International cooperation in AI (IA)
Forthcoming
Status as published by the data source.
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to one of the following outcomes:
• Faster uptake of tailored and enhanced AI solutions at innovation hubs in low- and middle-income countries by training and optimising them with local data and applied research.
• Easier large-scale deployment of local AI solutions in low and middle-income countries by increasing the efficiency of system demonstration in relevant, operational environments.
• Strengthened local innovation ecosystems that foster sustainable socio-economic impact by addressing key societal challenges in areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, and environmental sustainability. Scope:
System prototype, testing, validation, and demonstration in operational environment aligned to EU initiatives, such as the International Digital Strategy for the EU[1] and the AI Continent Action Plan[2], to strengthen local AI ecosystems in African countries fostering responsible AI development, north-south digital cooperation on AI, and sustainable AI innovation.
The main goal is to support the digital transition and foster inclusive economic and social transformation of partners globally by adapting and applying innovative solutions, research areas and capabilities developed in Europe to low- and middle-income countries.
This Innovation Action will focus on accelerating the uptake of and access to AI solutions by local innovation hubs in these countries, better enabling their practical implementation and future market deployment in operational environments. Proposals should consider synergies and complementarity of ongoing research and innovation activities in the policy areas of international partnerships, digital and infrastructure like the Digital for Development Hub[3] and AI for Public Good[4], and may follow an approach like Living Labs. Proposals should also support the European Union’s Global Gateway strategy to boost smart, clean, and secure connections in digital, energy and transport sectors, and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world. Proposals should enable AI technologies that are locally relevant and sustainable, empower local communities and platforms, and reflect the EU’s emphasis on sustainable and resilient global partnerships.
The proposals must support digital partnerships and international digital cooperation to promote an approach to AI that enhances human well-being and societal progress through:
• Support for gathering of and access to local data in line with EU’s data strategy for the training and optimisation of existing AI algorithms developed in initiatives like AI for Public Good and GenAI for Africa.
• Establishment and support of Living Labs within local innovation hubs in low-income countries, fostering co-creation spaces where community members, researchers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers can collaboratively tailor, enhance, test, and iterate AI-driven solutions. These Living Labs will serve as platforms for experiential learning, inclusive participation, and sustainable technology adoption.
• Tailored and contextualized AI-based solutions developed through a bottom-up approach, driven by the specific needs of low-income communities. These solutions will be trained and adapted using local data sources, enabling meaningful knowledge transfer and empowering local stakeholders with relevant and actionable technologies.
• Contribution, where possible, to solving global sustainable development challenges, especially climate and agriculture, biodiversity, health and humanitarian needs, education.
• Fostering an enabling innovation environment with reinforced talent pipelines and technological transfer of AI algorithms and solutions to local innovation hub.
• Full testing and validation of the solutions in real-life with scenarios and initial support to large-scale deployment in low and middle-income countries. Capitalise from existing EU initiatives like the call GenAI for Africa from HE WP25, the Global Gateway, and Smart Africa to up-scale the deployment of solutions in low-income countries.
Beneficiaries that intend to transfer ownership or grant an exclusive licence must formally notify the granting authority (i.e. DG-CNECT and HaDEA) before the intended transfer or licensing takes place and the granting authority may up to four years after the end of the action object to a transfer of ownership or the exclusive licensing of results.
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Activities are expected to start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52025JC0140
[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52025DC0165
[3] https://d4dhub.eu/
[4] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/ai-public-good
- Status
- Forthcoming
- Deadline
- (time not stated)
- Opens
- Published
- Total budget
- €3,000,000
- Grant range
- €1,500,000 – €1,500,000
- Country
- European Union (EU-wide)
- Programme
- Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- Official page
- Open at the source portal
Other calls under Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- PV based electrification of the economy: Designing & optimising PV systems supporting industrial electrification and promoting participation in electricity markets (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Advanced TSO control rooms to enhance grid observability, stability and resilience
- Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution grids
- Community of practice - Data-Driven Decision-Making in Energy
- Industrial processes and equipment for innovative, reliable and scalable tandem technologies (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Integrated Approaches for Retrofitting Infrastructures with Innovative Energy Storage Technologies
- Demonstration of hydropower technologies for efficient and forward-looking refurbishment of existing hydropower plants
- Delivery of industrial CCUS clusters – Societal Readiness pilot
All calls under this programme
Similar opportunities
- EU Frontier AI Initiative: Developing frontier AI solutions that are safe and computationally efficient within Apply AI (RIA)
- Energy efficiency and sustainability of AI data processing in Data Centres (IA)
- Startup Europe
- AI supporting informed advice for farmers and foresters to improve competitiveness and sustainability
- Apply AI: Challenge-Driven AI Innovation Booster in Apply AI prioritised sectors (RIA) (Partnership in AI, Data and Robotics)
- Large scale operational validation and upscaling of state-of-the-art (Generative) AI tools and models powering a next generation digital energy system
Where this came from
- Source document
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/data/topicDetails/horizon-cl4-2027-04-digital-emerging-06.json
- Document fingerprint
d5478208a7d97664(SHA-256, first 16 hex characters)- Retrieved
- First recorded here
What has changed
- url first recorded as https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/horizon-cl4-2027-04-digital-emerging-06 on
- currency first recorded as EUR on
- amount_max first recorded as 1500000.00 on
- amount_min first recorded as 1500000.00 on
- budget_total first recorded as 3000000.00 on
- deadline first recorded as 2027-03-18 on
- opens_on first recorded as 2026-11-17 on
- published_on first recorded as 2025-12-12 on
- status_basis first recorded as source_status on
- status first recorded as forthcoming on
- title first recorded as International cooperation in AI (IA) on
Data source
© European Union, 2026. Source: EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU — CC BY 4.0.
Retrieved from the source on .
The source last updated this document on Mon, 02 Mar 2026 09:46:26 GMT.
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