Key takeaways from Eureka’s official Innowwide Call 5 webinar for applicants, 29 September 2026

Last updated: 30 September 2026

Innowwide is a Eureka programme, co-funded by Horizon Europe, that helps innovative SMEs and startups test whether their technology can succeed in a market outside Europe. Call 5 opens on 1 October 2026 and offers a €60,000 lump sum for a six-month market feasibility project delivered with a local partner. 

This summary draws on Eureka’s official applicant webinar and is written for UK and EU companies with a proven innovation and a specific target country in mind.

Innowwide Call 5 in brief

Innowwide Call 5 offers 70 grants of €60,000 to SMEs and startups from 33 European countries, including the UK, to run six-month market feasibility studies in Africa, the Americas, Asia or Oceania with an independent local subcontractor. Applications open on 1 October 2026 and close on 1 December 2026 at 14:00 Brussels time.

What is Innowwide?

Innowwide is one of the Eureka programmes co-funded under Horizon Europe. It supports innovative SMEs and startups exploring international markets outside Europe through preliminary assessments of the technical, market, legal and socioeconomic conditions in a chosen target country. The aim is to validate whether a solution meets a real need in that market and has potential for future commercialisation.

According to Eureka, the programme has €24 million of EU budget for 2022 to 2027, enough to fund 400 projects. Across the first four calls it funded 260 projects targeting more than 50 countries.

An Innowwide project is a market feasibility study. It is not an R&D project, a business plan, a product launch or an export programme. It can, however, act as a bridge to a future international R&D project with the local partner or with an organisation the partner helps to identify.

How much funding is available in Innowwide Call 5?

Call 5 has a total budget of €4.2 million to fund 70 projects. The key financial terms are:

• Grant: €60,000 lump sum per project
• Maximum support rate: 70%
• Payment: €42,000 (70%) as pre-financing within one month of signing the grant agreement, and €18,000 (30%) after the final report is accepted
• Subcontractor budget: must be realistic for the partner’s role

The final report covers a technical report, financial statements and an end-of-project questionnaire. The pre-financing remains the property of Eureka until the balance payment is calculated.

Who is eligible to apply for Innowwide Call 5?

Applicants must meet all of the following:

• An SME or startup meeting the EU SME definition, with its own legal personality
• Legally established in one of 33 countries: the 27 EU Member States plus Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom
• Legally established on or before 1 December 2024 (a new requirement in Call 5)
• Not previously funded by Innowwide in Calls 1 to 4
• Not bankrupt or classed as an undertaking in difficulty
• Working exclusively on civilian applications

Branches, departments and offices without their own legal personality are not eligible, and neither are entrepreneurs or self-employed individuals. Each organisation can submit only one application.

UK eligibility is worth highlighting. A successful UK applicant shared their experience at the webinar. They noted that grants funding meaningful work with an international partner are unusual, as most national schemes keep delivery at home.

Which target countries and subcontractors qualify?

The target country can be any country in Africa, the Americas, Asia or Oceania. Countries under EU restrictive measures are excluded. Each project must focus on one target country, it is encouraged to explain any plans to grow into the wider region afterwards.

Every project needs (at least) one independent main subcontractor that is legally established in the target country. Unlike the applicant, the subcontractor can be any type of legal organisation, including an SME, a large company, a university, a research centre or a self-employed professional. Suggested profiles include a research or technology collaborator, a consultancy or legal service, a broker or intermediary, or an end user of the innovation.

Additional subcontractors are allowed where they can be justified, but most of the subcontracted work should sit with the main subcontractor. One successful applicant who spoke at the webinar allocated €12,000 to its main subcontractor and €5,000 each to two others.

What can an Innowwide project include?

Projects run for a fixed six months. The innovation must be at least TRL 4 in your home market, meaning validated in a lab or relevant environment, and no higher than TRL 8 in the target country. Where further R&I is planned after the project, TRL 7 is the indicative upper limit.

Each project must include at least one activity from each of three mandatory categories:

1. Co-creation and technology uptake: early collaboration with the local partner, IP and legal work, technology scouting, certification, matchmaking and small proofs of concept
2. Market research: qualitative and quantitative studies of customers, competitors, partners and suppliers, plus PESTLE and barrier analysis
3. Compliance verification: freedom-to-operate checks and an understanding of local business and cultural practices

Business trips and promotional material are optional and must be justified. The full list of eligible activities is in section 4.2 of the call guidelines.

Eureka’s partner search page lists regional organizations that can help you find a local subcontractor.

When is the Innowwide Call 5 deadline?

The deadline is 1 December 2026 at 14:00 Brussels time. The expected timeline is:

• 1 October 2026: call opens (confirmed)
• 1 December 2026, 14:00 Brussels time: call closes (confirmed)
• Early December 2026: eligibility results (estimated)
• March 2027: evaluation results (estimated)
• April 2027: ranking list (estimated)
• May/June 2027: grant agreements signed and projects start (estimated) 

How are Innowwide applications evaluated?

Evaluation has four stages:

1. The Innowwide team checks eligibility.
2. Two independent experts score each eligible proposal remotely and agree on a consensus report. The top 105 proposals, plus any tied with the 105th, move forward.
3. An independent panel confirms the ranking and settles tied scores, while ethics experts complete their review.
4. The final ranking list decides which 70 proposals are invited to contract, with a reserve list behind them.

Proposals are scored out of 100 against three criteria, each with its own minimum threshold:

• Excellence (minimum 18 out of 30): objectives, ambition, degree of innovation, competitive advantage and fit with business strategy
• Impact (minimum 24 out of 40): market size, impact on end users, market access and risk, and societal, environmental and ethical relevance, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Quality and efficiency of implementation (minimum 18 out of 30): capacity and role of the SME and subcontractor, resources, planning and a reasonable cost structure

Impact carries the most weight. Eureka stressed that passing the thresholds is not enough, as only the highest-ranked proposals are funded.

How competitive is Innowwide?

Figures shared by Eureka show that competition has increased with each call. Applications rose from 272 in Call 1 to 834 in Call 4, while the number of funded projects has been fixed at 70 per call since Call 2. The success rate fell from 19.9% in Call 1 to 8.7% in Call 4, and Eureka expects Call 5 to attract more than 900 applications.

What makes a strong Innowwide application?

The most practical advice at the webinar came from two past beneficiaries.

1. Frame impact at company level. 

One beneficiary received a low score on an earlier attempt after showing only the revenue potential in the target country. Their successful application presented three-year, company-wide financial figures and positioned the target market as an entry point to wider international growth, which made the value for money of the €60,000 clear to evaluators.

2. Substantiate every market figure. 

Call 5 asks applicants to give a source or short calculation for market size and growth, ideally using Total Addressable Market (TAM) and Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM), and to explain the assumptions behind revenue projections. Eureka was clear that a well-justified figure is worth more than an impressive one with no basis.

3. Design the study around the next decision. 

A UK beneficiary used its study to produce market, regulatory and financial evidence that fed directly into follow-on technical work with the European Space Agency. Their advice was to ask what evidence the study will produce and who could use that evidence next.

4. Show the subcontractor’s own interest. 

The beneficiary who presented in person reported that evaluators responded well when the main subcontractor had a long-term stake in the collaboration, for example as a future user or prescriber of the technology, rather than acting purely as a paid service provider.

5. Use the space available. 

The workplan can include visuals, and the same beneficiary strengthened a previously weak score by developing a detailed risk and contingency plan. They also used AI tools for drafting but stressed that the final text must be checked carefully for accuracy, coherence and repetition.

What are the most common mistakes?

Eureka said the most frequent reason for ineligibility is an incomplete workplan, or one not submitted in the mandatory template, for example one missing the Gantt chart or work package tables. Other common problems are:

• Submitting at the last minute and finding validation errors too late
• Approaching the subcontractor too late, when some organisations, such as universities, may need weeks to clear a contract
• Missing the second step of the subcontractor sign-off, where the partner must sign the commitment and declaration of honour in the platform after accepting the invitation
• Forgetting to check the subcontractor’s local time against the Brussels deadline
• Deleting an accepted subcontractor invitation and sending a new one, which creates a duplicate commitment form and blocks submission
• Not requesting a PIC number in time

Our summary

Innowwide Call 5 is a low-burden grant for SMEs and startups with a mature innovation that want to test a specific market outside Europe alongside a credible local partner. It is best suited to companies with a clear target country, an innovation not yet deployed there, and the ability to fund at least €26,000 of the project themselves.

With success rates below 10% in the last call, early preparation matters. A sensible next step is to confirm your eligibility, check your PIC number and approach your preferred subcontractor now. If you would like a view on whether your project is a good fit, we are more than happy to talk it through together.

How do you apply for Innowwide Call 5?

Applications are made online through Eureka’s SmartSimple platform. The main steps are:

1. Check that your organisation meets every eligibility criterion and read the call and evaluation guidelines.
2. Check whether your organisation has a PIC number, and request one if not.
3. Register on SmartSimple using a professional email address. If your organisation is already registered, ask the helpdesk to link your profile rather than creating a duplicate.
4. Complete the mandatory pre-questionnaire, then start your application from 1 October 2026.
5. Complete the project description section, then invite your main subcontractor.
6. Make sure your subcontractor accepts the invitation and signs the commitment and declaration of honour in the platform.
7. Complete the remaining sections and upload your workplan in the mandatory template.
8. Use “Save and Validate” regularly, and submit before 14:0 Brussels time on 1st December 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Can UK companies apply to Innowwide?

Yes. The United Kingdom is one of the 33 eligible countries, alongside the 27 EU Member States, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye.

Is Innowwide an R&D grant?

No. Innowwide funds market feasibility studies for innovations that are already at TRL 4 or above. It does not fund R&D, business plans, product launch or export, although a project can prepare the ground for future R&D.

Can a freelancer be the main subcontractor?

Yes. The main subcontractor can be any legal organisation or a self-employed professional, provided it is independent from the applicant and legally established in the target country. One funded project used a freelance specialist as its main subcontractor.

Can I have more than one subcontractor?

Yes. You must have one main subcontractor and can add others if you can justify why they are needed.

Can the same subcontractor support several applicants?

Yes. A subcontractor can take part in more than one application, but each applicant organisation can submit only one.

Can a project cover more than one target country?

No. Activities must take place in one target country, although you should explain any plans to expand beyond it.

Can I change my subcontractor after being selected?

No. The subcontractor named in the application must sign the contract, because their participation forms part of the evaluation.

Do I need a PIC number for Innowwide?

Yes. The PIC is a nine-digit identifier used across EU funding programmes. Check whether your organisation already has one, and if not, request it early through the EU Funding and Tenders portal.