MBIE Horizon Europe Top-up Funding Scheme

MBIE Horizon Europe Top-up Funding Scheme

Funds New Zealand teams building Pillar two top-up support for EU partners from proof to commercialization.

Eligibility · EU member states

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) — Science and Innovation branch — administers a dedicated overhead top-up scheme for New Zealand entities that are contracted as partners in Horizon Europe Pillar 2 projects funded by the European Commission. The scheme addresses a structural funding gap: Horizon Europe provides a flat 25% overhead rate on eligible direct costs, but New Zealand research organisations operate under domestic funding models that typically reimburse overheads at a much higher rate. MBIE's top-up closes this gap by providing an additional 60% on top of each EC grant award to the New Zealand partner, bringing the total overhead reimbursement in most cases to 100% of eligible direct costs. The cap on top-up funding is NZD 1.05 million per project. Where multiple New Zealand partners participate in the same Horizon Europe project, each must register separately, and if the combined top-up entitlements exceed the cap, funding is pro-rated according to each partner's budget share. Funding is channelled through the Catalyst Fund.

Eligibility requires the applicant to be a New Zealand legal entity that is the same entity named in the Horizon Europe grant agreement, a consortium partner in a Pillar 2 action (excluding Cluster 2 initiatives and, from the 2026 and 2027 work programmes, New European Bauhaus Facility initiatives), and not a department of the New Zealand public service listed in Schedule 2 of the Public Service Act 2020. A critical procedural requirement is early registration: the New Zealand entity must submit a completed registration to MBIE through the Pitau investment management system no later than ten working days after the Horizon Europe call for proposals closing date — not after the award. Projects must not benefit Russian state institutions. Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) classified as for-profit entities by the European Commission receive supplemental MBIE funding to equalise their project funding with non-profit research organisations before the 60% top-up is applied.

The application process is two-stage. In Stage 1, the entity registers on Pitau within the ten-working-day window and provides project and budget information; this registration establishes eligibility even before an EC award decision is known. In Stage 2, after the Horizon Europe grant agreement is signed, the entity submits a full application confirming final project details. MBIE converts the EC euro grant amount to New Zealand dollars using the Reserve Bank of New Zealand exchange rate on the day the grant agreement is signed. Successful applicants enter a funding contract with MBIE and must submit annual and final reports. Top-up funding received is subject to MBIE general funding terms and conditions (2025 edition).