Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion.
It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth.
The programme facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges. It supports creating and better dispersing of excellent knowledge and technologies.
It creates jobs, fully engages the EU’s talent pool, boosts economic growth, promotes industrial competitiveness and optimises investment impact within a strengthened European Research Area.
Legal entities from the EU and associated countries can participate.

The European Innovation Council (EIC) promotes breakthrough innovation with scale-up potential at the global level.
It focuses mainly on breakthrough, deep tech and disruptive innovation, targeting especially market-creating innovation.
The EIC also supports strategic technology and innovation challenges which will take into account the priorities of the Horizon Europe strategic plan.
Areas of intervention

• Pathfinder funding: for advanced research, supporting early-stage development of future and emerging breakthrough, market-creating and/or deep tech technologies
• Transition funding: to help researchers and innovators develop the pathway to commercial development for promising research results
• Accelerator funding: to support individual SMEs, startups and small mid-caps to bridge the financing gap between late stages of research activities and market take-up, to effectively deploy breakthrough, market-creating innovation and scale-up companies where the market does not provide viable financing
• additional activities such as prizes and fellowships, and business added-value services

The Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia is the body responsible for coordinating participation in the Program and is establishing a national system to support the implementation of the Program.
The network of National Contact Points (NCPs) consists of officially appointed persons by the Ministry whose primary role is to inform and advise applicants for tenders within the Program and to provide individualized support for participation throughout the project cycle.

European Innovation Council (EIC) and European Innovation ecosystems/ NCP for European Innovation Council (EIC) - Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovation and Investments

Sonja Šegvić Smolić
Phone: 385 1 6381 617
Fax: 385 1 4891 842
E-mail: Sonja.SegvicSmolic [at] hamagbicro.hr      

Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovation and Investments

For more information about Horizon Europe visit Official Site of the programme Horizon Europe or Croatian national site of the programme.