Topic updates

23 September 2025

15 September 2025
Reminder on proposal part B page limit and formatting conditions

1. Proposal part B page limit

The title, list of participants and sections 1, 2 and 3, together, should not be longer than page limit, indicated in a proposal part B template inside the Submission System. All tables, figures, references and any other element pertaining to these sections must be included as an integral part of these sections and are thus counted against this page limit.

The page limit will be applied automatically. At the end of a proposal part B template inside the Submission System you can see the structure of the actual proposal that you need to submit, please remove all instruction pages that are watermarked.

If you attempt to upload a proposal longer than the specified limit before the deadline, you will receive an automatic warning and will be advised to shorten and re-upload the proposal. After the deadline, excess pages (in over-long proposals/applications) will be automatically made invisible, and will not be taken into consideration by the experts. The proposal is a self-contained document. Experts will be instructed to ignore hyperlinks to information that is specifically designed to expand the proposal, thus circumventing the page limit.

Please, do not consider the page limit as a target! It is in your interest to keep your text as concise as possible, since experts rarely view unnecessarily long proposals in a positive light.

2.Proposal part B formatting conditions

The following formatting conditions apply (as listed in a proposal part B template inside the Submission System) and will be checked by the Agency during an admissibility check of submitted proposals.

The reference font for the body text of proposals is Times New Roman (Windows platforms), Times/Times New Roman (Apple platforms) or Nimbus Roman No. 9 L (Linux distributions).

The use of a different font for the body text is not advised and is subject to the cumulative conditions that the font is legible and that its use does not significantly shorten the representation of the proposal in number of pages compared to using the reference font (for example with a view to bypass the page limit).

The minimum font size allowed is 11 points. Standard character spacing and a minimum of single line spacing is to be used. This applies to the body text, including text in tables.

Text elements other than the body text, such as headers, foot/end notes, captions, formula's, may deviate, but must be legible.

The page size is A4, and all margins (top, bottom, left, right) should be at least 15 mm (not including any footers or headers).

Proposal part B template inside the Submission System document is tagged. Do not delete the tags; they are needed for our internal processing of information, mostly for statistical gathering. In that light, please do not move, delete, re-order, alter tags in any way, as they might create problems in our internal processing tools. Tags do not affect or influence the outcome of your application.

10 June 2025
Please note that due to a technical issue, during the first days of publication of this call, the topic page did not display the description of the corresponding destination. This problem is now solved. In addition to the information published in the topic page, you can always find a full description of destinations:

* destination 1: Achieving global leadership in climate-neutral, circular and digitised industrial and digital value chains;

* destination 2: Achieving technological leadership for Europe's open strategic autonomy in raw materials, chemicals and innovative materials;

* destination 4: Achieving open strategic autonomy in digital and emerging enabling technologies;

* destination 6: Digital and industrial technologies driving human-centric innovation,

that are relevant for the call in the Work Programme 2025 part for “Industry”. Please select from the work programme the destination relevant to your topic and take into account the description and expected impacts of that destination for the preparation of your proposal.

Horizon Standardisation Booster (CSA)

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-HUMAN-60

Type of grant: Call for proposals

General information

Programme:

Call: INDUSTRY (HORIZON-CL4-2025-01)

Type of action: HORIZON-CSA HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions

Type of MGA: HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]

Status: Forthcoming

Deadline model: single-stage

Planned Opening Date: 22 May 2025

Deadline dates: 23 September 2025 17:00 (Brussels time)

Topic description

Expected Outcome:

Proposals are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Increased participation of research performers in standardisation activities by establishing a long-term, sustainable link between R&I and standardisation.
• Increased development and adaptation of standards to meet new industrial needs, particularly in critical technology areas, driven by EU and national research.
• Increased uptake of new technologies through enhanced standardisation activities.

Scope:

Standards are crucial in ensuring the safety, functionality, and interoperability of EU products. They help maintain compliance with policy and legal requirements while also enabling access to global markets when they are cutting-edge and established through international organisations. This highlights the important role that standards play in the EU's policy agenda, particularly in initiatives like the Digital Decade, the New Industrial Strategy for Europe, the Commission’s EU standardisation strategy^[1], the Communication on Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership^[2] and the Communication on European Economic Security Strategy^[3]. Future Commission actions – whether it is the implementation of legal frameworks like the AI and Data Act or the roll-out of the Commission Recommendation on critical technology areas^[4] for the EU’s economic security – will depend on standards.

To maximize the impact of R&I, early integration of standardisation, as recommended in the Code of Practice on standardisation^[5], is crucial for aligning innovations with policy goals and enhancing market competitiveness.

This action aims to create a full-fledged standardisation mentoring scheme, by providing expert services to European projects to valorise project results by contributing to the creation or revision of standards. The action should take into account the achievements and lessons learnt of the Horizon Standardisation Booster (HS Booster) pilot, which is running from April 2022 to March 2025. In line with the EU Standardisation Strategy, the HS Booster aims to increase the impact of European standardisation resulting from Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects by designing, launching, and managing a dedicated service for beneficiaries.

To further support the valorisation of project results, the full-fledged Standardisation Booster will assist beneficiaries, primarily, but not exclusively, in the technology domains identified by the Commission Recommendation on critical technology areas^[4], whose research results appear to lead to the revision or creation of a standard. This service will involve testing the relevance of their results for standardisation activities.

The premium service concept of the currently running Horizon Booster pilot has a proven track record of providing pertinent support. A similar, high-quality concept is fundamental for a booster successor. It is crucial that such a service increases the number of European standards, compared with the ongoing service scheme. Therefore, the HSbooster.eu platform and tools should be further developed, promoted, and utilised to reach their full potential.

Education and training are prerequisites for a successful and mutually beneficial relationship between R&I and standardisation. A future booster should increase the use of the existing Training Academy, continuously add new elements based on user feedback and data tracking, and be further developed and advertised to enhance usage.

Scaling and full implementation at the member state level are paramount for a booster to create significant and long-term impact. Therefore, besides ongoing and closed Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects, and other EU-funded projects, the Booster will be open to national publicly funded R&I projects. The service will help these beneficiaries engage with standardisation bodies and contribute primarily to the creation of standards through preparation and elaboration of standardisation activities, such as participating in focus groups, setting up new technical committees, drafting technical specifications or technical reports.

Applicants can vary widely, including standard development organisations, research and technology organisations (RTOs), universities, private companies, SMEs, industrial partners, innovation agencies and national metrology institutes. The project may benefit from being addressed by a consortium that is formed by experts in standardisation, able to support Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, and other publicly funded project beneficiaries.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022DC0031

[2] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/document/download/0fcf06ea-c242-44a6-b2cb-daed39584996_en?filename=com_2024_98_1_en_act_part1.pdf

[3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52023JC0020&qid=1687525961309

[4] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202302113

[5] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023H0498&qid=1678171117168

[6] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202302113

Start submission

The submission system is planned to be opened on the date stated on the topic header.

Get support

Please read carefully all provisions below before the preparation of your application.

Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.

Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.

Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.

Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.

National Contact Points (NCPs) – get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’).

Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.

IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.

European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues.

CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.

The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.

Partner Search help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.