Proyectos «Europa Excelencia» (EUR)

Proyectos Europa Excelencia sits under AEI's research-and-development programme and exists to keep Spanish teams in play after a strong ERC evaluation that missed funding for budgetary reasons. It backs Starting, Consolidator, and Advanced Grant proposals that were considered eligible by the European Research Council but did not receive money. The 2026 call is a 2.5 million euro competitive subsidy and is aimed at raising Spain's return rate in Horizon Europe Pillar 1. The route is open to public or private non-profit research organisations in Spain with the capacity to execute meaningful research and turn ERC-quality ideas into funded work. It can pay for staff, small equipment, materials, and other project costs tied to the proposal's objectives. Applications are handled in Spanish, and the call runs on an annual cycle. This programme works best as a bridge, not as a standalone concept: the underlying project has already passed ERC scrutiny, so the real task is to convert that validation into a financed Spanish project. AEI uses Europa Excelencia to keep excellent proposals alive, protect investigator momentum, and improve national conversion from ERC evaluation to domestic support. The strongest proposals will already look like serious ERC-level science, with a clear plan for how the Spanish grant will carry it forward.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.