Update on Cluster 4: Digital

Cluster 4 (Digital, Industry & Space) is the largest cluster under Pillar II of Horizon Europe with an overall budget of more than €15.5 billion. Irish participants have been very successful in this area with over €168 million in signed grant agreements to date. This equates to approx. 2% of the available budget. 103 Irish organisations are involved in 242 projects – this includes involvement in the “Chips” and “Smart Networks & Services” joint undertakings. For Digital, more than €20 million of further research funding was secured from the 2025 calls. This additional drawdown will be captured in signed grant agreements over the coming months.

The 2026 Digital calls from the 2026-2027 Cluster 4 Work Programme closed last month on 15 April. Like many recent Horizon Europe calls, these calls attracted substantial interest across a number of topics.  A total of 312 proposals were submitted in response to the HORIZON-CL4-2026-04 call and a further 250 proposals were submitted to call HORIZON-CL4-2026-05. The number of proposals submitted to each topic is shown below. Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in July 2026. 

Stage 1 of the HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-two-stage call closed on 17 March 2026 with 322 proposals submitted for three topics. Evaluation results are expected to be communicated around the 4th week of June 2026. The deadline for submissions that progress to stage 2 is 13 October.

Update On Quantum 

Three quantum topics that originally featured in the HORIZON-CL4-2026-04 call were cancelled by the European Commission. These topics will re-open under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) Work Programme later this year with the following planned identifiers;

· HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2026-NGC-04: Grand Challenge on Quantum Sensors for Inertial Navigation – Coordination and Support Action (CSA). This call replaces the topic HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-11.

· HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2026-STAND-05: Standards for Quantum Technologies – Coordination and Support Action (CSA). This call replaces the topic HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING.

· HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2026-PQC-06: Large-Scale Photonic Quantum Computing Platform Technologies (RIA). This call replaces the topic HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-18.

The EC together with the EuroHPC JU will organise an information session on these topics in due course.

2027 Calls

With a combined budget of €327 million, 13 topics are expected to feature in the Digital 2027 calls. Calls HORIZON-CL4-2027-04 and HORIZON-CL4-2027-05 are expected to open on 17 November 2026 and close on 18 March 2027.  The deadline for stage 1 of the HORIZON-CL4-2027-02-two-stage call is 2 February with proposals that progress to stage 2 submitting full proposals on 2 September 2027.  

 Just to note that Irish coordinators wishing to avail of the Enterprise Ireland Coordinator Support Grants must submit their application 10 weeks in advance of the call deadline (before 7 January 2027 for the single stage Digital calls and 24 November 2026 for the two-stage call). All potential Enterprise Ireland applications should be discussed with the relevant NCP in advance of submission.

* Minor amendments to the CL4 2026-2027 Work Programme are expected in the coming months and the final call text should be checked upon call publication.

Update on the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU)

The sixth SNS JU 2026 call for proposals closed on 29 April and saw 28 proposals submitted to 5 topics. Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in July 2026.

The seventh SNS JU call (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2026-FEM) will open on 26 May 2026 and the deadline for submissions is 4pm, 3 September. With just one topic, Stream B – Front End Module (FEM), this represents a key building block of an advanced 6G radio system and drives the overall competitiveness and market readiness of future 6G commercial systems. A total of €14 million has been allocated to support these R&I activities as part of the SNS JU R&I Work Programme 2026.

An information day is expected to be organised during the last week of May. To share your first ideas and find partners, it is recommended to join the SNS brokerage platform: https://sns-brokerage.eu/

For any queries in relation to the SNS JU, please contact [email protected] 

Joint Research Council (JRC) Update     

The 2026 edition of the JRC National Contact Points' Annual Meeting took place on 20– 22 April at the JRC site in Petten, the Netherlands. This three-day event brought together NCPs from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries for an in-person meeting dedicated to strengthening collaboration, exchanging knowledge, and aligning priorities for the year ahead.

JRC National Contact Points' Annual Meeting, 20-22 April, 2026. 

The European Commission’s JRC offers open access to its research infrastructures for users from academia, research organisations, industry, SMEs, and the wider public and private sector. The facilities cover fields including chemistry, biosciences, physical sciences, ICT, energy storage, structural assessment, nanobiotechnology, and nuclear safety and security.

A number of open calls are currently available which enable access to the JRC infrastructures, with deadlines on 31 May and 5 June 2026. The annual Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) for universities programme is also expected to launch in the next month. The CDP facilitates dual PhD projects, where HEIs/universities and the JRC jointly design, host, and supervise doctoral research across the JRC portfolios. Further details on eligibility, facilities, and application procedures are available on the JRC website and/or please contact [email protected] with any queries.

Upcoming Events

Cluster 4 Brokerage Event 

Cluster 4 Brokerage event, 28 May, Online “Human-Centric Innovation in CL4” 

This event is dedicated to selected upcoming Horizon Europe Cluster 4 (Digital, Industry) calls.                         Participants are invited to present/pitch their organisations, project ideas, and relevant expertise during       the event. The event will focus on the following topics:    

      - HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-HUMAN-01 – Advanced and Innovative hardware components for Virtual                     Worlds.   

      - HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-HUMAN-02 – Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0 ecosystem.

      - HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-HUMAN-07 – International digital standardisation.

      - HORIZON-CL4-2027-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-52 (two-stage) – Human/AI collaboration for the                             workforce of the future. 

      - HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-42 – Academic intellectual assets for industry and SMEs. 

Other Events

EUCNC & 6G Summit (related to the SNS JU), Malaga, 2-5 June 

European Big Data Value Forum, Galway, 30 September – 1 October

EPoSS Annual Forum, Braga, 16-19 June 

AI, Data & Robotics Forum, Porto, 13-14 October

International AI Summit, Dublin, 14 October

AI in Science Summit, Dublin, 15 October

Apply AI Summit, Brussels, 17 November 

European Quantum Technologies Conference, Dublin, 29 November – 3 December