Please consult the details of the application procedures available on the QuantERA webpage: https://quantera.eu/call-2025/.

The Call follows a one-stage submission and evaluation procedure.

Proposals must be submitted via dedicated Electronic Submission System which will be accessible via QuantERA website.

Eligibility

Eligible beneficiaries include international consortia comprising a minimum three eligible partners and requesting funding from at least three different countries contributing national funds to the Call.

The project consortium as a whole must be eligible with respect to transnational rules. Each partner must fulfil the conditions of the national/regional funding organisation, as detailed in the Call documentation.

The Call is open to international consortia involving partners from entities such as:

1. Universities,
2. Public research institutes, organisations, and centres,
3. Private entities conducting research in QT.

The grant for one legal entity being a partner organisation in one or more project consortia in the Call cannot exceed 1,000,000.00 EUR. This maximum amount, however, may be higher if the objective of the action would be impossible or overly difficult to achieve (and duly substantiated).

Evaluation

The evaluation relies on international Evaluation Panels of experts, one for the Call topic of Quantum Phenomena and Resources (QPR) and one for Applied Quantum Science (AQS).

Proposals are evaluated based on the criteria of Excellence, Impact, and Quality and efficiency of the implementation.

Each evaluation criterion is assigned a score (ranging from 0 to 5) along with a corresponding weight. The threshold for each of the three criteria used for the evaluation is 3. The overall threshold, applying to the sum of the 3 individual scores with their respective coefficients, is 12 points.

Selection

Based on the two ranking lists (AQS, QPR) provided by the Evaluation Panels, a final list of projects selected for funding will be approved by the QuantERA Call Steering Committee (CSC). CSC is the highest decision-making body of the QuantERA Call 2025, composed of Research Funding Organisations participating in the Call.

Whilst typically the highest-ranked proposals will be selected for funding, there may be cases where a proposal cannot be funded due to budget constraints. Specifically, this may occur if one or more funding agencies have exhausted their budgets with no possibility of an increase, the European Commission's contribution through the gap-filling mechanism cannot cover the shortfall, and reducing the funding for project(s) supported by the affected Research Funding Organisation(s) is either impossible or would significantly impact the original proposal, i.e. such reductions could alter the proposal’s scope to the extent that its original ranking would be called into question. In such exceptional circumstances when the project in question cannot be funded, and the relevant funding agencies approve such solution, the choice may pass to the next highest-ranked proposal which can be fully supported.

If at a given rank in the list not all ex aequo proposals can be selected, the criteria listed below will be applied in the following order:

1. Maximisation of overall funding output – prioritising projects to ensure the highest possible overall funding is distributed,
2. Comparability of success rates between topics – ensuring that the rates for both AQS and QPR topics are comparable,
3. Inclusivity of funding across organisations – ensuring, if possible, that each funding organisation supports at least one proposal,
4. Prioritisation of projects from Widening countries and territories – giving preference to projects that involve partners from Widening countries and territories,
5. Gender balance – considering gender balance amongst the key personnel responsible for carrying out the research and/or innovation activities as a factor in prioritisation.

This ordering reflects GA Part B and will be strictly applied.