Overview
The upcoming Horizon Europe Excellence Hubs call will support regional innovation ecosystems in Widening Countries and beyond. It opens on 2 September 2026 with a €100 million indicative budget.
Complete grant details
Excellence Hubs is designed to strengthen regional innovation excellence by linking academia, businesses, governments and civil society across innovation ecosystems in Widening Countries and beyond. REA lists one topic for this call, an overall indicative budget of €100 million, an opening date of 2 September 2026 and a proposal deadline of 4 March 2027. Successful applicants are expected to be informed in July 2027, with grant agreements targeted for November 2027 and projects starting in December 2027. The application route is the EU Funding & Tenders Portal once the call launches; applicants should use the official topic page and Work Programme for the complete eligibility, consortium, admissibility and funding conditions.
Eligibility requirements
The call is aimed at collaborative regional and local innovation ecosystems involving research and innovation actors in Widening Countries and beyond. REA's general Widening guidance says Horizon Europe-eligible organisations can participate, while coordinators of Widening actions must be based in Widening Countries. The specific call topic and Work Programme control the final consortium and eligibility rules.
Tips for this grant
Practical Job and Scholarship guidance. These tips do not replace official rules or create new eligibility requirements.
- Use the official Funding & Tenders topic after the call launches on 2 September 2026.
- Build the consortium around a credible regional or local innovation ecosystem and verify the coordinator's Widening-country eligibility.
- Check eligibility, funding coverage, study/project level and every required document before investing time in the application.
- Prepare transcripts, references, language tests, proposal/motivation statement and proof documents early.
- Separate the scholarship deadline from any university/program admission deadline; they may be different.
- Treat “fully funded” as a source fact only when the official provider explicitly confirms the covered costs.
Verification notes
Verified against the European Research Executive Agency Excellence Hubs page. REA states the call will launch on 2 September 2026, has a €100 million overall indicative budget and a date-only deadline of 4 March 2027. No deadline time is stored. Topic identifier: HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01.
Job and Scholarship is the discovery and verification layer. Confirm eligibility, dates, salary/funding and application instructions on the original source before submitting anything.
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