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European Research Executive Agency
News article16 March 2022European Research Executive Agency

€ 130 million to enhance research in Widening countries

Horizon Europe’s first calls for proposals on “ERA Chairs” and “Excellence Hubs” closed on 15 March. Both calls aroused a huge interest.

Research in widening countries

Horizon Europe’s first calls for proposals on “ERA Chairs” and “Excellence Hubs” closed on 15 March. Both calls aroused a huge interest.

For the call ERA Chairs (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-01-01) the European Research Executive Agency (REA) received 90 proposals for a total requested contribution of over € 216 million. The available budget for this call is € 80 million and, according to the Work Programme, 32 projects are expected to be funded with an estimated EU contribution of € 1.5-2.5 million per project.

ERA Chairs are well-established actions, present also in Horizon 2020, that focus on institutional changes and increases in research capacity. They support universities or research organizations from eligible countries, to attract and maintain high quality human resources and help scientists and their teams to become game changers in their field.

For the Excellence Hubs (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ACCESS-04-01) REA received 102 proposals for a total requested contribution of over € 465 million. The available budget for this call is € 50 million and 10-15 projects are expected to be funded with an estimated EU contribution of € 3-5 million per project.

Excellence Hubs are a novelty introduced by Horizon Europe. This action aims to foster innovation ecosystems in Widening countries and beyond, creating better linkages between academia, business, government and society. This will foster a real placed based innovation culture, in line with regional or national smart specialization strategies.

The evaluation of the proposals starts next week with the support of external independent evaluators drawn from the European Commission database of experts.

REA will communicate results to both ERA Chairs and Excellence Hubs applicants in July, and will sign the grant agreement for successful proposals in November.

Other calls from “Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area” can be found here. To stay updated and informed, please subscribe to the Widening newsletter.

 

Details

Publication date
16 March 2022
Author
European Research Executive Agency