Horizon Europe: ERA Talents and Hop On Facility calls close

Figures of the first Horizon Europe ERA Talents and the 2nd cut-off of Hop-On Facility calls for proposals are now available. With a focus on the Widening countries the Hop-On Facility and ERA Talents aim to support the mobility of talents between academia and businesses, and to empower organisations to join already ongoing Research and Innovation actions.

Hop-On Facility

The Hop-On Facility call (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ACCESS-07-01) provides the possibility for legal entities from widening countries to join already ongoing Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) projects under Horizon Europe’s six clusters of Pillar 2 and the EIC Pathfinder.

REA received 81 proposals for the 2nd cut-off of Hop-On Facility call .

According to the Work Programme the available budget for this year call with two cut-off dates (20 April 2022 and 10 November 2022) is EUR 40 million.

The evaluation of the eligible proposals will start on December 5, with the support of external independent evaluators drawn from the European Commission database of experts.

The evaluation results for the 2^nd cut-off of the Hop-On Facility call will be communicated in March 2023 and the amendment preparation to integrate the successful proposals in the ongoing actions will start right afterwards.

ERA Talents

For ERA Talents (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-03-01) REA received 16 proposals, with the requested contributions amounting to over EUR 38 million.

According to the Work Programme the available budget for this call is EUR 24 million. 12 selected projects can be funded with an estimated EU contribution of around EUR 2 million per project.

The evaluation of the proposals started on December 1, with the support of external independent evaluators drawn from the European Commission database of experts.

REA will communicate the results of the proposals submitted for ERA Talents by March 2023.

Background Information

The ERA Talents actions aims to boost interoperability of careers and employability of research and innovation talents across sectors, with a centre of gravity in widening countries. Projects are expected to contribute to several of the following outcomes:

• Strengthened human capital base in R&I of Widening countries, with more entrepreneurial and better-trained researchers, innovators and other R&I talents;
• A more balanced talent circulation, both geographical and cross-sectoral;
• Boosted R&I capacity and R&I support capacity, as well as contribution to increased excellence of the research-performing organisation in widening countries;
• A more structured and impactful collaboration between academia and businesses;
• Increased set of research, entrepreneurial and other transferable skills and competences;
• Improved employability and sustainable career prospects of diverse talents within academia, industry and beyond.

The Hop-On Facility integrates one additional participant from a Widening country in an ongoing project under Pillar 2 (Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness) or the EIC pathfinder scheme (Support to research or develop an emerging breakthrough technology). Strong collaboration for increased visibility and research excellence for Widening countries!

How does it work?

A consortium under Pillar 2 Actions and the EIC Pathfinder of Horizon Europe with a valid ongoing grant agreement, but without a partner from a widening country in the consortium yet, can apply to include a legal entity from a widening country in their consortium.

Other funding opportunities related to “Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area” can be found here.