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New year, new opportunities. The Horizon Europe 2026-2027 work programme was published in December and new calls have recently opened or will open soon. Under the Digital Europe programme, several calls are currently open (deadline March 2026) and a new wave of calls is expected in spring.Are you exploring your options or already developing a proposal? NCP Flanders provides a number of tools and services to support you along the way: Want to learn more about open and forthcoming funding opportunities? Have a look at our call topic overview. Building a consortium and looking for suitable partners? One of your options is to look at our partner search section. Also check our country eligibility tool, especially if you consider involving non-EU partners. Looking for support to prepare your proposal? Contact your institution's support office or have a look how NCP Flanders can support you. Find out more about all the services NCP Flanders provides here.
2026-01-16 Security Digital, Industry & Space CybersecurityThe European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) has opened a call for tenders to set up a European testing infrastructure for post-quantum cryptography (PQC). Open to applicants across the European Economic Area, the contract is worth EUR 25 million and covers IT services including development and support. The submission deadline is 20 February 2026. The relevant documentation can be found on the ECCC website.
2026-01-13 Deployment: Best use of technologiesThe European Commission has published a new call: MCP on Innovative and Connected Public Administrations (DIGITAL-2026-BESTUSE-MCP-09-INNOV-ADMIN). The Multi-Country-Project (MCP) funded under this call is supposed to bring together Member States and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme, to jointly identify needs, deploy and develop interoperability solutions for cross-border digital public services. The overarching objective is to support activities for the implementation of the Interoperable Europe Act. The call will open on 20 January 2026, deadline to submit proposals is 19 May 2026. Detailed information on the call can be found in the call document. Background: MCPs are and new instrument: large-scale deployment and capacity-building projects fostering the digital transformation of the Union. These projects promote coordinated investments among the EU, Member States and private stakeholders enabling digital infrastructure projects that a Member State alone could not deploy on its own. They reinforce the Union’s technology excellence and industrial competitiveness in critical technologies, support an interconnected, interoperable and secure Digital Single Market and address strategic vulnerabilities and dependencies of the Union along the digital supply chain.
2026-01-09 Enhancing EU R&I Horizon EuropeIn October 2025 the European Commission (EC) has launched a public consultation questionnaire on the Have Your Say Portal, inviting all interested stakeholders to contribute to the future European Research Area (ERA) Act. More information is also available in the EC’s news alert. The questionnaire is an important part of the consultation process and follows the call for evidence which was open for five weeks, from 6 August till 10 September 2025 and received 178 contributions from 29 countries. The questionnaire is available via this link, clicking on the button ‘respond to the questionnaire’. The questionnaire was published first in English. Translations into the other 23 EU official languages followed shortly thereafter. The consultation remains open for 12 weeks from the date all language versions are available (early November 2025). The deadline to respond is 23 January 2026 (midnight Brussels time). To date 244 valid questionnaires have been received with the majority coming from the academic/research institutions (103; 42.21%). Italy leads with 81 submissions (33.20%), followed by Germany (23; 9.34%) and Spain (18; 7.38%). Belgium ranks fourth together with France (12; 4.92%). The aims and targeted respondents for the questionnaire (and previous call for evidence) are explained on the Have Your Say Portal. The received feedback together with additional studies will be used for the preparation of an impact assessment in which the EC’s internal services are consulted. In the Competitiveness Compass (factsheet and communication) that was presented by the EC in January 2025 the ERA Act is one of the Flagship Actions. The EC’s proposal for the ERA Act is expected to be adopted in Q3 2026 and will present to: let national commitments reach a 3% R&D investment target relative to GDP. reinforce alignment between the EU and member states’ funding priorities, particularly in strategic priority areas. create better conditions for researchers by improving research careers, geographical and intersectoral mobility, and open science measures. uphold fundamental values, including scientific freedom, ethics, integrity, gender equality, and equal opportunities across the ERA. History in brief of the development of the ERA The ERA was launched in 2000 and represents the EU’s ambition to create a single, borderless market for research, innovation and technology across the EU. In 2009 this objective became part of one of the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the EU, namely article 179 in the Treaty on the functioning of the EU. Around 2020-2021 the Council of the EU and the EC started a process to renew the ERA and adapt the governance. The Council Recommendation on the Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe was adopted, which describes 10 values and principles and four priority areas, and the ERA governance framework was expanded with the ERA Forum which includes representation from EU member states and associated countries as well as stakeholder organisations. The ERA Policy Agenda turns the four priority areas in the Pact for R&I to voluntary ERA actions and structural policies for member states, Horizon Europe associated countries, stakeholder organisations and the EC (2022-2024 and 2025-2027).
2026-01-09 Climate, Energy, MobilityThe European Commission (EC) launched a call for applications for the selection of members of the informal Commission Expert Group on European Union Research and Innovation for the automotive sector (EURIAS). That expert group is meant to advise the EC on the preparation of future policy initiatives and instruments related to R&I in the automotive sector and will be composed of 50 members from EU organisations linked to the European automotive sector. More information (such as the specific role of the expert group and application procedure) can be found here. Deadline for applications: 2 February 2026, 17h00.
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The RUSTICA project obtained funding under Horizon 2020, more in particular under the topic ‘Closing nutrient cycles’. RUSTICA focuses on demonstration and implementation of circular bio-based nutrient valorisation chains, focusing on waste from the fruit and vegetable agro-food system. The project kicked off in 2021 and will run until 2024. It will use a strong multi-actor approach to co-create both socio-economic and technological knowledge in four case study regions in Europe and one in Colombia. The Flanders-based company DRANCO is one of the project partners and acts as technical project manager for the entire project. DRANCO participates in the project to develop its own technologies, to network and to help make the transition to a more circular based economy.
