Most Horizon Europe calls are open to participants from non-EU countries, also called Third Countries. If they are not automatically eligible for funding, they can still get funding in certain circumstances.
If a third country is allowed to participate but is not eligible for Horizon funding, then the organisations can still participate with own funding, and be included in the project as Associated partners.
Specific third countries can also be excluded from participation to the programme or to a part of the programme and/or to specific call topics mainly in order to safeguard the EU’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security.
A third country can participate as an associated partner with own funding. Associated partners have the following characteristics:
Third countries can get exceptionally funding if
Be aware that some third countries have created co-funding mechanisms which provide funding for the participants from their country in a successful submitted Horizon Europe proposal. In this document you will find an overview of the complementary funding of some third countries. The organisations of these countries participate as Associated Partners with own funding.
All details regarding country eligibility is compiled in the infosheet “International cooperation".
The UNCHAIN project, ‘urban logistics and planning: anticipating urban freight generation and demand including digitalisation of urban freight’ obtained funding from the Horizon Europe’s Mobility Cluster. The project focuses on breaking down data silos and promoting public-private data exchange across a unified European mobility data space, enabling more informed decisions and greater efficiency. The City of Mechelen is a partner in the project and takes on the role of ‘follower city’: it will work alongside the primary demonstration sites (in Madrid, Berlin and Florence) to maximize the geographical coverage and replicability of solutions across Europe. Mechelen aims to test 2 concrete solutions in the UNCHAIN project, with the aim to help addressing its current and future challenges in urban freight distribution.