Strengthening Western Balkans Participation in Horizon Europe

North Macedonia’s participation in Horizon Europe is supported by a number of strategic instruments, guidance documents, and national support structures that are particularly relevant for research institutions and innovation actors.

As a widening countries, the Western Balkans can benefit significantly from the Widening Participation & Spreading Excellence actions, including Twinning, Teaming, ERA Chairs and the Hop-on Facility. These instruments are designed to strengthen research capacity, foster institutional partnerships and enable entities from widening countries to integrate more deeply into European consortia.

More information:

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/widening-participation-and-spreading-excellence_en

For proposal preparation, two core documents remain essential. The Horizon Europe Programme Guide provides the overall framework and participation rules:

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/document/horizon-europe-programme-guide_en

All currently open calls can be searched and filtered via the Funding & Tenders Portal:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/programmes/horizon

Institutions are also eligible for excellence-based schemes such as the European Research Council (ERC) and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA):

https://erc.europa.eu/funding

https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu

Innovation actors may further engage through the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), including the Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS):

https://eit.europa.eu/our-activities/eit-regional-innovation-scheme

https://eit.europa.eu

At national level, participation is supported through the National Contact Point (NCP) Systems and relevant ministries, which provide guidance on call interpretation, partner search and proposal development – usually also via national Horizon Europe information days and trainings. Additional Horizon Europe info days and brokerage events (online and regional) are available via the European Commission’s events portal:

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/events_en