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Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is the main Research and Innovation Funding Programme of the European Commission.

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is the previous Funding Programme. There are no longer calls, but projects can run until 2024.

Digital Europe

Digital Europe is a Funding Programme focused on bringing digital technology to businesses, citizens and administrations.

Other EU Funding

There are many other relevant EU funding programmes, managed by several agencies and directorates.

COST

COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a EU funded programme that provides funding for research networks. COST's mission is to strengthen Europe in scientific and technological research through the support of European cooperation and interaction between European researchers.

Your NCP contact for this programme

Image of Man Hei To

Man Hei To

manhei.to@fwo.be

+32 2 550 15 55

About this programme

COST plays an important role in the development of the European research area. COST's mission is to strengthen Europe in scientific and technological research through the support of European cooperation and interaction between European researchers.

Under Horizon Europe COST will be fully funded by the Widening and ERA part and is one of the widening actions to help EU countries that are lagging behind to stimulate their participation in Horizon Europe through scientific networking.

These networks, in the form of COST Actions, can be in any scientific field and are open to all type of actors (academia, public institutions, SMEs, Companies, etc.). A typical COST Action runs for four years and has an average budget of 134,500 EUR per year.

The funding is limited to networking activities (meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops) and the organisation of exchange activities (scientific exchanges of short duration, training schools, publications and dissemination activities). The actual research is funded via other (national or regional) channels.

There are mainly two ways to engage with COST:

  • you can either join an already existing COST Action. Click here to have an overview of the existing COST Actions. You can hereby participate in the management committee, working groups or other activities of the COST Action.
  • you can create a new COST Action. New ideas for COST Actions can be submitted through the COST Open Call, that is organized once a year.

In Flanders, FWO is the first Contact Point for any questions related to the COST Programme. For more information on COST please visit the FWO website.

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Testimonial

image of Autoship - a new and durable way of freight transport

Autoship - a new and durable way of freight transport

Autoship is, as the name suggests, an acronym for autonomous ship. Just like with self-driving cars, the possibilities of an unmanned boat seem endless. It can create more efficient freight transport, around the clock deliveries and these are just a few of the examples. The project has two societal challenges.

At first, De Vlaamse Waterweg was a bit hesitant as their experience with FP7 or Horizon 2020 projects was limited and they had not been very successful up until then. The fact that they were already doing basic research on the topic of autonomous boats, and the administrative help of NCP FLanders helped De Vlaamse waterweg to cross the line and get involved.