Grants to help you prepare a Horizon Europe proposal  

Enterprise Ireland provides a suite of grants to researchers in academic institutions ranging from €3k - €16k to help them develop competitive Horizon Europe proposals. These supports include a travel grant, a proposal Coordinator grant and an ERC (European Research Council) Proposal preparation grant.

Enterprise Ireland also offers a “Large” grant of up to €100k which is specifically for large-scale activities relating to the Horizon Europe programme – find out more further below.  

Updates, rules and process changes in 2025

Last year, we approved more than €3.5 million in funding across 326 Horizon Europe support grants and we expect to approve similar figures in 2025. In an effort to continue to streamline and simplify the application and approval process, we have made a number of changes recently which applicants, Research Offices and Finance Offices should be aware of – some of the latest updates are to address issues that have arisen as a result of the grant duration being increased to a maximum of 24 months. 

Updates include:

·  No time extensions: we are still receiving Project Alteration Forms with requests for time extensions to the 24-month grants – as we ended the facility for time extensions in January 2023, these requests will continue to be rejected. If a proposal has not been submitted to the European Commission within the 24-month grant period, a full refund of the grant will be required. 

·   However, if a proposal is not submitted due to maternity leave or long-term sick leave within the 24-month timeframe of the grant, we will allow the PI to close the grant without requesting a refund - please get in touch with [email protected] as early as possible to facilitate this process. The PI may be asked to provide documentary evidence of their leave in a technical report. 

·   Enterprise Ireland does not facilitate the transfer of a grant between HEIs. If a PI is moving from one HEI to another, they can close their grant (no refund of expenditure up that point required) and reapply for the remainder of the grant to continue their proposal preparation work at their new HEI. Again, please get in touch with [email protected] to facilitate this process.

·   Under Enterprise Ireland’s rules, a PI may hold one grant at a time. When PIs are applying for a new Horizon Europe grant, they must have filed their final financial and technical reports for any previous grants (except travel grants). If the PI applies for a grant while still holding an open Coordinator or ERC proposal support grant, the application will be put on hold until they have closed previous grants. Where there are issues around this (eg clashing call deadlines or another valid reason), please discuss with the NCP who is verifying the application and it can be noted.

·  Technical Report requirement: Despite the 24-month grant duration, eligible costs relate solely to the preparation of a proposal to the European Commission. Therefore expenditure incurred after proposal submission and/or interview is not eligible for reimbursement. The technical report should clearly show the date that the proposal was submitted or the date that the interview took place – only costs incurred prior to these dates will be considered eligible. 

·   Summary word count: Applicants are now required to submit a minimum 750-word summary of their project proposal as part of the grant application process – the maximum word count remains at 1500. 

·   Change to approval/requested revisions workflow on SmartSimple:  All applications to Enterprise Ireland are funnelled via Research Offices through the SmartSimple system and Research Officers must review applications prior to submission. Where there are errors or where costs are unclear or lacking in information, applications are returned for revisions. The system is currently set up so applications are returned first to the Research Office which is then responsible for returning the application to the applicant – however, this will be changing in the coming weeks and the application will skip the research office and go directly back to the applicant. When the applicant makes the required change, the application will go back to the Research Office for review and the Research Office will be responsible for approving it to Enterprise Ireland for processing. 

Large Grants

Enterprise Ireland offers a “Large” grant to support the preparation of targeted, large-scale activities in Horizon Europe, led by an academic institution, centre or principal investigator. Grant funding is up to a maximum of €100k but applications of up to €25k, €50k or €75k are also allowed. 

We are currently seeking applications for grants of up to €50k which will incorporate the following elements:

 -   Horizon Europe Newcomers from Ireland

 -   Horizon Europe Coordinators from Ireland  

 -   Industry engagement in Horizon Projects 

 -   Engagement with Horizon Europe Partnerships

Evaluation for grants of more than €50k is by committee. Criteria can include track record of applicant, quality of plan, mix of partners (if applicable) and benefit to Ireland. Application is be email and you will find the form here.