Research and innovation potential is very unevenly distributed across Europe. The excellence and participation of widening countries in research and innovation will be strengthened and expanded in order to improve this situation.
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The Horizon Europe work programme part "Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence" is divided into two areas. "Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence" aims to reduce the research and innovation gap between R&I leading and lagging behind countries. It aims to tackle the innovation divide in Europe towards a more cohesive Research and Innovation ecosystem in Europe. The National Contact Point (NCP) for Widening is happy to answer your questions about this section of the programme and assist you with the application process. The area "Reforming and Strengthening the European R&I System" is also part of the work programme, but is advised by the NCP for ERA.
The success of European research and innovation policy is measured by the ability of all involved actors to fully leverage their potential. Therefore, the following objectives are set within the Widening programme area:
Encourage institutional reforms and transformation processes of the R&I system at national and regional level in widening countries in line with ERA principles;
Mobilise national investments in R&I capacity in widening countries;
Raise the bar for excellence of R&I actors in widening countries in partnership with outstanding European and international institutions (‘win-win situation’);
Increase number of participations and success rates of widening actors in research and innovation projects in other parts of Horizon Europe (notably in Pillars 2 and 3);
Promote the creation of new innovation ecosystems, interconnect and scale up existing ones by a set of measures, which include place-based and international collaboration between academia and business in widening countries;
Foster brain circulation, including inter-sectoral mobility for researchers and innovators and turn it into brain gain for widening countries.
Scientific excellence, the expected impact and the proper implementation of projects are the parameters to measure the quality of proposals. In addition, geographic criteria are considered as well.
In Horizon Europe, the budget for activities aimed at widening participation and spreading excellence has increased compared to Horizon 2020. At least 3.3 % of the overall programme budget is reserved for this purpose. This funding primarily benefits participants from widening countries.
Horizon Europe relies on a mix of proven and new measures from Horizon 2020. The guiding framework is the political agenda for the further implementation of the European Research Area. Scientific excellence and competitiveness are closely linked to the capacities of national and regional innovation ecosystems. Due to structural factors, many widening countries are relatively disadvantaged in this regard. The measures in the Widening area therefore actively emphasize and create synergies with EU Structural Funds (for example, in "Teaming" and "Pathways to Synergies"). A central role in linking these measures is played by the strategic priorities defined in the regional innovation strategies (RIS3).
All activities in the current widening part of the work programme for 2023-2025 will be implemented the destination 1: Improved access to excellence. Five calls are foreseen in the 2025 Work Programme:
HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-TALENTS-01-01: ERA Fellowships
ERA Fellowships are awarded to excellent researchers who participate in cross-border mobility by going to a host organization in a Widening country. Fellowships are open to researchers of any nationality who wish to participate in research and innovation projects either by coming to Europe from any country in the world or by relocating from within Europe to a Widening country. Researchers must give their consent when applying for the (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships in order to apply for an ERA Fellowship. Applications are then automatically resubmitted for the ERA Fellowship call if the host institution is located in a Widening country and the proposal does not rank high enough to receive funding in the MSCA call.
Widening countries - described in the work programme are: Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus (so-called EU-13), as well as Greece and Portugal and all Associated Countries with equivalent characteristics in terms of research and innovation performance and the Outermost Regions (defined in Article 349 TFEU).
