National co-financing of approved HORIZON projects: Calls JU-CHIPS-2024 and HORIZON-EUROHPC-JU-2024

The Action concerns the funding of Greek entities, research organisations and enterprises, that participate as partners in joint European projects approved under the Institutionalised European Partnerships of the "Horizon Europe" Programme (Regulation (EU) 2021/695), following calls of the Chips JU and EuroHPC Joint Undertakings.

These projects are already funded with European "Horizon Europe" resources, which do not cover the full eligible budget of the Greek partners. The Action covers the remaining part from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), up to the maximum aid level set by Regulation (EU) 651/2014, thereby strengthening the synergies between "Horizon Europe" and the NSRF programmes.

The Action falls under the "Competitiveness" Programme 2021-2027 (Priority 1 "Strengthening research & innovation", Specific Objective RSO1.1) and is structured in two sub-actions:

• Sub-action A: Projects approved under a European call for research and innovation actions (RIA)
• Sub-action B: Projects approved under a European call for innovation actions (IA)

Who it addresses

Beneficiaries are exclusively Greek entities participating as partners in already approved projects of the European calls of the CHIPS JU and EuroHPC Joint Undertakings, specifically the following calls:

• HORIZON-JU-Chips-2024-1-IA
• HORIZON-JU-Chips-2024-2-RIA
• HORIZON-EuroHPC-JU-2024-DARE-SGA-04

Participation is evidenced by the Grant Agreements signed between the Joint Undertakings and the consortium coordinators, while for the Greek partners a Decision Approving the Evaluation Results has already been issued by the Secretary General for Research and Innovation.

Beneficiaries fall into two categories:

• Enterprise: existing enterprises regardless of date of establishment, lawfully incorporated, with an establishment or branch in Greece. Large enterprises may participate provided they cooperate with at least one SME.
• Research Organisation: higher education institutions, University Research Institutes, Research Centres and Institutes under Article 13a of Law 4310/2014, and other research and knowledge dissemination organisations.

There is no limit on the number of proposals per entity. In projects with more than one Greek partner, the application is submitted by the entity with the highest budget.

Grant rate

Research Organisations: Where the activities are of a non-economic nature under point 20 of Communication 2022/C 414/01, the funding does not constitute state aid and may reach up to 100%. Separate accounting of economic and non-economic activities is required, and economic activities may not exceed 20% of the entity's total annual capacity.

Enterprises (Sub-action A, RIA actions): The aid intensity is determined separately for each co-beneficiary, based on the size of the enterprise and the category of activity:

Research category	Micro & Small	Medium	Large
Industrial Research	up to 70%	up to 60%	up to 50%
Industrial Research (with effective collaboration or wide dissemination of results)	up to 80%	up to 75%	up to 65%
Experimental Development	up to 45%	up to 35%	up to 25%
Experimental Development (with effective collaboration or wide dissemination of results)	up to 60%	up to 50%	up to 40%

The increased intensities apply where one of the following conditions is met: (i) the project provides for effective collaboration between an enterprise and one or more research and knowledge dissemination organisations, which bear at least 10% of the eligible costs and have the right to publish their results, or (ii) the results are widely disseminated through conferences, publications, open access repositories or open source software.

For Sub-action B (innovation actions) a corresponding intensity scale applies, as set out in detail in the Call.

Type of aid

Grant, under Regulation (EU) 651/2014 (General Block Exemption Regulation) and specifically Articles 25(c) and 25(d).

Area of application

All of Greece. Beneficiaries carry out the research project at their own establishment within Greek territory.

Terms and conditions

The evaluation is direct and concerns exclusively the verification of compliance with the formal conditions of participation. There is no comparative evaluation or scoring of the physical object, as this has already been assessed by the European bodies of the Joint Undertakings.

Among the basic conditions:

• One active submitted proposal per approved European project.
• Submission of the Grant Agreement together with any amendments to it, and of the evaluation summary report of the European proposal.
• Compatibility of the project with the objectives and priorities of the National Smart Specialisation Strategy 2021-2027.
• The project must not have been submitted and must not be submitted for inclusion in another programme of national or EU resources.
• Registration of potential beneficiaries in OPSKE.

Specifically for enterprises: they must not be undertakings in difficulty under Article 2 point 18 of Regulation (EU) 651/2014, must not be under bankruptcy, liquidation or compulsory administration, must not be subject to a pending recovery decision of the European Commission, must not be subject to the grounds for exclusion of Articles 39 and 40 of Law 4488/2017 concerning breaches of labour legislation, and must be registered in the Register of Beneficial Owners under Article 20 of Law 4557/2018.

The full conditions of participation are set out in detail in the Call for the Action.

What is funded

Eligible activities are industrial research and experimental development, as defined as eligible under the "Horizon Europe" rules, excluding activities that go beyond experimental development. The costs must correspond to those included in the Grant Agreement.

Categories of eligible costs:

• Personnel costs
• Costs of instruments and equipment (as depreciation, to the extent and for the period used for the project)
• Costs of service provision (contract research, consultancy services, certifications, acquisition of know-how and patent rights)
• Operating costs and costs of other goods and services (consumables, statutory auditors' fees, travel)
• Software and licence costs
• Promotion, marketing and networking costs
• Indirect costs, at a flat rate of 25% of total eligible direct costs, excluding subcontracting

The start date of cost eligibility is the start date stated in the Grant Agreement. Costs linked to the production, processing, transport, distribution, storage or combustion of fossil fuels are not eligible.

Implementation period

Up to thirty-six (36) months from the electronic notification of the final approval, with the possibility of a justified extension and in any case no later than 31.12.2030, nor beyond the end date of the Grant Agreement.

Budget

EUR 8,700,000

• EUR 4,100,000.00 for the Less Developed Regions: North Aegean, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Central Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Western Greece, Crete, Western Macedonia, Ionian Islands, Central Greece, Peloponnese
• EUR 4,600,000.00 for the Transition Regions: Attica and South Aegean

Indicative allocation per sub-action: EUR 3,995,000 for Sub-action A and EUR 4,705,000 for Sub-action B, with the possibility of transferring funds between the sub-actions.

The maximum total budget of each application must correspond to the total budget of the Greek partners of the joint European project, as set out in the Grant Agreement.

The Public Expenditure is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with the corresponding national contribution, and by the "Horizon Europe" Framework Programme.

Submission period

The funding application is submitted exclusively online through the Integrated State Aid Management Information System (OPSKE, https://app.opske.gr), using the standardised electronic submission form. Applications in which not all mandatory fields have been completed cannot be submitted.

Submissions open: Wednesday 16 September 2026, 13:00. The call remains open until the available budget is exhausted.