A third country can participate as an associated partner with own funding. Associated partners have the following characteristics:

• do not sign the grant agreement, thus cannot be a coordinator
• must be registered in the participant register but will not be validated
• need to be mentioned in the researchers table (organisation data) of part A in the application form
• they have to indicate personmonths of their researchers
• can be a subcontractor but cannot be a way to circumvent the general rules for participation
• the L&F helpdesk of the European Commission has indicated that associated partners can act as work package leader in a Horizon Europe project
• in the proposal the budget for the associated partners has to be filled out in the column “Financial contribution”. This budget will not be taken into account into the indicative budget of the proposal

Third countries can get exceptionally funding if

1. they are identified in the call topic and/or work programme as being eligible for funding
2. they are deemed essential for implementing the action in your proposal, for example in view of their:

• outstanding competence/expertise
• access to particular research infrastructures
• access to particular geographical environments
• access to particular data

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".