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NCP Flanders has extended the duration of its short satisfaction survey to gather valuable feedback and suggestions on the NCP services. The survey is fully anonymous and is open until 9 October 2026. It is organised into three sections: NCP Flanders assistance, info sessions, and NCP Flanders website & LinkedIn. If you are not familiar with one of these sections, the survey will automatically guide you to the next section. The NCP Flanders team would greatly appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill in the survey and provide your opinion via this link. If you would like to get in touch with NCP Flanders, please email info@ncpflanders.be
The updated Horizon Europe Work Programme (HE WP) 2026-2027 Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area (WIDERA) was published on 29 September 2026 (available here). An overview of the changes compared to the previous version (1.0 with publication date 11 December 2025, available here) in the Strengthening the European Research Area (ERA) by reforming and enhancing the European research and innovation system part is described in this article. Changes to call topic HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-02 Under Destination: Reforming and enhancing the European research and innovation system the call topic HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-02 Pillar II: Talent ecosystems for attractive early research careers has undergone a number of changes. The expected EU contribution per project has been changed from €2 to €4 million to around 2 million. The indicative number of projects expected to be funded has increased from 12 to 15. In the expected outcome of the call topic, an example of a talent ecosystem has been added: it for instance could consist of a long-lasting cooperation between a cluster of companies in a certain sector and one or more academic institutions, enabling specific skills training of early-career researchers in cooperation with the companies, and facilitating talent circulation. In the scope, the main changes are the request that applicants should identify the thematic area they plan to address. Five thematic areas have been indicated: 1) Clean Transition: Energy and transport; 2) Health; 3) Biotech, agriculture and bioeconomy; 4) Digital and AI technologies; 5) Space. Another addition to the scope to ensure that activities reinforce rather than duplicate existing European-level support is that activities should demonstrate how actions will build on, connect to, make use of, promote and, where appropriate, help improve relevant ERA Talent Platform initiatives, including, EURAXESS, RESAVER, ReICO, ResearchComp and RM Comp. Furthermore, this entails structured cooperation with the already existing pilot projects funded under HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02-03 (link to CORDIS) and the projects that are expected to be funded under this call. The evaluation procedure as described in General Annex F will be followed with the following added exceptions: To ensure a balanced portfolio covering different thematic areas, as outlined in the scope, grants are expected to be awarded to proposals not only in order of ranking, but at least also to proposals that are the highest ranked within each thematic area, provided that proposals pass all thresholds. Gender Equality Competence Facility Another change concerns bringing the Framework Contract period forward by a year for the Gender Equality Competence Facility, from 2028–2031 to 2027–2030. The indicative timetable was brought forward from Q3 to Q2.
DG Research & Innovation of the European Commission developed this guidance as part of the ERA Policy Agenda 2025–2027 and its structural policy "Upscaling knowledge valorisation capacities and activities". Knowledge valorisation is distinct from dissemination — the public disclosure of results — and from impact, which describes the change that research produces in the world. Valorisation is the deliberate activity that connects the two: transforming data, know-how, and research outputs into products, services, solutions, and knowledge-based policies that generate social and economic value. Multidisciplinary research including Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) offers valuable solutions for addressing Europe's societal challenges. By integrating knowledge across disciplines and sectors, it can provide new policy perspectives, human-centred innovations, and business ideas. However, its potential is not always translated into broader societal, economic, and political value, and uptake needs to be accelerated. The guidance is designed to help R&I projects create greater value from multidisciplinary results, including those involving Social Sciences and Humanities. It is based on a comprehensive analysis of existing best practices and offers 10 practical pathways – from research to human-centred technology, participatory innovation, entrepreneurship, organisational change, evidence-informed policy and more.
The LLM-BRIDGE Consortium has launched its second open call for an incubator or innovation partner to deliver the Venture Incubation Programme (VIP). The initiative will support early-stage European startups developing solutions based on large language models, generative AI, multilingual AI and natural language processing. The call is implemented by 28DIGITAL together with the LLM-BRIDGE partners. 28DIGITAL falls within the framework of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The selected organisation can receive up to €60,000 in financial support to run a 12-week incubation programme. Activities will include startup onboarding, mentoring, market and business-model validation, regulatory and ethical AI guidance, investor readiness, progress monitoring and a final Demo Day. The programme may be delivered on site, online or in a hybrid format. Applicants must be established in an EU Member State or a country associated with the Digital Europe Programme and demonstrate relevant deep-tech incubation experience, operational capacity, access to mentors and infrastructure, and the ability to deliver the programme in English. Selection will include an eligibility check, independent evaluation, consensus meeting and panel ranking. Interested organisations can consult the official Open Call document and submit the application form. An online information webinar will take place on 3 November 2026, from 11:00 to 12:30 CET. The application deadline is 28 November 2026.
The LLM-BRIDGE Consortium has launched its first open call for the 2027 Acceleration Programme. Sixteen market-ready European companies developing generative AI or language technology solutions will be selected for a 14-week programme focused on investment readiness and market expansion. Led by 28DIGITAL with ALT-EDIC, ADRA and other consortium partners, the programme is co-funded by the EU Digital Europe Programme. It falls within the overall framework of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Eligible applicants must be established in an EU Member State or a country associated with the Digital Europe Programme. They should have a commercially active solution at TRL 8–9 and be preparing to scale towards Series A funding. Selected companies will receive free business and technical advice, access to European high-performance computing infrastructure, regulatory guidance, investor-readiness support and networking opportunities. The programme will be delivered online, with in-person attendance required only for the Investor Roundtable Summit, tentatively planned alongside Wolves Summit in April 2027. At least one founding team member must commit sufficient time throughout the programme. Applications can be submitted through the online application form. Full conditions are available in the official open call document. An online information webinar is scheduled to take place on 16 October 2026 from 14:00 to 15:00 CET. The application deadline is 18 November 2026.
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Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant coordinated the Glaukos project, which answered the call topic published in 2019 of Horizon 2020 Framework Programme ‘Develop bio-based fibres and/or functional molecules to improve the performance of textile products’ under the Framework of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU). The consortium partners took up this challenge by valorising industrial side streams and setting up a circular approach to the textile industry.
