Open topic on secured and facilitated crossing of external borders

Grant Purpose and Target

Core Objective

This grant aims to fund research and innovation projects that develop creative or disruptive solutions for improving the capabilities of practitioners in securing and facilitating checks at the EU's external borders. The core mission is to improve the border crossing experience for travellers and authorities, while maintaining security, supporting the Schengen area, reducing illegal movements of people and goods, and protecting fundamental rights.

Funding Organization

European Commission, under the Horizon Europe framework programme.

Target Recipients

This grant is open to any legal entity, including universities, research organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), larger companies, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). However, proposals must include at least two Border or Coast Guard Authorities from different EU Member States or Associated Countries as active partners (beneficiaries).

Sector Focus

SECTOR-SPECIFIC. The grant is focused exclusively on Civil Security for Society, specifically in the areas of border management, customs security, and law enforcement technology. Projects must directly address the challenges of external border security.

Geographic Scope

Applicants must be legal entities established in EU Member States, countries associated to Horizon Europe, or a specified list of low- and middle-income countries. A key requirement is the involvement of Border or Coast Guard authorities from at least two different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

Key Filtering Criteria

• Project Focus: Must develop new solutions for secured and facilitated border crossings.
• Technology Readiness Level (TRL): Projects are expected to start at a lower TRL and achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project.
• Consortium Requirement: A multi-national consortium is mandatory. This includes a general requirement of at least three legal entities from three different countries, plus a specific, non-negotiable requirement for at least two Border or Coast Guard Authorities as beneficiaries.
• Grant Size: The expected contribution per project is approximately €3 million.

Financial Structure

This grant is awarded as a Lump Sum. This means payments are not based on reporting actual costs, but on the successful completion of the work described in the work packages.

Funding Range

• Total Topic Budget: €9,000,000
• Expected EU Contribution per Project: Approximately €3,000,000. The grant expects to fund 3 projects.

Co-financing

• Funding Rate: The grant covers 100% of the estimated eligible costs for this type of action (Research and Innovation Action - RIA). The 100% funding rate is applied to the detailed budget estimate during the proposal stage to calculate the final lump sum amount.

Eligible Costs

Eligible costs are determined upfront based on a detailed budget table submitted with the proposal. The lump sum is an approximation of these estimated costs. Key categories include:
* Personnel costs: For employees, persons under direct contract, and seconded personnel.
* Subcontracting costs: For specific tasks that are part of the action.
* Purchase costs: Travel and subsistence, equipment (depreciation or full cost), and other goods, works, and services.
* Indirect costs: A 25% flat rate of the total direct costs (excluding subcontracting and financial support to third parties) is included in the lump sum calculation.

Key Aspect of Lump Sums: Beneficiaries do not need to keep timesheets for personnel or report actual costs to the granting authority. The focus of audits and reviews is on the technical implementation and completion of the work, not financial justification of expenses.

Ineligible Costs

While actual costs are not reported, the initial budget estimate must not include ineligible costs. Standard ineligible costs under Horizon Europe apply, such as:
* Costs not linked to the project or unnecessary for its implementation.
* Deductible VAT.
* Currency exchange losses.
* Costs declared under another EU grant.

Payment & Reporting

• Payment Schedule: Payments are linked to reporting periods and the completion of work packages.
  • An initial pre-financing payment is made at the start of the project.
  • Interim and final payments are made after the approval of periodic reports which demonstrate that the work packages for that period have been completed.
• Financial Reporting: There is no financial reporting or submission of financial statements. Reporting is purely technical, focused on deliverables and milestone achievement.
• Mutual Insurance Mechanism (MIM): A contribution of 5% to 8% of the maximum grant amount is retained from the pre-financing payment and transferred to the MIM, which covers risks of non-recovery.

Eligibility Requirements

Formal Criteria

• Consortium Composition: A consortium is mandatory and must consist of:
  1. At least three independent legal entities established in three different countries.
  2. Of these, at least one legal entity must be established in an EU Member State.
  3. Of these, at least two other independent legal entities must each be established in different EU Member States or Associated Countries.
• Mandatory Practitioner Involvement: As a critical additional eligibility criterion, the consortium must include at least two Border or Coast Guard Authorities from at least two different EU Member States or Associated Countries as beneficiaries in the project. Applicants must formally detail the role and involvement of these practitioners in a specific annex of the application.
• Use of EU Satellite Services: If the project uses satellite-based earth observation, positioning, or navigation data, it must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS services. Other services can be used in addition.
• Admissibility: Proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal before the deadline, be complete, readable, and adhere to the specified page limits (50 pages for Part B).

Organizational Status

• Eligible Entities: Any legal entity is eligible to participate, provided it is established in an eligible country. This includes public bodies, private for-profit companies (SMEs, large enterprises), non-profit organisations, higher education establishments, and research organisations.
• Gender Equality Plan (GEP): Public bodies, research organisations, and higher education establishments from EU Member States and Associated Countries must have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in place to be eligible.
• Participant Registration: All participants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must have a validated Participant Identification Code (PIC) before the grant agreement is signed.

Technical Expertise

• While not a formal criterion, the proposal's scope implies the need for expertise in relevant technological fields such as secure data processing, biometrics, document security, automation, and systems interoperability.
• The project team should also integrate expertise from human rights, law, and ethical perspectives to ensure solutions are compliant and socially acceptable.

Exclusion Criteria

• EU Sanctions: Entities subject to EU restrictive measures (sanctions) are not eligible to participate.
• Geographic Exclusions: Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or non-government controlled territories of Ukraine are not eligible to participate in any capacity. Following Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745, entities outside Russia owned more than 50% by a Russian entity are also ineligible.
• High-Risk Suppliers: This topic is subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. Entities assessed as 'high-risk suppliers' of mobile network equipment (and entities they control) are not eligible to participate.
• Standard Exclusion Grounds: Applicants must not be in situations of bankruptcy, breach of social security/tax obligations, or be guilty of grave professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, or other specified illegal activities.

Application Practical Information

Deadlines

• Call Opening: 12 June 2025
• Submission Deadline: 12 November 2025, 17:00:00 Brussels Time (CET), which corresponds to 2025-11-12 17:00:00+01:00.
• Evaluation Timeline: Applicants will be informed of the evaluation outcome approximately 5 months after the submission deadline (around April 2026).
• Grant Agreement Signature: Successful applicants can expect to sign the grant agreement approximately 8 months after the submission deadline (around July 2026).

Required Documents

• Application Form Part A: Administrative information about the participants and the budget, filled in directly on the portal.
• Application Form Part B: A narrative technical description of the project, uploaded as a PDF. The page limit for this topic is 50 pages.
• Detailed Budget Table: A mandatory excel template for lump sum proposals, detailing the cost estimations per participant and work package.
• Information on Security Practitioners Annex: A specific template to be filled out detailing the involvement of the mandatory Border or Coast Guard authorities.
• Ethics and Security Self-assessment: As part of the application form, detailing any potential issues and mitigation measures.

Application Process

• Submission: Proposals must be submitted electronically through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
• Procedure: This is a single-stage call. A full proposal is required by the deadline.
• Consortium Roles: The consortium must appoint a Coordinator who leads the application process and is the main point of contact.

Support

• Type of Support: The primary support is financial funding in the form of a lump sum grant. This is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA), focused on activities to establish new knowledge and explore the feasibility of new technologies.
• Helpdesks: The EU provides extensive support through National Contact Points (NCPs), the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), and various online helpdesks (IT, IPR, etc.) listed on the portal.

Post-Award Obligations

• Implementation: Beneficiaries are legally bound to implement the action as described in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.
• Reporting: Regular technical reporting is required, demonstrating progress and the completion of deliverables and work packages. There are no financial reports.
• Record-Keeping: While financial records are not submitted, beneficiaries must keep sufficient records to prove the proper implementation of the action. These records must be kept for up to 5 years after the final payment for potential checks, reviews, or audits, which will focus on technical performance.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals are evaluated by independent experts based on three weighted criteria. To be considered for funding, a proposal must achieve a minimum score of 3/5 for each criterion and an overall score of at least 10/15.

1. Excellence (Score: 0-5)

This criterion assesses the quality of the project's scientific and technological aspects.
* Clarity and Ambition: How clear, pertinent, and ambitious are the project’s objectives? Does the proposed work go significantly beyond the current state-of-the-art?
* Methodology: Is the proposed methodology sound? This includes the underlying concepts, models, and assumptions. Evaluators will look for strong inter-disciplinary approaches, appropriate consideration of the gender dimension in the research content, and the quality of open science practices (e.g., data sharing, open access).

2. Impact (Score: 0-5)

This criterion evaluates the potential contribution of the project to the expected outcomes and impacts mentioned in the work programme.
* Pathway to Impact: How credible are the described pathways for the project's results to achieve the expected outcomes (e.g., 'Improved border crossing experience') and wider impacts? The scale and significance of these contributions will be assessed.
* Measures to Maximise Impact: The quality and suitability of the plan for dissemination, exploitation, and communication are critical. This plan must outline how results will be shared with relevant stakeholders, used in further research or commercial applications, and communicated to the public.

3. Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation (Score: 0-5)

This criterion assesses the feasibility of the project plan and the strength of the consortium.
* Work Plan and Resources: Is the work plan effective and high-quality? Is there a thorough assessment of risks? Are the assigned efforts (person-months) and resources for each work package appropriate and justified? For this lump sum grant, the detailed budget estimation is checked for plausibility and its alignment with the described activities.
* Consortium Capacity: Does each participant have the necessary capacity and a clear role? Does the consortium as a whole bring together the required expertise, including the mandatory involvement of Border/Coast Guard authorities? How well do the partners complement each other?

Cross-cutting Themes

Throughout the evaluation, special attention is given to:
* Societal and Ethical Dimensions: Integration of legal, ethical, and human rights perspectives is a core requirement of the topic scope and will be assessed.
* Gender Dimension: Integration of sex and/or gender analysis into the research and innovation content is a mandatory part of the 'Excellence' criterion.
* Open Science: The quality of open science practices is also assessed under 'Excellence'.

Compliance and Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

• Ethics: All projects must adhere to strict ethical principles. An ethics self-assessment is a mandatory part of the proposal. Projects involving human subjects, personal data, or other ethical issues will undergo an ethics review.
• Data Protection: Projects must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Given the topic's focus on border checks and travellers, this is particularly relevant.
• Security: This is a security-sensitive topic. Proposals must include a security self-assessment. Projects may be required to undergo a security scrutiny process if they handle EU Classified Information (EUCI) or produce sensitive results. Specific security obligations, such as appointing a Project Security Officer or creating a Security Advisory Board, may become part of the Grant Agreement.

IP Policy

• Ownership: Results are owned by the beneficiary that generates them.
• Access Rights: Beneficiaries must grant access rights to their background (pre-existing knowledge) and results to other consortium partners if needed for the project's implementation or for exploiting their own results.
• Exploitation & Dissemination: Beneficiaries must make best efforts to exploit their results. They are also required to disseminate their results as soon as possible, while protecting legitimate interests. This includes mandatory open access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications arising from the project.

Unique Aspects

• Lump Sum Funding Model: This is a key feature. It simplifies financial management by removing the need for cost reporting and financial audits, shifting the focus entirely to the successful completion of technical work packages. Applicants must provide a robust and detailed budget estimate upfront.
• Mandatory Practitioner Involvement: The requirement for active participation of at least two Border or Coast Guard authorities as beneficiaries is a strict condition that shapes the consortium and ensures the project is aligned with real-world operational needs.
• Mid-term Practitioner Assessment: Proposals must plan for a mid-term deliverable where the involved practitioners assess the project's progress and outcomes, providing crucial feedback.

Industry-Specific Rules

• Communication Networks Security: The topic is subject to 'restrictions for the protection of European communication networks'. This means legal entities that have been assessed as 'high-risk suppliers' for 5G networks (and entities they control) are not eligible to participate.