Horizon Europe and the COST project preparation assistance and the Baltic and Ukrainian bonus
CONTENT
The aim of the preparation assistance
Amount of support
Conditions
De minimis aid procedure
Allocation and use of support
Preparation assistance application and de minimis aid form
The aim of the preparation assistance
Preparation assistance is designed to recognize and stimulate in Estonia the quality of the projects Horizon Europe and COST to apply for funding, and to promote cooperation between the three Baltic States and Ukraina. State budget funds are used to finance the preparatory support, which are allocated to ETAG by the Ministry of Education and Research.
The amount of the preparation grant is determined based on whether the applicant participates in the project as a consortium coordinator or in an individual project.
The amounts of the grants are as follows:
1) preparation grant for coordinators of Framework Programme or COST project applications: 7,000 euros per application exceeding the evaluation threshold;
2) preparation grant for applicants of individual Framework Programme projects: 4,000 euros per application exceeding the evaluation threshold;
3) preparation grant for applicants of ERA Chairs and ERC individual projects: 7,000 euros per application exceeding the evaluation threshold.
In the case of Framework Programme projects that, in addition to Estonian partner(s), also involve partners from Latvia or Lithuania, a so-called Baltic bonus of 1,000 euros is added to the preparation grant.
Based on the evaluation decisions issued from 01.01.2026, in the case of projects in which at least one partner from Ukraine participates in addition to the Estonian coordinator, it is possible to apply for the so-called Ukrainian bonus of 7,000 euros.
As an exception, also Estonian partner may apply for a preparatory grant if the coordinator of the application is a Ukrainian institution. In this case, too, the amount of the preparatory grant for the Estonian partner is 7,000 euros per application that exceeds the evaluation threshold.
Only one Estonian partner can apply for a preparatory grant for a partner. In the case of more Estonian partners, the partners agree on who will apply for the preparatory grant.
- The person or institution applying for support is the main applicant of the project (consortium coordinator).
- The project application has exceeded the evaluation threshold (thresholds set for both the each individual evaluation criteria and the overall score according to the rules of the application round); In the case of a European Research Council (ERC) grant, the application must have reached the second round of evaluation.
- Baltic bonus can be claimed by the consortium coordinator, whose project participates also partners from Latvia or Lithuania.
- The application has been submitted less than six months after the assessment results were revealed.
- In the case of a 2-stage application, the preparation grant only concerns the full application. In the case of EIC Accelerator individual projects, support is paid to those applicants who reach at least the interview round.
- The preparatory support is one-time, i.e. a project that has exceeded the evaluation threshold will not be supported multiple times.
- The applicant must not have a tax debt.
In the form of preparatory support, it may be a minimis aid within the meaning of § 33 of the Competition Act. De minimis aid is specified in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No. 2023/2831 of the European Commission. The procedure for granting de minimis aid applies to companies. The grantor (ETAG) is obliged to check that the de minimis aid given to the applicant for the preparation grant does not exceed the upper limit of the de minimis aid together with the preparation grant (300,000 euros over three fiscal years).
The request is granted by the directive of the ETAG board.
In case of a positive decision, the grant will be transferred to the applicant’s bank account within 30 days.
If the request is not approved, the applicant will recieve the decicion stating the reasons for non-payment of the preparation allowance within 30 days of receiving the request.
Horizon Europe and the COST cooperation network project preparation assistance and the Baltic bonus processing guide (in Estonian).
Preparation assistance application and de minimis aid form
If the applicant is a company, the de minimis aid form must be attached to the application. The form can be downloaded HERE.
The grant applicant submits the application electronically (digitally signed) to the e-mail address etag@etag.ee.
The application is signed by the head of the institution requesting support or a person with the corresponding authorization.
Free-form application contains the following information:
- requesting authority;
- project executor’s name;
- contacts;
- bank details;
- project acronym and registration number;
- form of participation in the project (coordinator or individual);
- whether it is claimed the Baltic bonus
- whether it is claimed the Ukrainian bonus
- whether it is Horizon Europe or COST project application
- for Horizon Europe: the competition theme or work program under which the project application belonged
- the applicant’s confirmation that the same project application has not previously received a preparatory grant.
An assessment report from the European Commission or COST on exceeding the assessment threshold must be attached to the application. In those application rounds where the second or third stage of the application is an interview round (EIC, ERC), an invitation to an interview must also be submitted. The application can be submitted up to six months after the evaluation result is revealed.
Contact
etag@etag.ee