Excellence Hubs[E8]

From the notice

Type of action: HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions. Expected Outcome: Excellence Hubs allow innovation ecosystems in Widening countries and beyond, to team up and create better linkages between academia, business, government and society. This will foster a place-based innovation culture in Widening countries based on a strategic agenda aligned with regional or national smart specialisation strategies, and clearly identified expectations for economic and societal impacts. Projects should contribute to the following outcomes: Excellent and sustainable regional R&I ecosystems in Widening countries and beyond in relevant domains of cutting-edge science and innovation; Long term joint R&I strategies underpinned by concrete action plans of European relevance; Common investment plans for R&I, including infrastructures, leveraging national, regional and European funds as well as private capital in a synergetic manner; R&I pilot projects alongside a joint strategy and in line with regional and national strategies, notably regional innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3); New competencies and skills for researchers, entrepreneurs and professionals in R&I intensive domains; Strengthened linkages between science, businesses and society; New business opportunities for SMEs, university spin-offs and start-ups, especially in deep tech areas. Scope: The projects will foster a regional innovation culture in Widening countries, aligned with regional or national smart specialization strategies. Consortia should seek synergies and avoid overlaps with relevant initiatives su…[E3]

• ConditionEU grant rules apply: check the call conditions for who can apply, consortium rules and co-funding.[E4]
• The notice data states no restriction on who may bid. Exclusion grounds and selection criteria in the tender documents still apply.

• RiskThis is a grant, not a contract. Grants usually need a proposal against the funder's criteria, may need partners and often need co-funding.[E5]
• UnknownWe read the published notice, not the full tender documents.

1. First seen · 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC

   The source published a call for competition with a future deadline.

   Source document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200

Every fact on this page comes from the published notice. Each entry shows the document and the field it was read from.

1. E1

   The buyer is European Commission.

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/type/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

2. E2

   Proposals must be submitted by 4 Mar 2027, 01:00 Central European time (UTC+1).

   “2027-03-04T00:00:00.000+0000”

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/deadlineDate/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

3. E3

   The buyer describes the requirement in the notice.

   “Expected Outcome: Excellence Hubs allow innovation ecosystems in Widening countries and beyond, to team up and create better linkages between academia, business, government and society. This will foster a place-based innovation culture in Widening countries based on a strategic…”

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/descriptionByte/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

4. E4

   EU grant rules apply: check the call conditions for who can apply, consortium rules and co-funding.

   “EU call topic”

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/type/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

5. E5

   This call is open for proposals.

   “31094502”

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/status/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

6. E6

   The notice was published on 2 Sept 2026.

   “2026-09-02T00:00:00.000+0000”

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/startDate/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

7. E7

   The Funding & Tenders Portal gives the status as open for submission.

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/status/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

8. E8

   The notice is titled "Excellence Hubs".

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/title/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

9. E9

   The EU contribution per grant is up to EUR 4,500,000 (from EUR 1,500,000).

   Document HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01:31094502:2026-10-07T12:02:28.297+0200, field /metadata/budgetOverview/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 21:22 UTC · source ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Source: EU Funding & Tenders Portal, © European Union, CC BY 4.0. SLETOR shortened and reformatted the text. Data licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (European Commission) ↗ (opens in a new tab). Personal contact details in notices are not stored or shown.