Unite! Virtual Matchmaking - Horizon Europe Calls: Health, Urban, Materials, Digital

(Thursday, 19 March 2026 at 13:00-15:30 CET)

Dear researchers of the Unite! university alliance, dear non-academic partners,

as part of the project Unite!Widening (Link), the Unite! alliance is organising a matchmaking with the aim of forging new consortia for highly promising Horizon Europe applications.  

4 focus areas will be covered:

- Health & Biotech

- Urban & Resources Sustainability

- Circular Economy & Materials

- Digital & Autonomous Technologies

The matchmaking will take place in two steps:

1) Virtual pre-matchmaking on 19 March 2026, at 13:00-15:30 CET

• The aim of the meeting is to establish a first contact between potential project coordinators and partners.
• The scope of the meeting is deliberately broad, allowing for up to 48 Horizon Europe topics to be discussed. It is expected, however, that only a fraction of these topics will proceed to the next round: Only the most promising consortia -- including a committed coordinator and several partners -- will be invited to the later in-person meeting. 

2) In-person matchmaking event in Oropa, Italy, on 12-13 May 2026 (details to be confirmed; please save the date!)

• The aim of the meeting is to allow promising consortia to begin in-depth discussions on their joint proposal and to set a clear roadmap for the time until the application deadline. 

If you wish to participate in the virtual pre-matchmaking on 19 March, please fill in the form below. Please note that this registration does not yet require your commitment to travel to Oropa in May. Nor does it guarantee that you will be invited to the latter event. 

The deadline for registrations is 12 March 2026 (end of day, CET).

Please note that the matchmaking process will give strong priority to consortia with a pre-identified coordinator. We therefore encourage you to indicate your potential availability for this role.

However, please note that coordinators are expected to be senior researchers. If Early Career Researchers intend to be coordinators, they should have the support of a senior researcher at their institution. 

During the virtual meeting, each coordinator will have one designated breakout room, in which s/he leads the discussion, supported by Unite! staff. 

Please indicate the Horizon Europe topic you are interested in discussing with potential partners.

The topics are listed in the following order:

- Health & Biotech (17 topics)

- Urban & Resources Sustainability (8 topics)

- Circular Economy & Materials(15 topics)

- Digital & Autonomous Technologies (8 topics)

For the full topic description, please consult the EU's Funding and Tenders Portal or the Horizon Europe Work Programmes for 2026 and 2027 (Link). 

What if you are interested in more than one topic?

--> Since the matchmaking will take place in several breakout rooms (one for each topic with a coordinator), it will not be possible for one person to discuss several topics at the same time. If you are interested in more than one topic, we therefore encourage you to ask a colleague to participate in the event (in addition to yourself). If this is impossible and you would prefer to switch between several breakout rooms (which is not recommended), please fill in the form a second time, then indicating the second topic of your interest. 

What if there is no coordinator for your topic?

--> In this case, the topic will likely not be given a breakout room during the virtual meeting. However, as soon as possible after the registration deadline (12 March), all registered participants will receive an overview of the project ideas submitted by potential coordinators. This will give you the chance to switch to a new topic, i.e. one for which a coordinator has been identified.

Note for coordinators: The description of your project idea will potentially become visible to a large number of people. Therefore, please do not include any sensitive information regarding your person or your project (including anything that you might consider your intellectual property).

For participating in the event, it is required to read and agree to the relevant data protection regulations.

All participants of the matchmaking agree to keep all information shared during discussions strictly confidential. This includes, but is not limited to, innovative research ideas, unpublished data, and proprietary information. Sharing or using such information without explicit permission from the disclosing party is strictly prohibited.