Funding Instrument 1

* **Eligible applicants:** For Funding Instrument #1: Small Grants for Joint Regional Innovation Actions consortia including at least two independent legal entities, each established in a different enlargement country. The participating entities can be Companies, Research Organisations and Academia Research Groups, Non-profit entities, Digital Innovation Hubs /European Digital Innovation Hubs, and others relevant R&I actors from the eligible countries, namely: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. * **How to apply:** Submit your proposal via our online form before the relevant Cut-off Date. Your application must be in English, and all mandatory sections must be completed. Proposals cannot be modified after submission. Multiple submissions are allowed only for different Funding Instruments, provided that the limits set out in these Terms and Conditions are respected. For the same Funding Instrument and Cut-off Date, multiple submissions are not allowed. If more than one proposal was submitted by the same third party for the same Funding Instrument and Cut-off Date, only the proposal submitted last will be considered. * **Cut-off Dates:** * 12 November 2026, 17:00 Brussels time * 5 May 2027, 17:00 Brussels time * 3 November 2027, 17:00 Brussels time * 3 May 2028, 17:00 Brussels time * Funding Instrument #1 supports joint actions supporting stakeholders from enlargement countries to develop collaborative R&I projects, access EU funding opportunities, strengthen R&I management and technology transfer capacities, and contribute to evidence-based policy reforms and digital and green transformation * **Eligible activities include**: * Joint R&I Small-Scale Innovation Actions: small-scale actions supporting business-academia cooperation across enlargement countries. At least one entity from academia and one from the business sector should apply and cooperate. * Joint Innovation Actions for collaborative projects: actions helping stakeholders from enlargement countries understand and access R&I funding programmes, such as – but not exclusively – Horizon Europe (e.g. RIA, IA projects or calls under Pillar III). Participants can organise different activities that contribute to building cooperation projects. * Joint R&I Capacity Building and Policy Support: Technical assistance, training, workshops, and peer-learning initiatives between enlargement countries. Supported activities can focus on improving Research and Innovation (R&I) management, or technology transfer processes, or digital skills, and/or facilitating R&I policy reforms (including evidence-based policymaking), such as the Green Deal and the digital transformation. * **Number of grants and total funding available:** up to 15 third-party projects under the Small Grants for Joint Regional Innovation Actions. Note that: POLICY ENLARGE expects to select an indicative number of proposals under each Cut-off Date (generally range from 3 to 4 under Funding Instrument #1, from 2 to 3 under Funding Instrument #2, and up to 5 under Funding Instrument #3. However, the final number of selected proposals, the distribution across countries, and the Cut-off Dates themselves may be flexibly adjusted based on the quantity and quality of applications and available budget. Any unused budget or places will be transferred to subsequent Cut-off Dates.) * **Duration of the Support Programme:** The Grant is offered together with the POLICY ENLARGE Support Programme. Our Programme lasts up to 6 months. * **Support Programme**: Our Support Programme covers the implementation of the selected Third Party Projects under the three POLICY ENLARGE Funding Instruments. The Support Programme is divided into two main stages over the 6 months. Third-party projects will receive their grant in instalments upon the successful completion of each stage. For more details on the exact payment schedule and how each project's progress will be evaluated, please refer to the Payment Conditions and Milestones Review chapters. * **More info about POLICY ENLARGE:** You can find more information about our Project on https://enlargement-infohub.eu/theme/policy-enlarge/