Preparing your Horizon Europe proposal.
Read the General Annexes alongside the topic conditions. Together they determine who can apply, how much space Part B has and what the evaluators will score. Below are the general rules for 2026-2027 and the work involved in preparing a proposal. Meritevo supports that work from the first topic check through to export.
Check these before you start Part B.
- 3independent organisations
The minimum for a collaborative project.
- Each must be in a different Member State or Associated Country; at least one must be in a Member State.
- A Coordination and support action (CSA) can have a single applicant.
- 40pages for RIA / IA
The Part B limit for a full Research and Innovation action (RIA) or Innovation action (IA).
- Lump-sum funding: 45 pages. CSA: 25 pages, or 28 with lump sums.
- After the deadline, pages over the limit are hidden from evaluators.
- 3/5on each criterion
A full application needs this score on Excellence, Impact and Implementation, and 10 of 15 overall.
- For Innovation actions, Impact carries a 1.5 weighting in the ranking.
- The first stage of a two-stage call needs 4 of 5.
- 25%overheads
A flat rate on eligible direct costs.
- Exclude subcontracting and financial support to third parties from the base.
- Also exclude unit costs or lump sums that already include overheads.
Based on the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 General Annexes, European Commission. Check the individual topic as well: its conditions take precedence.
What goes into a Horizon Europe proposal?
Work through the topic, the team and the draft before submission. The programme requirements sit beside the support available in Meritevo.
Read the topic
Programme requirement
The work programme gives each topic its expected outcomes, type of action and budget. Your proposal must address the topic under which you submit it to be eligible.
In Meritevo
New Horizon topics appear the day they open on the Funding & Tenders Portal. Meritevo checks them against your track record and returns Go, Consider or No-go. You can follow each reason back to the topic text and your own work.
Put the consortium together
Programme requirement
Apply the consortium conditions above, including the single-applicant exception for CSA. Evaluators also assess whether the combined expertise covers the proposed work.
In Meritevo
Meritevo maps your previous partners and their strengths. It suggests partners with the competencies still needed for this topic, giving you a starting point for consortium discussions.
Draft Part B
Programme requirement
Part B covers Excellence, Impact and Implementation within the page limit for your action. Each criterion receives a score out of 5.
In Meritevo
You start with the official Part B structure for RIA, IA or CSA. Missing mandatory sections are flagged, and page counts come from the typeset document. Meritevo comments in the margin as a critical reviewer would. Suggested edits arrive as diffs for you to accept, edit or discard.
Cost the work
Programme requirement
Budget personnel, travel, equipment and other direct costs for each partner, then apply the 25% flat rate to the eligible base. Lump-sum topics require realistic cost estimates for each work package.
In Meritevo
The budget sits alongside the proposal. For German partners, personnel costs use the TVöD and TV-L tables. Meritevo applies the Horizon overhead rate to the base defined in the grant agreement.
Prepare the submission
Programme requirement
Submit through the Funding & Tenders Portal. Independent experts score the criteria, then proposals passing all thresholds are ranked within the call budget.
In Meritevo
Export your LaTeX or document draft in the funder’s format. Live co-authoring keeps your team in the same draft while you prepare the version for submission.
What 29,228 Horizon Europe applications show.
Analysis of 29,228 firm applications to Horizon Europe, 2021 to 2024. Santoleri, Rentocchini & Lelli (2026), JRC Working Papers on Territorial Modelling and Analysis 02/2026, European Commission, JRC146131 | CC BY 4.0.
Using Meritevo for a Horizon application
Can Meritevo help me write a Horizon Europe grant proposal?
Yes. When you ask for a draft, Meritevo works section by section from your evidence. You stay the author: review each proposed change as a diff, then accept, edit or discard it. The JRC findings above explain why authorship matters in Horizon Europe.
Which calls can I find in Meritevo?
Meritevo monitors the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, including Horizon Europe, EIC and MSCA. The research funding guide covers the other sources currently monitored and their application procedures.
Can I expect better funding odds?
Meritevo does not promise better funding odds. It helps you assess calls and prepare the proposal more efficiently, in one suite. How good the application gets depends on you and your co-authors.
Do I still need my National Contact Point?
Yes. Your National Contact Point or grants office can advise on strategy, eligibility questions and institutional rules. Keep them involved. Meritevo supports the preparation itself, where you and your co-authors assess the topic, draft and budget.
How is my proposal data handled?
The platform and your documents run in German data centres, operated under German and EU law, GDPR included. Under our default zero-retention setup, your content is never used for training: prompts and outputs are not stored. The one exception is image generation in EU workspaces (privacy policy).
