Call reference: HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-06-02
Horizon Europe invites proposals from organisations and consortia operating within innovation ecosystems to accelerate the commercialisation and market uptake of promising research results from Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects.
The call aims to bridge the gap between research and market deployment by strengthening connections between research projects, technology transfer offices, innovation platforms, incubators, clusters, investors and other innovation support organisations.
Selected projects will identify promising research outputs, support their validation and commercialisation, facilitate access to real-world testing environments, and help innovators develop viable business models, intellectual property strategies and pathways to market.
The opportunity targets organisations acting as knowledge intermediaries that can connect research and innovation results with the support, expertise and investment required to advance them towards market readiness.
Funding and Support
- Total indicative budget: €20 million.
- Funding instrument: Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (RIA), using lump-sum grant funding.
- Financial support to third parties: At least 60% of the total requested EU contribution must be allocated to this purpose within each thematic area.
- Maximum third-party grant: €150,000 per recipient.
Consortia receiving funding must run competitive calls to provide grants supporting the prototyping, testing, demonstration, piloting, product validation and market replication of eligible research results.
The financial support provided through these competitive calls must benefit results from Horizon 2020 Pillar III and Horizon Europe Pillar II projects, or the owners of research results emerging from those projects.
Purpose and Objectives
The call aims to:
- Bridge the gap between promising research outputs and market deployment.
- Improve the commercialisation readiness of Horizon research results.
- Strengthen collaboration between research, education and innovation stakeholders.
- Improve access to testing facilities, demonstration sites, living labs and industrial partners.
- Support the development of value propositions, business models, customer validation and intellectual property strategies.
- Prepare innovators for investment, scale-up and follow-on funding.
- Promote gender-sensitive innovation support that addresses barriers faced by women innovators and entrepreneurs.
Priority Areas or Scope of Work
Proposals must address one of the following thematic areas and clearly indicate the selected area in the application:
- Agriculture and Food Systems
- Clean Transition: Energy and Transport
- Health
- Bioeconomy
- Raw Materials and Advanced Materials
Projects are expected to undertake activities including:
- Scouting and mapping promising innovations, start-ups, SMEs and exploitable research results from Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.
- Launching competitive calls to support the validation and valorisation of eligible research results.
- Facilitating access to real-world validation sites, living labs, testing facilities, demonstration environments and industrial partners.
- Providing tailored mentorship on commercialisation, business models, customer validation, intellectual property and exploitation strategies.
- Delivering training on scalability, investment readiness, market readiness and deployment instruments.
- Supporting the formation and strengthening of entrepreneurial teams around promising research results.
- Facilitating access to follow-on EU and national or regional funding opportunities, accelerators and investment programmes.
Projects should build on existing innovation and entrepreneurship support structures and avoid duplicating relevant ongoing initiatives.
Eligibility Criteria
Applications should be submitted by consortia comprising organisations that act as knowledge intermediaries within innovation ecosystems.
Relevant organisations include:
- Technology transfer offices.
- EU-supported innovation ecosystems.
- Innovation platforms and hubs.
- Incubators and accelerators.
- Clusters.
- Entrepreneurship support initiatives.
- Other organisations able to connect research projects and owners of exploitable results with investors, industry, public procurers, living labs and regional innovation actors.
Under the standard Horizon Europe consortium rules, proposals generally require at least three independent legal entities established in three different countries, including at least one EU Member State and two others established in different EU Member States or countries associated with Horizon Europe.
Additional eligibility conditions include:
- Proposals must focus on one of the five specified thematic areas.
- Projects must provide financial support to third parties through competitive calls.
- At least 60% of the total requested EU contribution must be allocated to third-party financial support within each thematic area.
- Third-party support must be awarded as grants and may not exceed €150,000 per recipient.
- Proposals must demonstrate a gender-sensitive approach to innovation support.
- Applications must comply with the applicable Horizon Europe eligibility, consortium, submission and evaluation requirements.
Organisations outside the EU and associated countries may participate or qualify for funding under applicable Horizon Europe rules, subject to the specific conditions of the call and the minimum consortium requirements.
Geographic Scope
International collaboration under Horizon Europe is possible, subject to its country eligibility and consortium composition rules.
Participating organisations should consult the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027 General Annexes and the specific topic conditions to confirm eligibility for participation and EU funding.
Important Dates
- Opening date: 20 October 2026
- Closing date: 16 February 2027
- Submission deadline: 17:00 Brussels time
- Submission procedure: Single-stage
Application Process
Applications must be submitted electronically through the European Commission's Funding & Tenders Portal.
Applicants should:
- Identify the topic reference HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-06-02.
- Confirm that the proposed consortium meets the applicable eligibility requirements.
- Select and clearly identify one of the five thematic areas.
- Develop a proposal addressing the topic's objectives, activities and expected outcomes.
- Demonstrate how the project will provide competitive grant support to third parties and allocate the required minimum share of the EU contribution.
- Submit the proposal through the designated electronic submission system.
Applicants should consult the topic conditions, application templates and applicable Horizon Europe guidance before submission.
Industry / Sector
Innovation ecosystems; research and innovation; technology transfer; research commercialisation; agriculture and food systems; clean energy and transport; health; bioeconomy; raw materials and advanced materials.
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Austria; Belgium; France; Germany; Netherlands; Canada; Norway; Switzerland; United Kingdom; Türkiye; South Africa; Botswana; Kenya; Ghana; Nigeria.