IA & RIA Can Help Accelerate Your Projects
Both Innovation Action (IA) and Research & Innovation Action (RIA) are main vehicles for project-based collaborative technology development supported by the European Commission. Both programmes are essential within Cluster 5, as they support the progression from research and discovery to real-world applications in line with Horizon Europe’s goals to achieve climate neutrality, energy resilience, and sustainable mobility in the EU.
Innovation Action initiatives are geared towards advancing innovative solutions towards market readiness. They involve rigorous testing, validation, and demonstration activities, often in collaboration with industry partners, aimed at accelerating the commercialization of cutting-edge technologies or services.
Research & Innovation Action projects are focused on pushing the boundaries of knowledge through pioneering research endeavors. These actions support collaborative research efforts aimed at addressing specific scientific or technological challenges, with the aim of generating breakthroughs in understanding or technology development.
Below, you can get an overview of the main differences between IA & RIA.
Horizon Europe's Cluster 5
Innovation Action (IA)
IA initiatives are geared towards advancing innovative solutions towards market readiness.
They involve rigorous testing, validation, and demonstration activities, often in collaboration with industry partners, aimed at accelerating the commercialization of cutting-edge technologies or services.
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Objective: Produce plans or designs for new or improved products, processes, or services. This includes prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation, and market replication. IAs emphasize applied research, prototyping, and validation of technologies in real-world conditions.
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Funding Rate: 70% of the project costs (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of 100% applies) + 25% overhead.
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TRL Level: Projects at higher TRL levels (5–8). Products or technologies are almost ready to be demonstrated in the real environment.
Research and Innovation Action (RIA):
RIA projects are focused on pushing the boundaries of knowledge through pioneering research endeavors. These actions support collaborative research efforts aimed at addressing specific scientific or technological challenges, with the aim of generating breakthroughs in understanding or technology development.
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Objective: R&D to establish new knowledge or explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution (including basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing and validation on a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment) .
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Funding Rate: 100% of the project costs are covered by EU funding + 25% overhead.
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TRL Level: Typically lower TRL (1-6 ) and involves more basic research.
Who can apply?
These types of projects are collaborative and require the establishment of a consortium. The consortium must be cross-border, involving a minimum of 3 independent partners from 3 distinct countries, with at least one being a full member of the EU.
Additional criteria depend on the specific topic (i.e. minimum consortium composition, type of participant, geographic location of the project activities, coordinator from an EU country, etc.).
You can find the list of eligible non-EU countries in this link: list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf (europa.eu)
Sectors Covered by IA & RIA
RIA’s and IA’s are prevalent across various sectors within Horizon Europe with a primary focus on the so-called Pilar II. It is dedicated to addressing global challenges and enhancing European industrial competitiveness.
It is divided into 6 clusters:
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Cluster 1: Health
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Cluster 2: Culture, creativity & Inclusive Societies
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Cluster 3: Civil Security for Society
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Cluster 4: Digital, Industry & Space
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Cluster 5: Climate, Energy & Mobility
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Cluster 6: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment
Each cluster has its own work programme of topics which can be found under this link: Horizon Europe work programmes - European Commission (europa.eu)
Besides these opportunities, each cluster also has a number or European partnerships which operate with their own work programmes and call schedule like the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, the Circular Bio-based Europe (CBE) partnership and more.
