Glossary
Plain-language explanations of the terms you meet when applying for EU funding. Where a term appears elsewhere on the site, click it to open its explanation.
Annexes
Additional documents submitted with the application. Which ones are needed depends on the call and the template.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Part B of the application, Application template
Applicant
An organisation that applies for funding in a proposal: the coordinator, the other beneficiaries and their affiliated entities. Associated partners take part in the project but do not claim costs.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Coordinator, Consortium, PIC (Participant Identification Code)
Application template
The document with headings and page limits in which you write Part B. Download it from the Submission System for your call; templates on the topic page are for information only.
The template depends on the type of action. Topics with lump sum funding have a higher page limit and need a detailed budget table. Keep its structure: each section corresponds to one evaluation criterion.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Part B of the application, Type of action, Lump sum
Blind evaluation
In some two-stage calls, first-stage proposals are evaluated blind: the evaluators must not learn who the applicants are. The call conditions say whether this applies.
Where it applies, the abstract and Part B of the first-stage proposal must not disclose the names of the organisations, their acronyms or logos, or the names of the people involved. This is an admissibility condition, so a proposal that does not respect it can be rejected without evaluation.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Part A of the application, Part B of the application, Two-stage call
Business registration number
The number under which your organisation is entered in the national business register. In Slovenia this is the registration number assigned by AJPES.
e-Justice: business registers in Slovenia
See also: Legal form, Part A of the application
Call
A group of topics that are open at the same time and address the same policy area. Each topic has its own conditions and deadline.
See also: Topic, Deadline (single-stage or two-stage), Eligibility
Capacity of an organisation
Evaluators use the lists of researchers, achievements, previous projects and equipment to judge whether your organisation can do the work.
List only what is relevant to the kind of projects you apply for.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Career stage of a researcher, Infrastructure and equipment, Grant agreement number
Career stage of a researcher
The application asks for the stage of each researcher on a scale from A to D: A is a top grade researcher, B a senior researcher, C a recognised researcher and D a first stage researcher, for example a PhD student.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Capacity of an organisation, Part A of the application
Communication
Informing the wider public about the project and its results in a clear, non-technical way, for example through a website, news and social media.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide
See also: Dissemination, Exploitation
Consortium
The group of organisations that apply together and carry out the project together.
Many Horizon Europe calls require organisations from several countries. The call text states the minimum number and the countries allowed.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Coordinator, Lead and partner, Eligibility
Coordinator
The organisation that submits the application, is the contact for the European Commission and manages the consortium during the project.
See also: Consortium, Lead and partner, Main contact
CSA (Coordination and Support Action)
A project that contributes to the objectives of Horizon Europe without carrying out research and innovation itself (except in the Widening part of the programme), for example by coordinating and networking organisations.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Type of action, RIA (Research and Innovation Action), IA (Innovation Action)
Deadline (single-stage or two-stage)
In a single-stage call you submit the full application by one deadline. In a two-stage call you first submit a short application; only successful ones are invited to submit the full application by a second deadline.
The call text states which model applies and the exact date and time of each deadline. Some topics stay open with several cut-off dates: proposals received by each cut-off date are evaluated together.
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
See also: Call
Deliverable
A concrete output of the project that is handed to the funder at an agreed month, for example a report, a prototype, a dataset or software.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Milestone, Work package (WP)
Dissemination
Sharing the results of the project with those who can use them, for example researchers, industry or policy makers, through publications, events and reports.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide
See also: Communication, Exploitation, Open science
Eligibility
The conditions an application must meet to be accepted for evaluation at all, for example which countries and kinds of organisation may take part and how the consortium is made up.
An application that is not eligible is rejected before the evaluators read it, however good it is. Check the eligibility conditions of the call first.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Call, Consortium
End user
The person or organisation that will actually use what the project produces, for example a hospital, a city, a farmer or a manufacturer.
Evaluators look at how end users are engaged where appropriate, and the dissemination and exploitation plan names them as a target group.
Horizon Europe evaluation form (RIA/IA)
See also: Impact, Exploitation
Evaluation Summary Report (ESR)
The report the funder sends after the evaluation of your proposal. It shows the scores and the experts’ comments for each award criterion.
Read it even if your proposal was not selected: the comments show what to improve before you apply again. The date when you can expect it is given in the call documents.
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
See also: Excellence, Impact, Implementation, Grant agreement
Excellence
The first award criterion: how clear and ambitious the objectives are, and how sound the approach and methods are.
Horizon Europe evaluation form (RIA/IA)
See also: Impact, Implementation, Part B of the application
Expected outcomes
The changes a call wants projects to contribute to, listed in the topic description. Your application has to show how the project contributes to them.
Exploitation
Using the results to create value: turning them into products, services or policy, or building on them in further research.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide
See also: Dissemination, Communication, End user
Funding rate
The share of the eligible costs that the EU funds, for example 100% or 70%. You cover the rest from your own sources.
The rate depends on the type of action and sometimes on the type of organisation. The call text is binding.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Type of action, IA (Innovation Action), Lump sum
Gender equality plan
A published document in which an organisation sets out how it promotes equal opportunities for women and men.
In Horizon Europe, public bodies, research organisations and universities from EU and associated countries must have one; companies do not need it.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Eligibility
Grant agreement
The contract between the funder and the organisations that carry out the project. It sets out the work to be done, the budget and the rules both sides follow.
It is prepared only for proposals that are selected. In grant preparation the participants enter their data and the description of the action in the Portal together, the coordinator submits them, and the funder carries out its legal and financial checks in parallel.
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
See also: Coordinator, Consortium, Evaluation Summary Report (ESR)
Grant agreement number
The number of the contract between your organisation and the funder of an earlier project.
Leave it empty if there was no such contract.
See also: Capacity of an organisation
IA (Innovation Action)
A project that turns existing results into something closer to the market: prototypes, testing, demonstration, pilots.
In Horizon Europe the funding rate of an innovation action is usually lower for companies than for non-profit organisations. The call text states the exact rate.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Type of action, RIA (Research and Innovation Action), TRL (Technology Readiness Level), Funding rate
Impact
The second award criterion: what difference the project will make beyond the project itself, and how its results will be spread and used.
Horizon Europe evaluation form (RIA/IA)
See also: Excellence, Implementation, Expected outcomes, Dissemination, Exploitation
Implementation
The third award criterion: whether the work plan, the resources and the consortium are good enough to carry the project out.
Horizon Europe evaluation form (RIA/IA)
See also: Excellence, Impact, Work package (WP), Consortium
Infrastructure and equipment
Laboratories, machines, test sites or other facilities you would use in the project.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Capacity of an organisation
Lead and partner
In EU applications the lead organisation is called the coordinator: it submits the application, is the contact for the funder and manages the project. Partners are the other organisations in the proposal, each with its own part of the work.
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
See also: Coordinator, Consortium
Legal form
How your organisation is registered, as written in the business register, for example limited liability company, association or public institute.
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
See also: Business registration number, Part A of the application
Lump sum
A way of funding in which the budget is agreed as a fixed amount for each work package. The money follows the completed work package, not the costs you can show.
In a lump sum call you therefore plan the work and the amount for each work package, and you do not report actual costs afterwards. Check the call text: only some calls use this model.
Horizon Europe lump sum decision
See also: Work package (WP), Funding rate
Main contact
The person the EU services contact about the proposal, for example for additional information, evaluation results or the start of grant preparation. Each organisation names one.
Other contact persons can be given full or read-only access to the proposal.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Coordinator, Part A of the application
Milestone
A checkpoint that shows an important stage of the project has been reached, together with the way you will prove it.
A milestone is not an output you deliver but a point you can verify, for example “pilot system running”.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Deliverable, Work package (WP)
Open science
Making research open. In Horizon Europe, peer-reviewed scientific publications must be openly accessible, and research data must be managed according to the FAIR principles and be ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’.
Applications are usually asked to describe how the project handles open access and research data.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide
See also: Dissemination
ORCID
A personal ID number for researchers that anyone can create at orcid.org. It links a person to their publications.
Leave it empty if the person does not have one.
See also: Career stage of a researcher
Part A of the application
An EU application has two parts. Part A is a set of online forms in the Submission System: general information about the proposal, administrative details of each participating organisation, a budget summary and call-specific questions.
Part B is the written description of the project. Part A is filled in on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, so many of its details can be prepared in advance.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Part B of the application, PIC (Participant Identification Code), Application template
Part B of the application
The written description of the project: what you will do, why it matters and how you will do it. It follows a template given by the call.
Part B is usually written as a document that you upload on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Its sections follow the award criteria: Excellence, Impact and Implementation.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Part A of the application, Application template, Excellence, Impact, Implementation
Person-month
The unit in which the application states effort, for each participant and work package.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Work package (WP)
PIC (Participant Identification Code)
Your organisation’s 9-digit ID number for EU funding. You get it once by registering the organisation on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (section “Participant Register”) and use the same number in every application.
The coordinator needs its PIC to start a proposal in the Submission System, and each partner needs one to be added to it. Check first whether your organisation already has a PIC, so that you do not create a second one.
See also: Part A of the application, Applicant
RIA (Research and Innovation Action)
A project that aims mainly to establish new knowledge or to explore whether a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution is feasible. It may include testing a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Type of action, IA (Innovation Action), TRL (Technology Readiness Level)
Short name
A short version of your organisation’s name that appears in the tables of the application, for example ACME for ACME Technologies Ltd.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Part A of the application
SME
A small or medium-sized enterprise. Under the EU definition this is a company with fewer than 250 staff and either annual turnover up to €50 million or a balance sheet total up to €43 million.
In some calls SME status is an eligibility condition; then an SME self-assessment in the Participant Register is needed. For companies that belong to a group, group figures may have to be included.
See also: Funding rate, Eligibility
Topic
A specific subject within a call, with its own description, expected outcomes and often its own budget. You apply to one topic.
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
See also: Call, Expected outcomes
TRL (Technology Readiness Level)
A scale from 1 to 9 that says how mature a technology is: TRL 1 means basic principles observed, TRL 9 means the actual system is proven in an operational environment.
Calls often say the level at which projects must start and the level they must reach, for example “from TRL 4 to TRL 6”. State honestly where your technology stands today.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: RIA (Research and Innovation Action), IA (Innovation Action)
Two-stage call
A call where you first send a short outline proposal of up to 10 pages. Only proposals that pass the first stage are invited to send a full proposal by a second deadline.
In the first stage only Excellence and Impact are evaluated. Each must score at least 4 out of 5, and their sum must also reach an overall threshold that is set after the evaluation, normally 8 or 8.5. The full proposal must be consistent with the outline proposal.
Horizon Europe General Annexes 2026-2027
See also: Excellence, Impact, Application template, Blind evaluation
Type of action
The kind of project a call funds, for example a research project, an innovation project or a support project. It sets the template, the funding rate and what the project must deliver.
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
See also: RIA (Research and Innovation Action), IA (Innovation Action), CSA (Coordination and Support Action), Funding rate
Type of organisation
The category the European Commission uses for every participant in EU research projects: private company, higher or secondary education, research organisation, public body or other.
Non-profit organisations and associations belong to “Other”. Whether a company is an SME is a separate question, and so is whether a partner is the end user in the project: any type of organisation can be one.
CORDIS reference data: organisation activity types
See also: SME, End user, Consortium
Work package (WP)
A major block of the project that groups related tasks under one lead, with its own objectives, deliverables and effort.
A typical project has several work packages, often including one for management and one for communication and dissemination. Together they form the work plan.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Deliverable, Milestone, Person-month, Lump sum
Work package lead
The participant that leads one work package. Each work package has one lead participant, named in the list of work packages; the other participants and their effort are shown in the table of person-months.
Horizon Europe application form (RIA/IA)
See also: Work package (WP), Coordinator, Consortium