VALLEYS first open call for knowledge valorisation intermediaries

The project VALLEYS aims to strengthen knowledge valorisation in Europe by building a network of knowledge valorisation intermediaries connecting more than 150 organisations from over 25 countries, empowering organisations such as TTOs, incubators, science parks, clusters, and citizen engagement entities to adopt and scale the EU Guiding Principles (2022) and Codes of Practice for Knowledge Valorisation.

The VALLEYS project includes a cascade funding programme making available €500.000 through two open calls to support external organisations in testing and implementing innovative approaches to knowledge valorisation (up to 25 projects).

The first of two open calls funds six-months pilot projects that must address at least one of the four EU Codes of Practice for Knowledge Valorisation: Intellectual Assets Management (2023), Standardisation (2023), Industry-Academia Co-creation (2024) and Citizen Engagement for Knowledge Valorisation (2024).

Applicants can choose from three strands for which they can apply:

Strand A Toolbox Integration Pilots 

Deployment and institutional use of the VALLEYS Knowledge Valorisation Toolbox, including AI-enabled assistants. Activities include installing or customising the Toolbox, embedding it into workflows, training staff, testing real cases, and producing documented case studies. Up to €10.000 per project.

Strand B Cross-border Mobility and Secondments

Structured staff exchanges between two knowledge valorisation intermediaries from two different countries, transferring practices in areas such as IP management, standardisation, co-creation brokerage, or citizen engagement. One organization acts as the host and the other as the guest. Up to €30.000 per project. Two partners from two different countries.

Strand C Combined Approaches

Integrated actions combining cross-border mobility with Toolbox adoption. Up to €40.000 per project. Two partners from two different countries.

For each strand expected outputs have been defined. The call is open for applications from legal entities from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries and must be a knowledge valorisation intermediary as defined by VALLEYS. The first open call has a budget of up to €210.000 available for up to 11 projects. The first call is open from 19 October to 14 December 2026 17:00 CET. Results of the evaluation and selection are expected to be communicated to the applicants by the end of January, and projects are expected to start as of April 2027.

All information related to the first call, including the Guide for applicants and application forms, is available here on the VALLEYS project website. The info day on strand A takes place on 28 October 2026. More information is available here. The info day on strand B and C takes place on 9 November 2026. More information is available here.

The second call is expected to open on 7 October 2027 and close on 15 December 2027.

Background

The project VALLEYS - Valorisation Alliance Linking Laboratories, Enterprises and societY Stakeholders (Cordis project page), is one out of 17 projects that have received funding under the Horizon Europe ERA 2025 call HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-01 Rolling out the ERA Policy Agenda results. This project aims to contribute to achieving the objectives in the ERA Structural Policy Upscaling knowledge valorisation capacities and activities and ERA Action 7 (ERA Policy Agenda (2025-2027) and 2022-2024)).

The German SME Atrineo AG leads the project consortium consisting of the following partners: the Spanish subsidiary Atrineo Iberia, Sploro and the Spanish based International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP), the French private-for-profit entity Three O’clock, Greek SME ideas forward and UK private-for-profit entity St. John’s Innovation Centre.