Objective
"Europe's persistent gap between scientific excellence and innovation performance demands urgent, systemic action. Despite world-class research, the EU's innovation output continues to decline marginally, compounded by deep geographic fragmentation across Member States.
The EU Citizens' Kickathon is a pan-European Horizon Europe initiative (2026–2030) delivering three annual championship editions (2027–2029) that mobilise citizens and researchers to co-create science-based solutions to citizen-defined challenges. Grounded in the Council Recommendation on Knowledge Valorisation, the Draghi Report, and Letta's ""Fifth Freedom"" concept, the project operationalises the EC's 2024 Codes of Practice on citizen engagement and industry-academia co-creation.
Each edition follows a three-phase Entrepreneurial Journey — Sunrise (team formation across 15 Hub Cities), Championship (15 regional Kickathons culminating in a European Final), and Kickstart (sustained valorisation support for all teams). Finals are hosted by the Axis of Innovation cities: Lisbon (2027), Leuven (2028), and Linköping (2029), representing deliberately diverse positions on the European Innovation Scoreboard.
Seven SMART objectives drive the programme: accelerating knowledge valorisation; delivering high-quality annual competitions; building entrepreneurship capacity; supporting market uptake; engaging diverse stakeholders; ensuring geographic, gender, and socioeconomic inclusion; and operating kickathon.eu as the project's digital backbone.
The closing event in Leuven in 2030 aligns with the city's European Capital of Culture programme, consolidating valorisation outcomes across all three cohorts."
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.4.2 - Reforming and enhancing the European R&I System
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-WIDERA-2026-06
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1990-223 Lisboa
Portugal
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.