Demonstrating place-based experimentation and innovation spaces as enabling environments for scaling EU Missions
Demonstrating place-based experimentation and innovation spaces as enabling environments for scaling EU Missions funds local authorities’ work on enabling models to scale proven EU Mission solutions.
Funder: European Commission
Due Dates: October 6, 2026 (Opening) | January 13, 2027 (Deadline, 17:00 Brussels time)
Funding Amounts: €1 million–€1.5 million expected EU contribution per project; €3.62 million total topic budget; 3 expected grants
Summary: Supports place-based governance, regulatory, financing and procurement models that enable wider deployment of proven EU Mission solutions.
Key Information: Consortia should be led by local authorities; funding targets enabling models, not individual technologies.
Description
The European Commission funds this Horizon Europe Innovation Action to support the EU Missions’ 2026–2030 phase of scaling and wider deployment. It invites territories in EU Member States and Associated Countries to demonstrate how governance, regulatory experimentation, public-public and public-private financing, and procurement can enable uptake of solutions that are already proven but underused.
Projects should co-develop and test place-based models addressing systemic barriers such as fragmented regulation, limited risk appetite, insufficient blended financing and weak cross-sector coordination. Continuous stakeholder engagement and participatory approaches should underpin the work. The intended results are stronger territorial anchoring of EU Missions, enabling environments for deployment, and tested practices replicable through multi-level governance and a wide range of EU funding instruments, including support for transition to the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
