Excellence Hubs 2027

Excellence Hubs allow innovation ecosystems in Widening countries and beyond, to team up and create better linkages between academia, business, government and society. This will foster a place-based innovation culture in Widening countries based on a strategic agenda aligned with regional or national smart specialisation strategies, and clearly identified expectations for economic and societal impacts.

Proposals must involve at least two R&I ecosystems from two different Widening countries. Each Widening country R&I ecosystem must comprise four different categories of actors i.e.

a) academic institutions (universities and/or non-university research centres or labs),

b) business entities,

c) public authorities or authorised agencies operating at regional or local level and

d) societal actors (e.g. civil society organisations, citizens, end users, media, cultural actors etc.).

Projects should include a well-balanced package covering at least the following activities:

• Design and implementation of a cross-border joint R&I strategy aligned with regional smart specialization strategies and European priorities;

• R&I collaboration strengthening academia-business linkages and providing evidence for strategy building and investment;

• Development of investment plans to implement the strategy, including business models for commercially sustainable products and services, leveraging private investments, as well as possibly national, regional and European funds;

• If applicable, conceptual design and pre-planning for pilots and demonstrators in line with the strategy, financed by sources other than the Union contribution provided by the Excellence Hub grants. Proposals should outline how other financial resources will be accessed at a later stage;

• Complementary activities to promote knowledge transfer, visibility, mutual learning, skills development, and engagement with local governments and citizens. Secondments and staff exchanges should foster long-term collaboration.

Expected project duration is up to 5 years and expected EU contribution per project is between 1.50 and 4.50 M€.