Hop-on Facility
HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-WIDERA-2026-03-WIDENING-01
- Programme
- Hop-on Facility
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Open (31094502)
- Opening Date
- January 13, 2026
- Deadline
- September 24, 2026
- Deadline Model
- multiple cut-off
- Budget
- €30,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €200,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €600,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 60
- Keywords
- HORIZON-WIDERA-2026-03-WIDENING-01HORIZON-WIDERA-2026-03
Description
The Hop-on Facility allows for legal entities from Widening countries to join already funded Horizon Pillar II ‘main’ work programme and EIC Pathfinder collaborative R&I actions, subject to the agreement of the respective consortium and provided that legal entities from such countries are not yet participating as beneficiary, associated partner, or affiliated entity. The scheme aims to improve the inclusiveness of Horizon Europe. Selected consortia will be invited to submit a grant agreement amendment request of the eligible already funded action.
Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
- At system level, mobilise excellence in the Widening countries, increase visibility of the beneficiaries from the widening countries, improve knowledge circulation, and boost their participation in specific thematic domains;
- At consortium level, open up established networks to new connections and partnerships, improve research excellence of the Widening country’s institutions in specific fields, enlarge outreach of the participants’ R&I actions and provides access to new talent pools;
- At the level of the Widening beneficiary, develop new competencies and skills for working in transnational projects including research management and dissemination and exploitation.
The Hop-on Facility integrates one additional beneficiary from a Widening country to an ongoing project under Pillar 2 or the EIC pathfinder scheme who contributes a relevant task, work package or another visible and distinguishable activity.
Applications must demonstrate the R&I added value of the new beneficiary for the eligible already selected action. The proposal should include a detailed description of the profile of the new beneficiary and its R&I role and complementarity in the existing project.
The additional beneficiary and activities should be presented in a dedicated proposal template with the Description of the Action (DOA) of the ongoing action uploaded as an annex. In case of a successful evaluation, the consortia (coordinator) of the eligible already funded action (i.e. relevant existing grant agreement) will be invited to submit an amendment request for accession of the Widening beneficiary, modification of the description of the action. If budget is reserved for the coordinator, the proposal should justify the amounts in terms of integration efforts for the new participant.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
2. Eligible Countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
The following additional eligibility criteria apply:
1. The proposal must include only:
- One legal entity, as a beneficiary, established in a Widening country.
- One legal entity which is the coordinator of an ‘eligible already funded action'.
2. The proposal must be submitted by the coordinator of the ‘eligible already funded action’. No more than 10% of the maximum grant amount can be allocated to the coordinator as a coordination fee for the integration of the new widening beneficiary. No less than 90% of the max grant amount must be allocated to the widening beneficiary.
An ‘eligible already funded action’ refers to an action stemming from a Horizon Europe grant agreement that also meets the following conditions:
- No legal entity established in a Widening country is already a beneficiary, affiliated entity or associated partner in the Horizon Europe grant agreement.
- At the time of submission of the proposal (and for any grant agreement signature), the granting authority of the Horizon Europe grant agreement is the European Commission or an Executive Agency.
- The Horizon Europe grant agreement was awarded to Horizon Pillar II ‘main’ Work Programme or EIC Pathfinder collaborative R&I actions.
- The first reporting period of the Horizon Europe grant agreement is ongoing at the submission deadline. Furthermore, the ongoing grant agreement is between 1 to 12 months from its starting date by the submission deadline.
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
In the first place, ex-aequo proposals will be prioritised according to geographical diversity criteria, defined as proposals with the additional beneficiary established in a Widening country, not otherwise represented as a beneficiary higher up the ranking list. The method described in Points 1), 2), 3) and 5) of General Annexes Part F (Procedure/Evaluation procedure and ranking) will then be applied to the remaining equally ranking proposals in the group. This rule establishing the priority order serves to better spread the impact of the action and to strengthen the efficiency of the ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’ programme.
If the proposal is successful, the next stage of the procedure will be a grant agreement amendment preparation.
If the outcome of amendment preparations is an award decision, the coordinator of the consortium of the eligible already funded action will be invited to submit an amendment to the grant agreement, on behalf of the beneficiaries.
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
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the specific topic of the Work Programme
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
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Information on financial support to third parties (HE)
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 2. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 3. Research Infrastructures
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 4. Health
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 5. Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 6. Civil Security for Society
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 7. Digital, Industry and Space
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 10. European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE)
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 12. Missions
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 13. New European Bauhaus Facility (NEB)
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 14. Horizontal Activities
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Frequently Asked Questions About Hop-on Facility
Support & Resources
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.
Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
National Contact Points (NCPs) – get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’).
Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.
European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues.
CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.
Partner Search help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.