Open calls · Research grant · Business, Management and Accounting
Open topic on research and innovation for effective management of EU external borders that promotes fundamental rights and EU values
European Commission · Horizon Europe · HORIZON-CL3-2027-01-BM-01
Deadlines
- 4 Nov 2027 Deadline in 357 days
Time of day: 17:00 Brussels time.
Who can apply
- Countries
- Applicants from any country can take part. Funding is usually limited to the EU, associated countries and listed low- and middle-income countries; sanctions apply to some.
- Who applies
- A consortium of organisations
Money
- Per project
- up to €4M per project
- Total budget
- €8M
- Expected awards
- 2
About the call
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcome:
• Improved border management solutions that protect and promote fundamental rights of both EU citizens and Third Country Nationals.
Scope:
Under this Open topic, proposals are welcome to address new, upcoming or unforeseen challenges and/or creative or disruptive solutions that are not covered by the other topics of this Destination in 2026 and 2027.
In particular, this topic will fund research projects that explore, develop and test knowledge and technology solutions in the areas of border surveillance, border checks, customs and supply chain security, and civilian maritime and aviation security border management that protect and promote fundamental rights of both EU citizens and Third Country Nationals, and EU values.
Adapted to the nature, scope, type and target TRL of proposed projects, proposals should convincingly explain how they will plan and/or carry out demonstration, testing and validation of developed tools and solutions. Proposals should be convincing in explaining the methods they intend to use for demonstrating, testing and validating the proposed tools and solutions ensuring that the intersectional perspectives of diverse groups, including gender, sex, age, disabilities, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation and migrant status are integrated and considered. Proposals should also delineate the plans to develop possible future follow-up research and development and/or uptake, upscaling and/or application and use at national and EU level as possible next steps after the research project.
Research proposals should consider, build on if appropriate and not duplicate previous research, including but is not limited to research by other Framework Programmes’ projects.
Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 4-5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
Text from the funder (European Commission, CC BY 4.0).
Conditions in full
"> General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
DELETE ME Please add hyperlinks as embedded links where needed (underscored text). Send the call document through the document publication form to receive the hyperlink within 2 business days max. DELETE ME
2. Eligible Countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .
3. Other Eligible Conditions
Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.
The following additional eligibility criteria apply:
This topic requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 2 Border, Coast Guard or Customs Authorities from at least 2 different EU Member States or Associated countries. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Eligibility information about practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool.
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual .
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5.
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf ]].
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Some activities resulting from this topic may involve using classified background and/or producing of security sensitive results (EUCI and SEN). Please refer to the related provisions in section B Security — EU classified and sensitive information of the General Annexes.
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard application form (HE RIA IA Stage 1)
Standard application form (HE RIA IA Stage 1 BLIND)
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Standard application form (HE CSA Stage 1)
Standard application form (HE CSA Stage 1 BLIND)
Standard application form (HE…
We sort calls into fields, career stages and countries automatically. Always check the conditions on the funder’s page before you apply.
Discussion
Applying too? Looking for partners? Ask here.