026 covered by this Work Programme.

5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds

are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes

are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement

General Annex F of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the SNS call 2026 covered by this Work Programme with the following amendments related to the procedure to rank proposals:

When two CSA proposals are equally ranked and that it has not been possible to separate them using first the coverage criterion, second the excellence criterion, and third the generic Impact criterion (i.e., after step 2 of the procedure outlined in part F of the General Annex), the level of SME participation will be taken as the next criterion to sort out the ties and if still un-conclusive, the level of IKOP will be considered as appropriate. If still inconclusive, the procedure outlined in part F of the General Annex will be resumed from step 3 onwards.



6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants

General Annex G of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the SNS call 2026 covered by this Work Programme. In addition:

Participants of selected projects will be requested to cooperate in the SNS JU Programme for topics of common interests by signing a written agreement (called “collaboration agreement”) referred in the specific provisions of the Model Grant Agreement (Annex 5 of the MGA).

Further to Open science provisions set out in the General Annex G of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027, in the SNS topics under Streams B and C, AI/ML training data sets, which will be created and used in the context of the selected projects, have to be made available through a common repository that will be openly accessed and may be used by other SNS projects over the programme lifecycle.



Specific conditions

described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Call Documents:



A call-specific application form will be used in this topic — call-specific application form will be available in the Submission System



Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):

Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System

Standard application form (HE CSA)

Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations  

Standard evaluation form (HE CSA) 

Guidance

HE Programme Guide 

Model Grant Agreements (MGA)

HE MGA 

HE Unit MGA 

Operating Grants MGA 



Additional documents:

Frequently Asked Questions About Eu-india International Collaboration

HORIZON-JU-SNS-2026 (2021 - 2027).
Per-award amount: €1,000,000. Total programme budget: €1,000,000. Expected awards: 1.
Deadline: April 29, 2026. Deadline model: single-stage.
Eligible organisation types (inferred): SMEs, Universities, Research organisations, Companies.
Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout General Annex A of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 20 shall apply mutatis mutandis  to the SNS call 2026 covered by this Work Programme, with the following derogations to page limits: The limit for a full proposal is 50  pages for CSAs  submitted under CSA Stream. Eligible Countries General Annex B of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the SNS call 2026, with the following exceptions or amendments: Restrictions on participation in accordance with Article 22(5) of the Horizon Europe Regulation In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, it is important to avoid a situation of technological dependency on a non-EU source, in a global context that requires the EU to take action to build on its strengths, and to carefully assess and address any strategic weaknesses, vulnerabilities and high-risk dependencies which put at risk the attainment of its ambitions.
Restrictions for the protection of European communication networks These restrictions apply in accordance with General Annex B of the General Annexes of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027: Entities that are assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment within the meaning of ‘restrictions for the protection of European communication networks’ ( (and any entities they own or control) are not eligible to participate as beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners.
You can contact the organisers at [email protected].

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