MBIE Horizon Europe top-up funding scheme

MBIE’s top-up funding is intended to help New Zealand partners in Horizon Europe projects cover the full cost of their participation, recognising that the way we fund our research organisations is different than in Europe.

Projects funded under Horizon Europe receive a flat rate of 25% of eligible direct costs from the European Commission to cover indirect costs, also referred to as overheads. The MBIE top-up funding brings the funded overhead costs, in most cases, to 100% for New Zealand participants.

The funding available

The overheads Top-Up scheme is available for New Zealand entities contracted by the European Commission under Horizon Europe Pillar 2 programmes, with funding provided through the Catalyst Fund.

The overheads Top-Up is set at an additional 60% on top of each grant. A cap of NZD $1.05 million top-up funding per project applies.

Eligibility

For an application for top-up funding to be eligible, the applicant must meet all the eligibility criteria set out below. Proposals that do not meet these criteria will be declined for funding on eligibility grounds. To be eligible for funding, you must:

• be a New Zealand legal entity
• be a consortium partner in a Horizon Europe Pillar 2 action (excluding Cluster 2 grant calls opening on or after 1 February 2025 see information below).
• have submitted a completed registration for participation for top-up funding with MBIE no later than 10 working days after the Horizon Europe call for proposals closing date.
• meet the administrative requirements of MBIE; this may include providing supporting documentation. This includes providing a copy of your European Union (EU) grant agreement if you are approved for funding.
• not be a department of the public service as listed in Schedule 2 of the Public Service Act 2020.
• projects must not benefit a Russian state institution (including but not limited to support for Russian military or security activity) or an organisation outside government that may be perceived as contributing to the war effort.

Please note that where there are multiple New Zealand partners in the same project, each entity must register their participation separately to be eligible for top-up funding.

A cap of NZD$1.05 million (excluding GST) of top-up funding is available per project. If multiple New Zealand partners are involved in the same project and the combined top-up funding exceeds the cap, the funding will be pro-rated according to each partner’s share of the budget.

Application information

All registrations and applications are done through MBIE’s Pītau investment management system, a secure online portal. Pītau lets applicants view, edit, and submit funding applications and manage contracts.

Pītau investment management system

Application for the top-up scheme is a two-stage process.

Stage 1: Registration

• Each applicant must register within 10 working days of your Horizon Europe submission.
• You will need to provide some basic information about the project, such as your consortium partners and requested budget.
• You may use the registration template provided to draft the required information. When ready to submit, copy and paste the information into the appropriate Pītau fields.
• Registrations must be completed in full and submitted to MBIE to be considered eligible.
• Successful Horizon Europe consortia will prepare a grant agreement with the European Commission. Once the grant agreement is signed, you can proceed to the application stage to request MBIE Top-Up funding.

Stage 2: Application.

• Use the application template provided to draft the required information. When ready to submit, you can copy and paste your content into the appropriate Pītau fields and upload your supporting documentation where directed.
• You will need to confirm the final project details and provide some additional information about the project from the Horizon Europe grant agreement.
• The information in the application will form the basis of the MBIE funding contract.

Key documents

When developing your application, we encourage you to consult the following key reference documents.

Sample funding contract for Horizon Europe top-up-fund [PDF, 456 KB]

Use this template to help you register:

Horizon Europe Top-up Scheme Registration Template - Catalyst Fund [DOCX, 167 KB]

Use this template to help you submit your application:

Horizon Europe Top-Up Scheme Application Template - Catalyst Fund [DOCX, 143 KB]

Funding decisions

The final funding decisions on which New Zealand organisations will receive funding will be made by the Fund Manager – Specialised Investments at MBIE. They may:

• set pre-contractual conditions which must be met before the investment is contracted
• set special conditions in addition to the general terms and conditions set out in the Fund’s Funding Contract
• vary the contract title (in consultation with the applicant)
• vary the proposed term of the project
• vary the funding allocation.

MBIE will advise all New Zealand applicants of the funding decision by email. Details of the successful projects will be published on MBIE's website.

Funding calculations

The Top-up funding will be calculated using the ‘European Union (EU) grant amount’ in your European Commission grant agreement. This is converted from Euros to New Zealand dollars based on the Royal Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) exchange rate on the day of signing the grant agreement.

MBIE uses the following formula to work out Top-Up funding:

(EU grant amount x 0.6) / RBNZ exchange rate = Top-Up funding

Supplemental funding for Crown Research Institutes 

Additional funding is available to Crown Research Institutes (CRI) in instances where the European Commission considers the CRI to be a for-profit entity. 

This supplemental funding ensures CRIs receive an equivalent level of project funding as ‘non-profit’ research organisations.  

In these cases, MBIE uses the following formula:

((EU grant amount + supplemental MBIE funding) x 0.6) / RBNZ exchange rate = Top-Up funding

Please see two examples below.

Example Top-Up and supplemental funding for a CRI and non-CRI project

NZ University project

• Total Eligible Costs (project costs plus 25% overheads): $100,000
• EU grant amount: $100,000
• CRI supplemental project fund: $0
• Top-Up amount: $60,000 (Top-Up = EU grant amount x 0.6)
• Final project funding (EU plus MBIE): $160,000 ($100,000 from the EU, $60,000 from MBIE)

CRI project

• Total Eligible Costs (project costs plus 25% overheads): $100,000
• EU grant amount: $70,000
• CRI supplemental project fund: $30,000
• Top-Up amount: $60,000 (Top-Up = (CRI supplemental project funding + EU grant amount)) x 0.6
• Final project funding (EU plus MBIE): $160,000 ($70,000 from the EU, $90,000 from MBIE)

Contracting

Successful applicants will enter into a funding contract with MBIE (see contract template in the documents section), subject to any special conditions being met. 

Reporting and monitoring

Contract holders are required to provide an annual declaration that the organisation remains an active partner and has met all project requirements.

MBIE may request copies of the New Zealand partner’s reporting to the European Commission.

Contact details

For more information, email: HorizonEuropeBidRegistration@mbie.govt.nz