I3 Strand 1 — Interregional Innovation Investments
Supports interregional innovation investments deploying jointly-developed innovation projects across EU regions.
Description
Objective
Strand 1 of the I3 Instrument seeks to increase the competitiveness and resilience of EU value chains through interregional cooperation and shared smart specialisation areas. The objective is to support consortia of innovation actors from the quadruple-helix ecosystems (academia, industry, government, civil society) with the financial and advisory support needed to bring innovations to a mature level, ready for scale-up and commercialisation.
Areas of intervention
- The development and expansion of existing interregional and cross-border value chains, and stronger connection between regional innovation ecosystems
- Collaboration between innovation actors — especially SMEs — from less-developed regions and innovation actors from more-developed regions, contributing to cohesion
- Support of innovation actors with investment ideas ready to evolve into mature business cases
- Identification of new regional technological domains and market opportunities aligned with EU priorities, bridging supply and demand sides
Thematic priorities
Proposals must address one or more of: Digital transition, Green transition, Smart manufacturing.
What this means for cities and regions
Regional development agencies, innovation agencies, cluster organisations, and public-private partnerships often coordinate I3 consortia on behalf of their regions. For city innovation departments, the typical role is consortium partner alongside local universities, SMEs and start-ups. Funded projects can run up to €10 million each at 70% co-financing, with up to 100% available for cascade funding distributed to SMEs as financial support to third parties (capped at €100,000 per third party).
Key facts
Submission deadline
12 November 2026, 17:00 (Brussels time)
Published
Opens
Programme
Total envelope
Per project
Expected grants
Co-funding rate
Eligibility
Eligible countries
Eligible NUTS regions
—Eligible organisation types
Min. consortium size
—Min. partner countries
—Eligibility notes
Who can apply
- Legal entities, public or private.
- Established in EU-27 (including Overseas Countries and Territories), EEA countries, or countries associated to the I3 Instrument.
- The coordinator must be established in an eligible country.
Consortium rule for this topic
- Minimum 5 independent entities established in 5 different regions of 3 eligible countries.
- The consortium must have at least 2 entities established in a less-developed region.
- The coordinator must be one of: a public body, a not-for-profit organisation, or an entity entrusted by national or regional governments to develop or implement innovation and investment actions for SMEs (cluster organisations, public-private partnerships, development agencies, innovation agencies).
Restrictions and special cases
- Natural persons are not eligible, except sole traders.
- International organisations are eligible.
- EU bodies cannot participate, except the Joint Research Centre.
- Entities from non-EU countries may participate as associated partners, subcontractors, or third parties giving in-kind contributions.
- Exceptional funding for entities from non-EU countries is allowed if the granting authority considers their participation essential.
- Funding rate: up to 70% of eligible costs; up to 100% for financial support to third parties.
- Maximum financial support per third party: €100,000 unless a higher amount is justified.
EU restrictive measures (TEU Article 29 / TFEU Article 215) and EU conditionality measures (Regulation 2020/2092) apply.
Questions and answers
The Commission publishes an official Q&A document on the topic page of the Funding & Tenders Portal. It is updated regularly until the call deadline of 12 November 2026 and is the authoritative reading of the eligibility rules.
Classification
Thematic domains
Activity types
Space relevance
Tier C — space tools could plausibly support the call but aren't named.
Space services
Sources
I3-2026-INV1
Ingested May 20th, 2026
Sibling topics under this call
I3 Strand 2a — Less-developed regions
Supports innovation investments led by less-developed EU regions building capacity for inter-regional innovation collaboration.
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