How to participate

The first steps to prepare your proposal and apply for EU research funding. Learn how to find a suitable Call for proposals or project partners and how to submit your proposal.

The following guidance services facilitate your participation:

H2020 Online Manual:�step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes from proposal preparation and submission to reporting on your on-going project.

Reference documents:�library of legal documents, guidance notes, and additional reference material for H2020 and FP7.

Search�for already registered organisations and their�PICs.

Financial viability self-check tool�allows you simulating the financial viability check of your organisation.

SME participation: dedicated H2020 guidance page for SME.

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Step 1 - Find a suitable Call for Proposals

The Commission publishes on the Participant Portal all the Calls of its research and innovation programmes�H2020, and you can search calls from previous programmes (FP7 and CIP). In addition you can find information about some additional calls in the�Other Funding Opportunities�section. If you apply for the first time and do not know yet the programmes, it is useful to read the H2020 Online Manual. It helps you choose the most suitable programme for your area and profile. Besides, you can�search according to your research topic�with key words and set filters in the calls list.

Your�National Contact Point�can also help you find the most suitable call for your profile. SMEs are in addition supported by the�Enterprise Europe Network.�

Open Calls

Other Funding Opportunities section�

Search with key words

National Contact Point

Enterprise Europe Network

Step 2 - Find project partners or apply as an individual

Collaborative projects: most of the EU funded projects are collaborative projects with at least 3 organisations from different EU Member States or Associated countries. Various partner search services help you to find organisations that would like to participate in the proposals. You can also post your collaboration offers there.

Individual researcher or team: It is also possible to submit your proposal as an individual researcher, team or organisation. Such opportunities are mainly funded under the H2020 European Research Council (ERC) grants and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions (MSCA), and individual SMEs can apply to the�H2020 SME instrument.

Partner Search Services�

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Step 3 - Create an account on the portal

To fill in the required forms and submit them electronically to the Commission, you first need to create an account on the Participant Portal clicking on REGISTER on the top menu.

Participant Portal

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Step 4 - Register your organisation

The Commission has an online register of the organisations participating in the EU research and innovation or education, audiovisual and cultural programmes. This allows consistent handling of the organisations� official data and avoids multiple requests for the same information.

If you want to participate in a project proposal, your organisation needs to be�registered�and have a 9-digit Participant Identification Code (PIC) that is the unique identifier of your organisation and will be used as a reference by the Commission in any interactions.

Check first on the Organisation Register page if your organisation is already registered. Only if you do not find your organisation there, you should start its registration by clicking on the Register Organisation button.

Organisation Register page�

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Step 5 - Submit your project proposal to the Commission

To submit your project proposal, you need to go to the section Electronic Proposal Submission on a specific Topic page that belongs to a call. You need to be logged in with your Participant Portal account to start filling in standard forms and submit your proposal to the Commission.

Proposal Submission Service User Manual

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More information about rules of participation

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