Turning Ideas into Long-Term Impact
The Rural Funding Navigator helps rural enterprises, communities, and organisations find their way through Europe’s main funding programmes and support mechanisms. It turns complex funding systems—often spread across different EU initiatives—into clear, practical pathways for action. From Horizon Europe and LIFE to Erasmus+ and Interreg, funding opportunities are translated into accessible entry points tailored to rural realities. Instead of searching through fragmented calls and technical documents, users can quickly understand what is relevant, what is realistic, and what steps to take next. The Ruralities Living Lab provides its members a guided system designed to support decision-making, partnership building, and project development in rural areas. It highlights entry points such as cascade funding, pilot calls, and micro-grants, while also helping users identify potential partners and project pathways.
The goal is simple: to reduce barriers between rural innovation and European funding, and to make participation in EU programmes more accessible, collaborative, and actionable.
Whether you are a small rural business, a cooperative, a municipality, or an emerging rural initiative, the Rural Funding Navigator helps you move from idea to funded project with greater clarity and confidence.
UPCOMING CALLS.....
17 September - The Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) – Public Sector Loan Facility (PSLF), territorial investment instrument designed to support real economic transformation across regions transitioning toward climate neutrality.
Erasmus+ Key Action 1 – Learning mobility of individuals
1 October 2026 – Second-round deadline for SCH and youth projects in specified countries
29 September 2026 – Erasmus accreditations in VET, school and adult education; Erasmus accreditations in the field of youth
Eurostars is international, but funding is national
Eurostars supports collaborative R&I projects led by innovative SMEs. The current Eurostars country list includes many European countries and several non-European participants. This makes Eurostars broader than a purely European scheme. Not every European country, however, is a Eurostars country - and not every Eurostars country has the same funding setup for each call. The Call 11 rules are published by EUREKA, the administrative body of the Eurostars program; these, state that National Funding Bodies decide which organizations can receive funding, which activities can be funded and which rates apply. National or regional criteria may therefore sit alongside the international Eurostars eligibility criteria.
Participation does not always mean funding. Eurostars consortia must be led by an innovative SME from a Eurostars country. A consortium must include at least two independent organisations from at least two Eurostars countries, with at least one organisation from an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. SMEs from Eurostars countries must account for at least 50% of total project costs, excluding subcontracting. These are international eligibility criteria.
One important practical note: current Eurostars guidance also includes other international rules, such as no single participant or country exceeding 70% of the budget, project duration of 36 months or less, and exclusive civil application.
HORIZON EUROPE....
WIDERA ACTIONS - Coming out in December for a March, 2027 submission. See narrative below
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23 September - HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-04 AI support for sustainable soil management Actively Seeking Partners with analogue databases
17 September - HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-10 Bio-based innovation in society: supporting the sustainable way of living
17 September - HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-06 Boosting agrobiodiversity for food security and sustainable competitiveness
23 September - HORIZON-MISS-2026-01-CLIMA-05 Protect/preserve Cultural Heritage against Climate
23 September - HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-TRANSFO-06 Making Europe a Global Magnet for Talent
23 September - HORIZON-CL2-01-TRANSFO-08 Strengthened Implementation of EU Pact on Migration and Asylum/Inclusion, Integration, Health
23 September - HORIZON-CL2-01-TRANSFO-07 Fostering competences for the green transition Actively Seeking Partners focused on promoting women in STEM
23 September - HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-TRANSFO-05 Contribution of basic skills to productivity, innovation, competitiveness and economic growth
SMART ERA....
15 September - SMART ERA Up to €90,000 available for new rural communities willing to drive innovation, sustainability and citizen-led transformation. The call will support up to four Follower Micro-Pilots willing to adopt and implement the methodologies, tools and approaches developed by SMART ERA.
Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV)....
23 September -Town Twinning supports citizen exchanges between municipalities that strengthen active citizenship, democratic participation, European values, intercultural dialogue, inclusion, local democracy, and a sense of belonging to the EU. The emphasis of this call is on people, not technology. The call also encourages projects that help citizens navigate today's information environment and participate meaningfully in democratic life.
23 September - HORIZON-MISS-2026-06-CLIMA-SOIL Joint Call between the Soil Deal for Europe Mission and the Adaptation to Climate Change Mission Actively Seeking Partners in Arctic and Alpine biogeographical regions
23 September - HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-TRANSFO-04 The impact of the use of digital tools outside school and for communication on educational outcomes and mental health
23 September - HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-01 “Artistic intelligence” : harnessing the power of the arts to address complex challenges, enhance soft skills and boost innovation and competitiveness
23 September - HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-05 Enhancing farmer's profitability and resilience through innovations for diversified crops and value chains
Navigate the European funding landscape to find funding that best aligns with project goals and objectives
Focus grantwriting efforts on the most relevant funding opportunities
Develop a strategic pipeline of future grant applications for better use of precious time and resources
LIFE STANDARD ACTION PROJECTS (SAP)....
22 September Submission Deadline - LIFE Standard Action Projects (SAPs) support implementation and demonstration projects designed to test, scale, or replicate solutions in real-world conditions. They fund practical environmental and climate initiatives that generate measurable impact, stakeholder engagement, and transferable models across regions and communities:
Nature & Biodiversity SAPs
Circular Economy & Quality of Life SAPs
Climate Change Mitigation SAPs
Climate Change Adaptation SAPs
Climate Governance & Information SAPs
SAPs are particularly relevant for rural enterprises, municipalities, cooperatives, NGOs, and regional partnerships seeking to pilot innovative approaches, strengthen resilience, and contribute to Europe’s environmental and climate objectives through locally grounded action.
LIFE website with more details:
https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/programmes/life/life-calls-proposals-2023_en
EUREKA / EUROSTARS....
Start Date: 9 July 2026, 12:00 AM CEST
End Date: 10 September 2026, 2:00 PM CEST
Eurostars Call 11 for projects – an international funding program for collaborative research and development (R&D) projects led by innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As the world’s largest SME R&D funding program, Eurostars supports the creation of innovative products, processes, and services for commercialization. Applicants can use Eurostars to access public funding for international R&D projects. The program has some unique features:
Work with international partners to strengthen your R&D
Reduce the risk of your R&D
Develop new business relationships
Access international markets
Be guided from idea to commercialisation with advice and support from a network of national project coordinators
Eurostars provides funding to international R&D projects. Projects must be led by an SME or startup from a Eurostars country or region, and the project consortium must also include at least one other independent organization from another Eurostars country. Partners in the consortium can include any type of organization. Eurostars funding comes from National Funding Bodies, which are ministries or funding agencies in each Eurostars country or region, and from the European Commission. National Funding Bodies determine how much funding is available, the funding rate per type of company, and which activities are eligible based on national rules.
Who can apply
Your project must meet specific criteria to be eligible for Eurostars funding:
The project consortium must be led by an innovative SME from a Eurostars country.
The project consortium must be composed of at least two entities that are independent from each other.
The project consortium must be composed of entities from at least two Eurostars countries. At least one of those countries must be an EU or Horizon Europe Associated Country.
The budget of the SMEs from the Eurostars countries (excluding any subcontracting) is 50% or more of the total project cost.
No single participant or country in the project can be responsible for more than 70% of the project’s budget.
The project must have a duration of 36 months or less.
The project must be exclusively focused on civil applications.
The Eurostars program uses a decentralised funding methodology. That means that organizations do not receive public funding from the Eureka Network. Instead, they receive funding directly from National Funding Bodies. This funding is granted according to national rules and procedures. Large companies, universities, research organisations and other partners may participate if they meet the rules, but whether they receive grant funding depends on national or regional rules. Organisations from non-Eurostars countries may participate only by self-funding their project costs. Make sure that you and your project partners contact your National Funding Body to understand what national rules and procedures apply. You can find these rules, and contact details for National Funding bodies, in each call for projects.
Please read all the guidelines before submitting a project application. If you do not meet all our eligibility criteria, your application will be rejected. Detailed guidelines on making an application, and the evaluation process, are available in the resource library at https://www.eurekanetwork.org/programmes-and-calls/eurostars/eurostars-resource-library/
Getting Ready for Submission
HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-04 - Leveraging long-term field experiments and other datasets
Produces outcomes aligned with three core objectives :
• Enhanced adoption of AI-powered decision support systems (DSS) by land managers.
• Harmonised, standard, robust, interoperable and accessible methods, protocols and logical architecture for long-term field experiments (LTEs) data collection and integration.
• Enhanced access to comprehensive, high-quality soil data for scientists, policymakers, and land managers.
Actively seeking partners with analogue databases that can be digitalized for expanded use across the EU. Email reference:
HORIZON-MISS-2026-06-CLIMA-SOIL Joint Call between the Soil Deal for Europe Mission and the Adaptation to Climate Change
Large-scale demonstration of agroecological and nature-based solutions that build soil resilience to extreme weather events and stabilize food security in
vulnerable rural territories. Actively Seeking Partners in Arctic and Alpine biogeographical regions.
Email Reference:
HORIZON-CL2-01-TRANSFO-07 Fostering competences for the green transition
WIDERA—Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area—has two main components:
Widening participation and spreading excellence: reducing disparities in research and innovation capacity between countries and regions.
Reforming and enhancing the European Research Area (ERA): improving how European research is governed, shared, financed and connected with society.
The second component is organised around four ERA pillars. Forthcoming calls to be announced in December, 2026 for March submissions. Actively Seeking WIDERA-based partners Email Reference:
WIDERA - Support for Widening Countries
BECOMING WISER addresses the underrepresentation of women in STEM-related green transition careers in rural Europe by developing inclusive competence pathways, innovative learning ecosystems, and sustainable employment models. Actively Seeking VET, HEI, and secondary schools Email Reference:
Recent Submissions
A Multi-Level Skills Alliance for Europe’s Twin Transition Readiness
TT-Bridge is an Erasmus+ Alliances for Education and Enterprises project that connects enterprises directly to curriculum that contributes to workforce preparedness for the Twin Transition, the EU’s goals for decarbonization and digitalization. Labor-market actors co-define what green-digital competence looks like, validate challenge-based learning modules, and endorse the resulting micro-credentials. Those credentials are EQF-mapped, Europass-compatible, and recognized across consortium institutions in EU Member States. Thirteen partners from Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain
Baltic-to-Balkan Green Corridor
The B2B Green Corridor COSME project supports sustainable competitiveness of tourism SMEs by connecting less-visited territories across Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria via an integrated transnational sustainable tourism route. The project was designed to strengthen the competitiveness, resilience, sustainability, and digital visibility of rural tourism SMEs and Destination Management Organizations while reinforcing the long-term vitality of rural communities. A Financial Support to Third Party process will be issued for targeted countries in 2027 Consortium led by the Regional Cluster North-East (Bulgaria) with partners Baltic Living Lab (Estonia), Tietola (Finland), Estonian Business School, Lithuanian Hotels & Restaurants Association, DMO Bucovina (Romania), DMO Varmland (Sweden)
Expertise Behind Each Submission
Competitive European proposals are built through a process that begins well in advance to the submission deadline, extends far beyond identifying a suitable funding call, and having the people with the right skills craft the application. Equally important is the ability to convene the right consortium, align diverse partners across borders and around a shared vision, to transform complex ideas into coherent, credible, and implementable project frameworks capable of meeting highly competitive European evaluation standards.
Equally important is the ability to convene the right consortium. Successful applications depend on building balanced partnerships that combine technical expertise, geographic diversity, implementation capacity, communication strength, and long-term sustainability. We work closely with municipalities, universities, SMEs, NGOs, rural organisations, and sector specialists to create collaborative partnerships capable of delivering meaningful impact.
In reality, coordinating a large European proposal often becomes a temporary multinational operation. Over months of development, partners across countries and sectors must align visions, contribute specialised expertise, resolve competing priorities, build coherent work plans, structure budgets, and respond to evolving programme expectations — all within demanding timelines and highly competitive funding environments.
From there, the process becomes one of strategic storytelling and precision. Preparing a competitive European application requires not only technical knowledge and project-design capacity, but also an advanced command of professional English capable of translating complex ideas into clear, persuasive, and policy-aligned narratives. Every proposal must align closely with programme priorities, evaluation criteria, work package logic, budget structures, expected impacts, and measurable outcomes. Strong applications require innovation and vision, but equally clarity, coherence, credibility, and the ability to communicate ambitious concepts in language that is both technically rigorous and accessible to evaluators from diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds.
Finally, submission itself demands careful coordination, compliance management, document preparation, budgeting accuracy, partner validation, and technical oversight within complex European submission systems. Much of this work remains invisible once a proposal is submitted. Yet behind every application stands an extraordinary amount of collaboration, persistence, expertise, and commitment dedicated to transforming ideas into projects capable of generating durable social, environmental, educational, and economic impact.
Behind every successful grant application is far more than writing alone. It begins with identifying the right funding opportunity at the right moment; this requires an understanding about not only what a program funds, but why the call exists, what policy objectives it supports, and where genuine gaps or opportunities remain. Our team includes professionals with Master’s and PhD-level academic backgrounds and native English-language proficiency, enabling the preparation of technically rigorous, strategically aligned, and linguistically sophisticated European project applications. They have developed strong expertise in navigating European funding ecosystems, from SMP COSME, Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ to LIFE, Interreg, and Digital Europe. This involves researching complex call documents, analyzing evaluation criteria, monitoring emerging policy priorities, and translating ambitious ideas into realistic, fundable project concepts - in English
Grow, diversify, and future-proof operations While nurturing inter-generational Knowledge Transfer
FARM-TO-FORK
Linking soil health and ecological farming practices to premium, market-ready products
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
E-Learning and Eco-Seal Certification for transparent environmental monitoring
HANDS-ON LEARNING
Dialogue series built at the intersection of soil science, farming, food, culture, and societal values.
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