Horizon Europe

In 2019, the PERIN -Portugal in Europe Research and Innovation Network was created with the aim of pursuing a national strategy that should double, in 2021-2027, the Portuguese participation in European Union (EU) Programs compared to 2014-2020, attracting about two billion euros of EU funding, as well as tripling the number of mobility of higher education students.

PERIN evolves from the GPPQ - Gabinete de Promoção do Programa-Quadro de I&D " and extends its action to Research & Innovation, Erasmus+, Space and Digital funding programs.

FCT will ensure the national representation and coordination of the promotion of research and innovation activities in Pillar I and in the Horizon Europe (2021-2027) Horizon Europe (Widening), through its Delegates and National Contact Points (NCPs).

FCT coordinates support to the scientific and technological community for:

European Research Council (ERC)

Researcher-oriented program that supports excellent research through a pan-European competition in all research fields.

• Starting Grant (StG) for researchers with experience between 2 and 7 years after completion of their doctoral degree.
• Consolidator Grant (CoG) for researchers with experience between 7 and 12 years after completion of their doctoral degree.
• Advanced Grant (AdG) for established research leaders.
• Synergy Grant (SyG) for 2-4 principal investigators with complementary scientific backgrounds.
• Proof of Concept Grant (PoC) to explore the innovation potential of the principal investigator's previous results.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

In addition to Studentships individuals, the MSCAs help to develop training networks, promote inter-institutional mobility of human resources and fund mobility programmes with an internationalisation orientation. Support from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions is available for all stages of the research career. Beneficiaries include researchers at doctoral level and at later stages of their careers.

• Doctoral Networks (DN) (formerly ITN) for universities, research centers, and entities from other sectors with the aim of training researchers at the doctoral level.
• Postdoctoral Fellowships (PI) for experienced researchers who wish to further their careers by working abroad.
• Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) for short-term, inter-institutional mobility of human resources between academic, industrial, and commercial organizations around the world.
• Cofunding of regional, national and international programs (COFUND) provide organizations with additional funds for their own researcher training (PhD) and career development (post-doc) programs.
• MSCA and Citizens (CITIZENS) (formerly Researchers' NIGHT) is an annual Europe-wide public event dedicated to citizen science and fun science learning. Around 30 countries and 300 cities are involved.

Research Infrastructures

The 2023-24 work program includes 5 Destinations (packages of actions designed to contribute to its objectives and expected impacts). Each Destination will be implemented through Calls. Each Call will include one or more topics.

• INFRA-DEV: a framework of well-functioning European research infrastructures.
• INFRA-EOSC: implement an operational, open EOSC ecosystem under FAIR (Findable-Accessible-Interoperable-Reusable) principles.
• INFRA-SERV: Research infrastructure services to support health research, accelerate the green and digital transformation, and advance frontier knowledge.
• INFRA-TECH: next generation scientific instrumentation, tools, methods, and advanced digital solutions.
• INFRA-NET: network connectivity - enabling collaboration without borders.

Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area

A set of different funding instruments aimed at i) connectivity and networking at the human resource and institutional level (COST and Twinning), ii) balanced brain circulation in Europe (ERA-Chairs, and ERA Policy linked to MSCA), iii) institutional and regional reform and transformation (Teaming and Excellence Universities), iv) linking science and the business sector (Excellence Hubs and EIC Accelarator), and v) empowerment and inclusion (Support to NCPs, "Hop On", Seal of Excellence). The main Widening actions are described below:

• Twinning promotes institutional networks, with the aim of strengthening a specific domain of knowledge. An organization from a Widening country establishes a network with at least 2 R&D institutions of reference in that domain. Projects of 1.5M € for 3 years.
• Teaming to create new (or significantly improve existing) centers of excellence in widening countries through a partnership process with a leading scientific institution. Projects of 6 to 8 years with up to 15 M€ of funding.
• ERA-CHAIRS: bringing excellence to institutions by attracting leading scientists and their teams as actors of change to universities or R&D institutions in Widening countries. Projects of about 2.5 M € for 5-6 years.
• Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)COST: open and inclusive networks in all fields of knowledge and focused on people and their capacity building and career development. Each thematic network operates for 4 years with an average budget of 0.5 M€.

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