European Commission Research & Innovation Initiatives and Programme Opportunities
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Research Infrastructures (RIs)

Snapshot overview

Research Infrastructures (RIs) aim to address global environmental, social and economic challenges by maximising science and technological contributions to meet societal needs whilst increasing the European Union’s (EU) competitiveness. RIs provide resources and services for the research communities to conduct research and foster innovation in their fields.  Examples of resources and services provided include, but are not limited to equipment or sets of instruments, knowledge-related facilities, archives or scientific data infrastructures, computing systems, and communication networks.

The programme is structured around the following four destinations:

  1. INFRADEV aims to enable the development, consolidation and optimisation of the European research infrastructures landscape and maintain global leadership.
  2. INFRAEOSC aims to deliver a trusted virtual environment supporting Open Science, based on key horizontal core functions, with corresponding e-infrastructures accessible to researchers.
  3. INFRASERV supports R&I activities that aim to address significant societal challenges, notably in health, the green and digital transformation, and ensuring resilience to crises.
  4. INFRATECH supports innovative solutions to societal challenges and new industrial applications, products and services.

Under the 2023-2024 work programme, 12 calls for proposals are open across INFRADEV, INFRAEOSC, and INFRATECH.

Name

Research Infrastructures (INFRADEV, INFRAEOSC, INFRASERV, INFRATECH, INFRANET)

Institution/ DG/ Agency responsible at EU-level

European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD)

Work programme

Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024: Research Infrastructures

Programme

RIs is a programme under Horizon Europe.

Programme budget

The overall indicative budget for the duration of the programme is EUR 2400 million. For 2024, the total indicative budget is EUR 336.89 million.

Project budget

Depending on the specific project. For further detail, please see below:

  • INFRADEV
    • Research infrastructure concept development
      • Budget: EUR 12 million
      • Expected contributions: Between EUR 10-30 million
      • Indicative number of grants: 5
    • Strengthen the bilateral cooperation on research infrastructures with Africa
      • Budget: EUR 3 million
      • Expected contributions: Around EUR 15 million
      • Indicative number of grants: 2
    • Consolidation of the RI landscape – Individual support for evolution, long term sustainability and emerging needs of pan-European research infrastructures
      • Budget: EUR 8 million
      • Expected contributions: Between EUR 2-4 million
      • Indicative number of grants: 2
    • INFRAEOSC
      • FAIR and open data sharing in support of the mission adaptation to climate change
        • Budget: EUR 16 million
        • Expected contributions: Between EUR 6-8 million
        • Indicative number of grants: 2
      • Supporting the EOSC Partnership in further consolidating the coordination and sustainability of the EOSC ecosystem
        • Budget: EUR 4 million
        • Expected contributions: Around EUR 4 million
        • Indicative number of grants: 1
      • Enabling a network of EOSC federated and trustworthy repositories and enhancing the framework of generic and discipline specific services for data
        • Budget: EUR 5 million
        • Expected contributions: Around EUR 5 million
        • Indicative number of grants: 1
      • Long-term access and preservation infrastructure development for EOSC, including data quality aspects
        • Budget: EUR 8 million
        • Expected contributions: Around EUR 8 million
        • Indicative number of grants: 1
      • Innovative and customizable services for EOSC Exchange
        • Budget: EUR 28 million
        • Expected contributions: Around EUR 7 million
        • Indicative number of grants: 4
      • INFRATECH
        • R&D for the next generation of scientific instrumentation, tools, methods, solutions for RI upgrade
          • Budget: EUR 63.5 million
          • Expected contributions: Between EUR 5-10 million
          • Indicative number of grants: 8
        • Development of tools, solutions, modules to enable R&I on the social aspects of the green transition
          • Budget: EUR 5 million
          • Expected contributions: Around EUR 5 million
          • Indicative number of grants: 1
        • New digital twins for Destination Earth
          • Budget: EUR 45 million
          • Expected contributions: Around EUR 15 million
          • Indicative number of grants: 3
        • AR/VR-empowered digital twins for modelling complex phenomena in new RI application areas
          • Budget: EUR 24 million
          • Expected contributions: Around EUR 12 million
          • Indicative number of grants: 2
Type of funding

Grant, no contribution required

Target participants

Entities that qualify as ‘Research infrastructures’ (RIs) as defined by Article 2 of the Horizon Europe regulation are eligible for participation and funding

Programme scope

RIs focus on strengthening European research infrastructures and capabilities, including but not limited to the area of health.

Participant criteria

Applicants based in the following geographical areas are eligible for funding:

  • European Union Member States
  • Countries associated to Horizon Europe
  • Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)

The following types of applicants are eligible for funding:

  • Entities that qualify as ‘Research infrastructures’ (RIs) as defined by Article 2 of the Horizon Europe regulation are eligible for participation and funding

Only consortia are eligible to apply, subject to specific conditions:

  • Consortia must have at least three independent legal entities, of which at least one is established in ‘modest’ or ‘moderate’ innovator region and at least one in ‘strong’ or ‘innovation leader’ innovator region
  • The Regional Innovation Scoreboard is taken as a reference, and in the case of entities representing national authorities, the European Innovation Scoreboard. The applicants must reference the latest version of the documents mentioned above at the time of the call closure
  • Associated Countries which are not included in the European Innovation Scoreboard and are ranked below 25 on the Global Innovation Index 2020are considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘modest innovators’
  • In cases of Associated Countries not included in any of the previously mentioned references, the participation rank of the country in Horizon Europe (H2020 country profile) will be taken as a reference and countries ranked below the average will be considered as ‘moderate’ or ‘modest innovators’
Project duration

Depending on the specific project

Average time from submission to project kick-off

The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement, described in Annex F of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024, is as follows:

  • Information on the outcome of the evaluation: Around 5 months from the deadline for submission
  • Indicative date for the signing of grant agreements: Around 8 months from the deadline for submission

For two-stage calls, the timing is different (for the evaluation result: around 3 months from the deadline for submission for the first stage and around 5 months from the deadline for submission for the second stage; for signature of the grant agreement: around 8 months from the second stage deadline for submission).

R&D stage

Any

Intellectual property

Unknown

Project database
  • INFRADEV:
  • Research infrastructure concept development: Call for proposals here
  • Strengthen the bilateral cooperation on research infrastructures with Africa: Call for proposals here
  • Consolidation of the RI landscape – Individual support for evolution, long term sustainability and emerging needs of pan-European research infrastructures: Call for proposals here
  • INFRAEOSC
    • FAIR and open data sharing in support of the mission adaptation to climate change: Call for proposals here
    • Supporting the EOSC Partnership in further consolidating the coordination and sustainability of the EOSC ecosystem: Call for proposals here
    • Enabling a network of EOSC federated and trustworthy repositories and enhancing the framework of generic and discipline specific services for data: Call for proposals here
    • Long-term access and preservation infrastructure development for EOSC, including data quality aspects: Call for proposals here
    • Innovative and customizable services for EOSC Exchange: Call for proposals here
  • INFRATECH
    • R&D for the next generation of scientific instrumentation, tools, methods, solutions for RI upgrade: Call for proposals here
    • Development of tools, solutions, modules to enable R&I on the social aspects of the green transition: Call for proposals here
    • New digital twins for Destination Earth: Call for proposals here
    • AR/VR-empowered digital twins for modelling complex phenomena in new RI application areas: Call for proposals here
Status

Ongoing (submission closed)

    • INFRADEV:  Deadline for submission: 12 March 2024
    • INFRAEOSC: Deadline for submission: 12 March 2024
    • INFRATECH: Deadline for submission: 12 March 2024
Contact details & more information
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This tool was created by FTI Consulting for GSK and EFPIA.
For all enquiries please contact niro@fticonsulting.com
Privacy policy

This tool was created by FTI Consulting
for GSK and EFPIA.
For all enquiries please contact niro@fticonsulting.com
Privacy policy

What type of funding are you looking for?

  • Grant:
    Grants are direct financial contributions from the European Union budget awarded by way of a donation to third-party beneficiaries (usually non-profit-making organisations) engaged in activities that serve EU policies.
  • Loan:
    Loans are measures of financial support provided on a complementary basis from the budget in order to address specific policy objectives of the European Union. Such instruments are implemented in partnership with public and private institutions such as banks, venture capitalists or angel investors.

What stage of development are you seeking R&I funding for?

  • Basic science: Basic science covers the various exploratory steps even prior to discovery
  • Discovery: Drug discovery aims to find potential disease-altering targets, such as a gene or a protein in humans. Prior to testing candidate compounds for safety
  • Preclinical development: Preclinical development concerns the testing of candidate compounds for safety in specific indications or disease conditions. Introduction of candidate compound in living biological systems (animals)
  • Phase 1 clinical trials: These are the first clinical trials on humans(usually 20-80 volunteers) testing the safety, side effects, best dose, and timing of a new treatment
  • Phase 21/2b clinical trials: This is the follow-up trial with roughly 100 to 500 patients to analyse efficacy and safety
  • Phase 3 clinical trials: These trials usually involve several hundreds to many thousands patients and tests the results of earlier clinical trials on larger populations to generate robust data on safety, efficacy and benefit-risk relationships of the medicine. Comparison to placebo and/or active comparator (best standard treatment)
  • Registration & launch: This concerns post-study, prior to launch, activities related to market launch. That can include, among others, marketing authorisation, regulatory activities, post-study communication or HTA
  • Introduction & delivery: This concerns all post-launch activities

What do you want to develop?

  • Treatment or vaccine:
    Refers to a drug or vaccine
  • Diagnostic or medical device:
    Refers to diagnostics and medical devices
  • Platform:
    Refers to a digital health platform or medical app
  • Knowledge:
    Refers to conducting research to help build our understanding on a topic
  • Standards:
    Refers to creating a benchmark for a specific issue

What type of organisation are you?

  • Small & medium-sized enterprises:
    <250 employees, annual revenue <EUR 50,000,000) or balance sheet < EUR43 million. This applies to individual firms only. If part of larger group, check the User Guide: https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/42921
  • Large enterprises:
    >250 employees or annual revenue > EUR 50,000,000. Non-profit organisation (non-governmental organisations that are recognised with a non-profit status)
  • Non-profit organisations:
    Non-governmental organisations that are recognised with a non-profit status
  • Academic:
    Linked to a university or equivalent
  • Public:
    Local, regional, federal government representative

What stage of diagnostics development does your research aim to cover?

  • Development:
    Product development
  • Validation:
    Lab and clinical validation
  • Evaluation & Authorisation:
    Regulatory approvals
  • Access:
    Monitoring

What stage of medicine or vaccine development does your research aim to cover?

  • Discovery and development:
    Identification of promising compounds for development and initial experiments to gather information
  • Preclinical research:
    Laboratory and animal testing to answer basic questions about safety
  • Phase 0 (clinical):
    Testing on limited number of subjects at subtherapeutic doses
  • Phase I (clinical):
    Testing on <100 healthy subjects with the disease/condition
  • Phase II (clinical):
    Testing on up to several hundred subjects with the disease/condition
  • Phase III (clinical):
    Testing on 300 to 3,000 volunteers with the disease/condition
  • Preregistration / Phase IV (clinical):
    Testing on several thousand volunteers with the disease/condition
  • Clinical (unspecified):
    Clinical phase unknown
  • Evaluation & Authorisation:
    Activities relating to marketing authorisation
  • Access:
    Monitoring

Where are you based?

  • Africa : Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic of the), Congo (Republic of the), Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
  • America (non-US & Canada) : Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela
  • Asia-Pacific : Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, China (including special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau), Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, North Korea, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam
  • Europe (non-EU) : Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom
  • European Union (EU) : Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
  • Middle East : Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen
  • United States (US) & Canada : United States, Canada

What type of organisation are you?

  • Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME):
    Staff headcount 50 < and turnover ≤ EUR 10 m or balance sheet total ≤ EUR 10 m (small); Staff headcount 250 < and turnover ≤ EUR 50 m or balance sheet total ≤ EUR 43 m (medium)
  • Large enterprise:
    Staff headcount > 250
  • Non-profit organisation:
    Association, foundation, or equivalent
  • Academic:
    University, research institute, or equivalent
  • Individual:
    Private citizen
  • Public sector:
    Local, regional, federal government representative
  • Other:
    None of the above or uncertain