PES – Støtte til prosjektetablering rettet mot Horisont Europa

The Project Establishment Support (PES) scheme aims to ensure that applications with Norwegian participation in Horizon Europe are of high quality so that Norwegian potential is utilized as effectively as possible. This call aims to increase the success rate of Norwegian applications to Horizon Europe and the European Defence Fund (EDF). The support provides funding to cover costs related to travel, participation in networking events, positioning activities, personnel time, and purchase of services for preparing project proposals. The funding is paid as a fixed price per submitted EU application, provided the submitted EU project proposal achieves a grade corresponding to the threshold value or better in the given call. For applications in two stages, support is only paid if the EU application exceeds the threshold after stage two. The scheme covers various program types including collaborative projects, ERC, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, EIC Accelerator, Women TechEU, EIC STEP Scale Up, and European Defence Fund applications. Support amounts vary based on project type, applicant role, and budget in the planned EU application. The total budget available is NOK 30 million for 2026, with NOK 2 million earmarked for collaboration with African countries and NOK 3 million for collaboration with Ukraine.