It is a general objective that research and innovation outcomes should benefit society. Therefore, the consideration and inclusion of societal aspects into funded projects is very important. Societal aspects are generally enshrined in Horizon Europe with ‘Social Sciences and the Humanities (SSH)’ as a cross-cutting subject. For example, certain innovations to increase the efficiency of production systems have implications for workers and can cause a shift of skills required on the labour market. Or in health research non-medical aspects such as the socio-economic situation and the environment play a role. This means that the inclusion of social sciences and humanities expertise is a must in certain Horizon Europe Calls (these topics are “flagged for SSH”).

Funding for projects with a focus on society, political systems and citizens is most clearly seen in Horizon’s ‘Cluster 2 – Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society’. There, for example projects related to social dialogue, social inclusion, citizen engagement and gender equality, but also to fighting extremism and disinformation are being funded. On the Cordis website, the EU results platform for research and innovation projects, you can find some examples of previously funded projects in the field ‘Challenges to democracy in Europe’ and for ‘Social Innovation’ for inspiration.

Funding for NGOs and public authorities wishing to participate in society, citizen or environmental and climate projects  can also be found in other parts of Horizon Europe, in particular the clusters of pillar 2 (‘Global challenges and European industrial competitiveness’ – comprising 6 thematic clusters in total:

• Health
• Culture, creativity and inclusive society
• Civil security for society
• Digital, technology and space
• Climate, energy and mobility
• Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment

Moreover, the  Horizon Europe “missions” offer funding possibilities for NGOs and public authorities. Five missions have been set up to support a European green, healthy and inclusive transformation. Each of the missions runs until 2030 and the funding areas are:

1. Adaptation to Climate Change
2. Cancer
3. Restoring our Ocean and Waters
4. 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
5. A Soil Deal for Europe – transition towards healthy soils

In case you have a project idea, and depending on your previous experience and a solid operational and financial capacity, you can either lead a project as a coordinator, or be a project partner carrying out specific tasks within work packages. For most funding applications within the Horizon Europe clusters, you’ll need partners. In principle a consortium has to consist of minimum 3 independent organisations from at least three EU countries or countries associated to Horizon Europe.

If you plan to be the coordinator for a project but still need more project partners or if are simply interested in being a project partner within an open Call for Proposals, you can make use of the Funding & Tender Portal partner search tool. In order to enter information for your partner search or for proposing yourself as a partner, you need a user account (i.e. an “EU Login” account). Then, you can enter your information for the specific Call for which you are searching a partner or in which you would like to participate as a partner. For many Calls, the European Commission and Horizon’s thematic networks are organising information sessions about the Call, sometimes with a dedicated match making event or they may even offer a matchmaking platform.