Free help for Horizon proposal preparation

A first Horizon Europe proposal can draw on a good deal of support that is free or publicly funded: National Contact Points, the Enterprise Europe Network, the Funding and Tenders Portal, Commission info days and proposal checks run by NCP networks. These services inform, advise and comment. None of them is set up to write the proposal with you.

National Contact Points

National Contact Points (NCPs) are support structures set up and financed by each country taking part in Horizon Europe. The Commission's minimum standards for NCP systems (version 3.0 of 15 December 2024) give them three groups of core functions: informing and raising awareness, assisting, advising and training, and signposting to other services. That includes help with partner search, advice on rules, costs and consortium roles, and training sessions.

In Lithuania the NCP network is run by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMT) and coordinated together with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. Its website describes the help as qualified and free of charge. The listed services include consultations on participation conditions and on preparing and submitting a proposal, a review of the proposal that the site labels "proof-reading", and advice on financial and administrative questions and on horizontal issues such as gender equality, impact, intellectual property and open science. There are separate contacts per programme part, including legal and financial matters, Cluster 2 (Culture, creativity and inclusive society) and Widening.

Enterprise Europe Network

The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises with international ambitions. It was launched by the European Commission in 2008 and is funded through the Single Market Programme. Local contact points, Lithuania included, give advice and run a database of business and research partnering opportunities. The NCP minimum standards require each country to set up cooperation between NCPs and EEN, with a one-stop-shop service for SMEs.

The Funding and Tenders Portal

Partner Search lets you look up organisations that received funding in the past, and create or read partner search requests per call topic.
The Online Manual explains the process step by step, from applying and evaluation to grant signature and grant management.

Info days and Horizon Implementation Days

Before major deadlines the Commission holds info days where prospective applicants hear about the calls and ask questions, mostly online. Announced dates on 2026-10-08: Cluster 4 on 14-15 October 2026, Cluster 5 on 19 November 2026, Cluster 1 on 26 November 2026 and Cluster 6 on 13-14 January 2027. Horizon Implementation Days are webinars on practical topics. The LMT events calendar lists sessions on grant agreement preparation (8 October 2026), grant management and lump sum funding.

Proposal checks by NCP networks

Ideal-ist, the NCP network for Cluster 4 digital topics, offers a pre-proposal check form that you send to your NCP for feedback on an early idea, and full proposal check events before each call deadline where experts comment on drafts.
NCP_WIDERA.NET offers a free pre-screening service through its WideraExperts platform: external experts review a draft and give structured feedback. The project is reported to run until March 2027.
Net4Society, the Cluster 2 network.

National support in Lithuania

In September 2023 the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport announced a Horizon Europe "acceleration measure" with support for starter projects, feasibility studies and roadmaps, individual expert consulting for Lithuanian coordinators and partners, and group consultations organised by LMT.

When free help stops being enough

The limits follow from how the services are defined. The NCP minimum standards do not list drafting or editing among the core functions. They also require NCPs to give equal treatment to all participants and to stay independent of individual stakeholders. An NCP must not take part in a proposal in the programme part where it gives NCP services and does not provide letters of support for specific proposals. Network checks are tied to fixed dates and give comments on a draft you have already written.

So the following stays with you and your consortium: choosing the topic and the concept, building the partnership and agreeing roles, writing every section, the budget, and the rounds of revision between partners in the last weeks before the deadline.