European Commission awards €80 million for 16 projects in universities from widening countries

News Tank Academic - Brussels - News #457915 - Published on 21/10/26 at 13:17
©  D.R.
Magda de Carli - ©  D.R.

The Commission has selected 16 projects to receive €80 million in EU funding under the European Excellence Initiative (EEI).

The European Research Executive Agency (REA) announced the selected projects on 20/10/2026.

The call for proposals, which ran from May to November 2025, received 284 applications. With 16 laureates, the success rate was 5.6%. Their research topics include the circular economy, agriculture, brain health and robotics.

Among the winning projects, Greece coordinates four, and Croatia and Türkiye coordinate two. There is then one each for Poland, Estonia, Portugal, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Armenia and Lithuania.

Part of Horizon Europe’s “Widening participation and spreading excellence” programme, the European Excellence Initiative (EEI) aims to strengthen the…

©  D.R.
Magda de Carli - ©  D.R.

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