Which Horizon Europe calls fit Australian strengths

Mapping Australian strengths to Horizon Europe Pillar II clusters and call topics: quantum, critical minerals, batteries, agtech and medtech.

Last verified: 26 July 2026. Call topics and identifiers change. Confirm current status on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal before acting.

Australian entities become eligible for Horizon Europe Pillar II funding in January 2027. The 2026-2027 work programme is already adopted and published, which means the topics Australian companies will compete for are known now, with identifiers, scopes and indicative budgets.

This maps Australia's genuine research and industrial strengths against the clusters and topics where they fit. It is a starting point for finding your call, not a substitute for reading the work programme text, which is where the real detail lives.

How Pillar II is organised

Pillar II divides into six clusters, each with its own work programme and call schedule:

Cluster 1 — Domain: Health
Cluster 2 — Domain: Culture, creativity and inclusive society
Cluster 3 — Domain: Civil security for society
Cluster 4 — Domain: Digital, industry and space
Cluster 5 — Domain: Climate, energy and mobility
Cluster 6 — Domain: Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment

Australian strengths concentrate heavily in Clusters 4, 5 and 6, with Cluster 1 relevant for the medtech and biotech base. Topic identifiers follow a readable pattern: HORIZON-CL4-2026-DIGITAL-EMERGING-18 is Cluster 4, 2026 call, digital and emerging technologies destination, topic 18.

Two things to understand before matching yourself to a topic. Action types matter: a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) funds earlier-stage collaborative research at 100% of eligible costs, an Innovation Action (IA) funds closer-to-market work at 70% for profit-making participants, and a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) funds networking and standards work rather than research. And topic scopes are prescriptive. Evaluators score against what the text asks for, so a topic either fits your technology or it does not.

Quantum and photonics

Australia's quantum sector is among the strongest outside the US, with substantial depth in silicon-based qubits, quantum sensing, control systems and photonics, built across UNSW, Sydney, ANU and a cohort of spin-outs.

Cluster 4 is the home for this, under the digital and emerging technologies destination. Relevant 2026-2027 topics include a large-scale photonic quantum computing platform technologies topic (HORIZON-CL4-2026-DIGITAL-EMERGING-18, RIA), a grand challenge on quantum sensors for inertial navigation (HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-11), standards for quantum technologies as a coordination action (HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-12), and advanced integrated photonic devices for extended features and ultra-low power consumption (HORIZON-CL4-2027-05-DIGITAL-EMERGING-03, RIA).

The quantum sensing and inertial navigation angle is worth particular attention for Australian companies, because it aligns with capability Australia demonstrably has and with European strategic interest in navigation independence. The standards topic is a lower-cost entry: coordination actions are smaller and less competitive than research actions, and a seat in a standards consortium builds exactly the European relationships that make the next bid easier.

One caution: quantum sits close to European technological sovereignty concerns. Some topics carry participation restrictions or security-related conditions. Read the eligibility conditions in the topic text rather than assuming associated-country status settles the question.

Critical minerals and mining technology

This is arguably Australia's strongest strategic card. Europe is acutely exposed on critical raw materials supply and has built policy around reducing that exposure. Australia has the deposits, the extraction expertise, and a processing technology sector that Europe needs.

The relevant work spreads across clusters. Cluster 4 covers raw materials and advanced materials under its materials and production destination, including circular innovative advanced materials moving from design to markets (HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MATERIALS-PRODUCTION-06). Cluster 6 carries recovery of critical raw materials from waste streams, including advanced recovery from waste electrical and electronic equipment.

The framing that works here is supply chain resilience rather than extraction volume. European calls in this space are typically about processing efficiency, circularity, recovery from secondary sources, and reducing environmental impact, not about opening mines. Australian companies with technology in separation, refining, tailings recovery or low-impact processing map well. Australian companies whose pitch is "we have the resource" map poorly, because that is not what the topics fund.

Cleantech, batteries and green metals

Cluster 5 covers climate, energy and mobility, including energy storage and batteries, renewable generation, and integrated energy systems. Cluster 6 carries the environmental and circularity dimensions of the same technologies, and the two clusters deliberately cross-reference each other on battery circularity.

Australian strengths that map cleanly: green metals and low-emission processing, grid integration at high renewable penetration (Australia has genuine world-leading operational experience here, which European grid operators are actively interested in), battery materials, and hydrogen production and handling.

The grid integration angle is underused. Australia's national electricity market has run at renewable penetration levels European operators are only now approaching, which makes Australian operational data and control technology substantively interesting rather than merely additive to a consortium. That is a strong position to negotiate a work package from.

Agtech and food systems

Cluster 6 covers food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment, with a significant climate-relevant allocation supporting sustainable agriculture and food system transformation.

Australian agtech strengths map well: dryland and water-constrained agriculture, precision agriculture and remote sensing at scale, soil carbon measurement, livestock methane reduction, and biosecurity. The climate-adaptation framing is the natural entry, because Australian agriculture has been managing conditions European agriculture is beginning to face, and that asymmetry is genuinely valuable to a consortium rather than something to talk around.

Watch the geographic scope conditions in Cluster 6 topics. Some are explicitly framed around European farming systems, conditions or regulatory contexts, and an Australian contribution has to be positioned as transferable capability rather than a parallel case study.

Medtech and health

Cluster 1 covers health. Australia's medtech and biotech base is strong, with particular depth in medical devices, diagnostics, clinical trial infrastructure and digital health.

Health is understood to fall within the scope of Australia's association, which would open Cluster 1 to Australian participants alongside the industrial clusters. We would treat this as high-confidence but not yet confirmed against the treaty text, so companies whose entire European strategy depends on Cluster 1 access should watch for the text before committing significant effort.

There is a route that sidesteps the question. Digital health, medical imaging, AI-supported diagnostics and health data technologies often have a home in Cluster 4 as well as Cluster 1, under digital and AI destinations. For a medtech company with a strong data or device-engineering component, a Cluster 4 topic may be both a better fit and a settled eligibility position.

Finding your actual call

The practical sequence. Identify your cluster from the sector sections above. Open the relevant work programme on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal and read the destination introductions, which explain what the Commission is trying to achieve and are far more informative about fit than topic titles.

Shortlist two or three topics and read their full scope and expected outcomes text. Then check the action type and funding rate, and the eligibility and participation conditions, since those occasionally carry restrictions beyond the standard rules.

If two or three topics genuinely fit, you have a real opportunity. If nothing fits without stretching, the honest conclusion is that this work programme is not your entry point, and forcing a bid into a poorly matched topic wastes a year and produces a low score. That is a legitimate outcome, and it is worth reaching quickly.

Once you have a topic, the constraint becomes partners and time. Consortia for 2027 deadlines are forming now, which is covered in the 2027 timeline.

Worth repeating: none of these are single-company scale-up funding. If that is what you need, Pillar II is the wrong instrument regardless of how well a topic fits. The alternative is the EIC Accelerator, run by the European Innovation Council, which the EIC Accelerator gap explains, and the European scale-up route covers what pursuing it does to your company structure.

We are happy to talk through sector fit with Australian companies working out where they land.

FAQ

Are the 2027 call topics published? Yes. The 2026-2027 work programme has been adopted and published, with topic identifiers, scopes and indicative budgets available on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal.

Which clusters suit Australian companies best? Clusters 4, 5 and 6 carry most of the fit: digital and industry, climate and energy, and food and natural resources. Cluster 1 is relevant for health, subject to confirmation of scope.

Can Australian companies apply to any Pillar II topic? From January 2027, as eligible entities from an associated country, subject to each topic's specific eligibility conditions. Some topics carry additional restrictions, particularly in security-adjacent and sovereignty-sensitive areas.

What is the difference between an RIA and an IA? A Research and Innovation Action funds earlier-stage collaborative research at 100% of eligible costs. An Innovation Action funds closer-to-market development at 70% for profit-making participants.

What if no topic fits? Then this work programme is not your entry point. A stretched fit scores badly. Reassess against the successor programme from 2028, or consider whether the EIC pathway suits your need better.

Sources

For the full picture on association, see our [Horizon Europe association guide](/horizon-europe-australia-guide).