Want to find out whether your product can sell in India, Brazil, Kenya or Japan before you spend a fortune on it? Eureka's Innowwide programme has opened its fifth call: €4.2 million for 70 market feasibility projects, at a fixed €60,000 each. A single SME applies on its own, together with a local partner in the target country. Here's who can apply, what it pays for and how to get in before the deadline.
What's new in Call 5
The call opened on 1 October 2026 and closes on 1 December 2026 at 14:00 Brussels time, according to the official call page. Last year's Call 4 closed on 25 November. Two things changed, Eureka's applicant webinar shows:
- Your company must be at least two years old. It must have been legally established on or before 1 December 2024, whatever its parent or sister companies. Startups founded later can't apply this round.
- Market numbers need a source. The impact section now asks where your market-size and revenue figures come from, or how you calculated them. Eureka encourages total and serviceable addressable market (TAM/SAM) estimates.
For market sizing that convinces evaluators, see our guide to market analysis in grant applications.
Who can apply
- One SME, applying alone. Innowwide is a mono-beneficiary programme: only your company signs the grant agreement. Check that you meet the EU SME definition.
- Based in one of 33 countries: the 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
- At least two years old by the deadline. A young company without closed annual accounts can still apply, but may be asked for a business plan.
- With an independent local partner legally established in the target country, as main subcontractor. It can be a company, a university or another legal entity, but not your own subsidiary.
- Not eligible: sole traders and self-employed people, branches without their own legal personality, and SMEs funded in an earlier Innowwide call (2022–2025). Each company can submit only one application.
The target country must be in Africa, the Americas, Asia or Oceania. Israel and Türkiye can't be targets, because their SMEs can apply themselves. Only civil applications are funded.
What Innowwide pays for
Innowwide funds a six-month market feasibility project: checking whether your innovation works technically, legally and commercially in one market outside Europe. The call is bottom-up, so any sector or technology is welcome. Your innovation must be at least at TRL 4 (validated in the lab) and at most TRL 8 in the target country. If you need a refresher, read our guide to technology readiness levels.
The Call 5 guidelines list the eligible activities. Your workplan must combine all three of the first groups:
- Co-creation and technology uptake: work with the local partner, IP and freedom-to-operate checks, certification and homologation, partner matchmaking and small-scale proofs of concept.
- Market research: customer and competitor analysis, distribution partners, suppliers and market barriers.
- Compliance checks: legal and administrative due diligence and local business practices.
Business development trips and promotional material are optional extras. Innowwide doesn't fund R&D itself, business plans or trips on their own, and the project must not become a commercial launch or a scale-up of production.
How much you get, and when
Every funded project gets the same fixed grant of €60,000. Because the maximum funding rate is 70%, your budget must show total eligible costs of at least €86,000, and you cover the rest yourself. Eligible costs are staff, the subcontractor, travel, equipment depreciation and other purchases, plus a 25% flat rate for indirect costs (not on subcontracting). There's no fixed cap on the subcontractor's share, but it must be above zero. For how to plan the co-funding, see match funding requirements.
Payment comes in two parts: 70% (€42,000) as pre-financing within a month of signing the grant agreement, and the remaining 30% (€18,000) after Eureka accepts your final report.
How to apply
- Start with your partner. Finding a local subcontractor takes time; universities may need weeks to clear a contract. The partner you name can't be changed later.
- Get your PIC number from the EU Funding & Tenders Portal in good time. Our guide to registrations for EU grants explains how.
- Register on SmartSimple, fill in the short mandatory pre-questionnaire, then the application in English. Use the mandatory workplan template with a Gantt chart and work package tables: an incomplete workplan is the most common reason for rejection.
- Invite your partner to accept the commitment and declaration of honour on the platform. Accepting the email invitation isn't enough.
- Submit before 1 December 2026, 14:00 Brussels time. Previous applicants needed 40 to 80 hours to complete an application, Eureka says. Generative AI is allowed, but you are responsible for what you submit.
How proposals are scored
Two remote experts score each eligible proposal out of 100. Impact carries the most weight:
The best 105 proposals go to an independent panel and an ethics review, and the top 70 are offered grants, with a reserve list. Eureka's planned timeline: eligibility results in early December 2026, evaluation results in March 2027, the ranking list in April 2027, and grant agreements and project starts around the end of May or June 2027 (the dates after the deadline are estimates).
How competitive is it?
Very. Applications rose from 272 in Call 1 to 834 in Call 4, while the number of grants stayed at 70, so the success rate fell from 19.9% to 8.7%. Eureka expects more than 900 applications this time. Since 2022, Innowwide has funded 260 projects in more than 50 target countries, such as Microfy Systems from Spain testing its product in New Zealand.
Innowwide or another Eureka or EIC call?
Planning an R&D project with foreign partners? See our Eurostars guide, and for the EIC dates, the last 5 EIC deadlines of 2026.
Never miss a deadline
Innowwide, Eurostars and dozens of other EU and national calls are in our grant deadlines calendar.
FAQ: Innowwide Call 5
When is the Innowwide Call 5 deadline?
1 December 2026 at 14:00 Brussels time (CET). The call opened on 1 October 2026.
How much funding does Innowwide give?
A fixed grant of €60,000 per project. With a maximum funding rate of 70%, total eligible costs must be at least €86,000; 70% of the grant is paid up front.
Can a startup apply to Innowwide alone?
Yes, if it is an SME established on or before 1 December 2024. Innowwide is mono-beneficiary, but you need an independent local subcontractor in the target country.
Which countries can be target markets?
Any country in Africa, the Americas, Asia or Oceania, except Israel and Türkiye (their SMEs are eligible applicants).
I won Innowwide before. Can I apply again?
No. SMEs funded in Calls 1 to 4 (2022–2025) are not eligible for Call 5.
When will Innowwide Call 5 results be announced?
Eureka estimates evaluation results in March 2027 and the ranking list in April 2027, with projects starting around the end of May or June 2027.
