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Grant Details

Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

The core objective of this grant is to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructures by developing solutions that specifically address the role of the human factor. This includes improving preparedness, response, and recovery capabilities related to human-dependent aspects of critical infrastructure. - Target recipients: Entities involved in critical infrastructure operations, resilience, civil protection, law enforcement, and private security companies. - SECTOR-AGNOSTIC but specifically focused on critical infrastructure across various sectors. - Geographic scope: EU Member States and Associated Countries. - Key filtering criteria for initial screening: Project must focus on the human factor in critical infrastructure resilience, involve a mandatory consortium of at least three specific practitioner types from three different EU Member States or Associated Countries. - Grant frequency: This is an open topic within the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, an ongoing program, with this specific call occurring in 2025.

Financial Structure

  • Total budget for this specific topic (HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-INFRA-02) is 7,000,000 EUR.
  • The grant is expected to fund 2 projects.
  • Each project is expected to receive 3,500,000 EUR in funding.
  • This is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) type of grant.
  • General Horizon Europe rules apply for eligible and ineligible costs, as detailed in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreements (MGA).

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type and Structure
  • Applications must involve a consortium.
  • The consortium must include at least 3 relevant practitioners from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries.
  • These practitioners should represent one or several of the following portfolios:
    • Critical infrastructure operator: A private or public entity managing and operating critical infrastructure that provides essential service(s) to society.
    • National or regional authority responsible for critical infrastructure resilience: A competent authority designated by an EU Member State or Associated Country, responsible for the resilience of critical infrastructure against various threats (e.g., natural hazards, human-induced disasters, cyber attacks).
    • Civil protection authority: A competent authority designated by an EU Member State or Associated Country, responsible for the protection of people, environment, or property against natural and human-induced disasters, including planning, preparedness, and recovery.
    • Law enforcement or private companies delivering security for critical infrastructure:
      • Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs): National or regional authorities maintaining law and order, preventing/investigating crimes.
      • Private companies providing security services: Commercial entities offering security services for critical infrastructure (e.g., physical protection, cybersecurity, access control, emergency response, intelligence gathering).
Geographic and Regulatory Requirements
  • Eligible participants must be from EU Member States or Associated Countries.
  • Projects are subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.
  • If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation, and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must utilize Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (additional data/services may also be used).
Technical and Experience Requirements
  • Proposals must clearly explain and justify how each project beneficiary fulfills the additional eligibility conditions.
  • Applicants are required to complete the Annex 'Information about security practitioners' in the application form with all requested details.

Application Process

Application Process
  • Application submission opened on: 2025-06-12.
  • The application deadline is: 2025-11-12, 00:00:00 UTC.
  • The submission process is single-stage.
  • Proposals must be submitted electronically via the dedicated Submission System on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
  • Applicants are required to use the standard application form (HE RIA, IA) provided within the Submission System.
  • A mandatory annex titled 'Information about security practitioners' must be completed within the application form, using the template provided in the IT submission tool.
Evaluation and Grant Agreement
  • The indicative timeline for the evaluation process and grant agreement preparation is described in Annex F of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Support and Guidance
  • Comprehensive guidance for applicants, clarifications on additional eligibility conditions, and required templates are available on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
  • Key resources include the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements (MGA), and call-specific instructions.
  • Support and assistance can be obtained from National Contact Points (NCPs) in EU and Associated Countries, the Enterprise Europe Network (especially for SMEs), the IT Helpdesk for technical issues, the European IPR Helpdesk for intellectual property queries, and CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks for standardization advice.
  • A partner search facility is available on the Funding & Tenders Portal to help identify suitable consortium partners.

Evaluation Criteria

General Evaluation Criteria
  • Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are detailed in Annex D of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
  • Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
Project Quality, Impact, and Implementation
  • Projects are expected to contribute to new challenges or innovative solutions for critical infrastructure resilience, specifically considering the human factor.
  • Emphasis is placed on the human-dependent abilities of critical infrastructure to handle adverse events, covering capacity to prepare, absorb impact, reduce recovery time, and adapt to reduce future vulnerabilities.
  • Activities proposed must address both technological and societal dimensions of the challenge in a balanced way.
  • Effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines, involvement of SSH experts/institutions, and inclusion of relevant SSH expertise are required to enhance the societal impact.
  • Expected outcomes that will be evaluated include:
    • Increased resilience of critical infrastructure against various threats.
    • Improved understanding of the human factor for critical entities' resilience among operators and authorities.
    • Access to enhanced risk and threat assessment, and forecasting tools for operators and authorities.
    • Increased post-incident investigation capabilities for better crisis prevention.
    • Effective tackling of insider threats, including through innovative, compliant, and cost-efficient background check systems.
    • Development of relevant training curricula for infrastructure operators, authorities, and/or first responders.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance
  • Projects involving systems for background checks must ensure full compliance with privacy regulations.
  • There are specific restrictions for the protection of European communication networks that must be adhered to.
  • General Horizon Europe legal and financial regulations, including the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, govern the grant.
Ethical and Societal Considerations
  • The grant requires the effective integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines, along with the involvement of SSH experts and institutions, to produce meaningful societal impact.
Technology Specifications
  • For projects utilizing satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation, or related timing data/services, the use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS is mandatory.
Coordination and Collaboration
  • Successful proposals from this topic are expected to coordinate with each other to avoid duplication, leverage complementarities, and maximize overall impact.
  • Coordination with projects funded under the related HORIZON-CL3-2025-INFRA-01-01 topic is also anticipated.
Project Milestones and Deliverables
  • A mandatory mid-term deliverable is required: an assessment of the project's mid-term outcomes, to be performed by the practitioners involved in the project.

Grant Details

critical infrastructure resilience human factor crisis management cyber attacks natural hazards security operators authorities civil protection law enforcement private security training curricula risk assessment threat assessment post-incident investigation insider threats privacy compliance ssh copernicus galileo egnos research and innovation european union associated countries
Open topic for role of the human factor for the resilience of critical infrastructures
48339403TOPICSen
Horizon Europe
PUBLIC ENTERPRISE OTHER
AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE GR HU IE IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE IS IL LI MK MD ME NO RS CH TR UA UK
OTHER
DEVELOPMENT
OTHER
SDG9 SDG11 SDG16
RESEARCH_DEVELOPMENT CAPACITY_BUILDING TRAINING_EDUCATION
True
7000000.00
3500000.00
3500000.00
EUR
None
Nov. 12, 2025, midnight
Not specified, indicative timeline in Annex F of Work Programme General Annexes