Budget & financial rules

Horizon Europe is the EU framework programme for research and innovation for 2021–2027, with a budget of roughly €93.5 billion – the largest such programme in the world. It funds fundamental science, applied research against societal challenges and breakthrough innovation, and Ukraine takes part in full as an associated country.

LIFE is the only EU programme devoted entirely to the environment and climate action, with a budget of €5.432 billion for 2021–2027. It runs through four sub-programmes: nature and biodiversity, circular economy, climate action, and the clean energy transition. Ukraine has been associated to LIFE since 2022, so a Ukrainian organisation can be a full beneficiary.

The clean energy transition sub-programme holds €997 million for 2021–2027 and carries the highest co-financing rate in LIFE, up to 95%. It funds not equipment but the removal of non-technological barriers: policies, skills, financing schemes and the preparation of investment projects.

Key Action 2 funds joint projects between organisations rather than trips for individuals. Cooperation Partnerships come in three fixed lump sums – €120,000, €250,000 and €400,000 – and Small-scale Partnerships in two, €30,000 and €60,000, the latter designed as the entry point for organisations with no EU project experience.

The Horizon Europe budget rules define which costs may be charged to a grant and how: personnel by actual salary and productive hours, equipment by depreciation in proportion to project use, plus subcontracting and indirect costs at a flat rate. Knowing them at proposal stage decides whether your budget survives evaluation.

An in-kind contribution is a non-monetary resource that a third party provides to a beneficiary free of charge: staff, equipment, goods or services. Horizon Europe is a rare case where such contributions can be charged to the grant as eligible costs; in most EU programmes they are allowed but not eligible.

A funding model in which the grant is paid as fixed amounts for completed work packages rather than against actual costs. The beneficiary does not prove costs, it proves that the work was done. In the Horizon Europe work programme for 2026–2027, 50% of the call budget is delivered through lump sums.

A NICRA is an agreement between an organisation and a US federal agency on the indirect cost rate that may be charged to grants. An organisation without such an agreement may apply the standard de minimis rate, which since 2024 stands at 15% rather than 10%.

The principle whereby an EU grant covers only part of the project cost, while the beneficiary funds the rest from its own resources, from income generated by the action or from third-party contributions. In Horizon Europe the rate depends on the type of action: 100% for research and coordination actions, 70% for innovation actions.