HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-12
Standards for Quantum Technologies – Coordination and Support Action (CSA) -
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Call text (as on F&T portal)
View on F&T portalExpected Outcome:
This action will support and accelerate the development and adoption of European and international standards for quantum technologies, enhancing interoperability quality/reliability assurance, and trust in quantum systems. It will strengthen Europe's leadership in the global quantum standardisation landscape and ensure that European industrial and research priorities are well represented and integrated into emerging standards.
Expected outcomes include:
- Delivery of concrete, EU-relevant pre-normative standards and technical specifications across quantum computing, communication, and sensing.
- Substantial contribution of European stakeholders, notably SMEs and start-ups in international standardisation bodies (e.g., ISO/IEC, ITU-T, ETSI), with alignment to EU industrial strategies.
- Promotion of cross-sectoral interoperability through standardised interfaces, control protocols, reliability in operating conditions and benchmarking methodologies, reducing market fragmentation and technical barriers.
- Creation of practical support tools such as user guidelines, training modules, and best practices to accelerate the uptake and implementation of quantum standards.
Scope:
The CSA will coordinate and support standardisation activities for quantum technologies in areas such as quantum computing, communication, sensing, and control. Proposals should include:
- Build on the roadmaps of European standardisation organisations to (i) standardise results from quantum projects funded under Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme, and EuroHPC JU in line with stakeholder priorities, and (ii) foster an active industrial standardisation community to promote engagement and uptake within the European quantum industry.
- Enabling broad stakeholder participation in international standardisation activities (e.g. ISO/IEC, ITU-T, ETSI), promoting EU priorities.
- Support interoperability and integration of quantum systems through standardisation of interfaces, protocols, and benchmarking methodologies.
- Develop explanatory documentation and training material to facilitate adoption and implementation of the developed standards.
- Drafting and developing concrete standards or technical specifications, in cooperation with relevant standardisation bodies, in areas such as:
- Hardware-software interfaces in quantum computing,
- Quantum sensing protocols and metrology methods,
- Control electronics and device modularity for quantum systems,
- Performance and benchmarking methodologies.
- Supporting the participation of quantum stakeholders in European and international standardisation organisations (e.g. CEN-CENELEC, ETSI, ISO/IEC, ITU-T)
- Coordination with existing European and international standardisation organisations to ensure alignment and avoid duplication.
- Development of support materials such as user guides, training modules, and best practices for the standards developed.
- Organisation of workshops and consultations with quantum stakeholders (including SMEs, start-ups, and large industry) to ensure inclusivity and consensus building.
The proposal must present a clear plan for stakeholder engagement, deliverables, and budget justification, including person-days per task and daily rates. A single proposal is expected. European standardisation organisations (ESOs) are encouraged to lead or be key partners in the consortium.
News flashes
PROPOSAL NUMBERS
Call HORIZON-CL4-2026-04 has closed on 15.04.2026
312 proposals have been submitted.
The breakdown per topic is:
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DATA-02
31
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DATA-03
6
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DATA-06
63
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-14
1
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-15
2
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-17
1
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-HUMAN-01
105
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-HUMAN-02
32
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01
4
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-08
8
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-09
41
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-19
18
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in July 2026.
The European Commission intends to cancel this topic. As of today, therefore, the submission platform for this topic is no longer accessible.
The envisioned cancellation follows the adoption of COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2026/150 of 16 January 2026 amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 on establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, which enlarged the mandate of EuroHPC joint undertaking to encompass, inter alia, quantum technologies. Consequently, EuroHPC JU may include in its own work programme for 2026 similar topics and potentially open them for submission in the second half of this year. Any relevant information will be made available by EuroHPC JU and information on all calls decided under the EuroHPC work programmes is also available here. Applicants may also refer to the EuroHPC JU website.
The cancellation is subject to the update of the Work Programme, once all necessary procedural steps for its adoption are finalised. It is currently foreseen in fourth quarter of 2026.
If your lump sum budget contains any cost items in cost category C and/or D, please make sure to justify these items in the ‘Any comments’ sheet of the Excel detailed lump sum budget table.
The reason is that we simplified the proposal template, removing this information from Part B and bringing it closer to the relevant budget items.
Specifically, you must include justification in the ‘Any comments’ sheet if you are in any of the following situations:
- If the sum of the costs for ’travel and subsistence’, ‘equipment’, and ‘other goods, works and services’ (i.e. the purchase costs) exceeds 15% of the personnel costs for a participant. If this is the case, justify the most expensive cost item(s) up to the level that the remaining costs are below 15% of personnel costs.
- If other cost categories (e.g. internally invoiced goods and services) are used.
- If in-kind contributions are used (non-financial resources made available free of charge by third parties, which must be included as direct costs in the corresponding cost category, e.g. personnel costs or purchase costs for equipment).
Opening date: 2026-01-15 (3 months ago)
Closing date: 2026-04-15 (3 weeks ago)
Procedure: single-stage
Budget: 1,000,000
Expected grants: 1
Contribution: 1,000,000 - 1,000,000
This call topic has been appended 4 times by the EC with news.
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2026-05-07
proposal numbers call horizon-cl4-2026-... -
2026-05-07
the european commission intends to cance... -
2026-05-07
if your lump sum budget contains any cos... -
2026-05-07
the submission session is now available...
HORIZON-CL4-2026-04
Call topics are often grouped together in a call. Sometimes this is for a thematic reason, but often it is also for practical reasons.
There are 14 other topics in this call:
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DATA-02
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DATA-03
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DATA-06
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-08
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-09
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-11
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-14
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-15
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-17
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-18
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-19
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-HUMAN-01
- HORIZON-CL4-2026-04-HUMAN-02
Showing the latest information. Found 8 versions of this call topic in the F&T portal.
Information from
- 2026-04-16_06-32-49
- 2026-04-10_06-32-58
- 2026-03-03_06-32-33
- 2026-02-19_06-32-03
- 2026-01-20_06-30-58
- 2026-01-15_06-30-55
- 2026-01-14_06-30-50
- 2025-12-16_06-30-54
Check the differences between the versions.
Annotations
Events
Horizon Europe Cluster 4 Digital Matchmaking Platform
2025-11-12 -> 2026-12-31
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Horizon Europe Cluster 4 Digital Matchmaking Platform
2025-11-12 -> 2026-12-31
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Find your collaboration partners for EU projects in the digital domain of Cluster 4 here!
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2026-01-29 -> 2026-01-30
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During the Info Days, representatives of the European Commission will present the 2026 call topics in Horizon Europe Cluster 4 and answer questions from the audience. You do not need to register to attend this online event, simply follow the live stream on the day.
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2026-02-04 -> 2026-02-05
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Call topic timeline
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Work programme available
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Today
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- 7 months from nowThe maximum time to sign grant agreements (TTG) is three months from the date of informing applicants.
Funded Projects
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Project information comes from CORDIS (for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe) and will be sourced from F&T Portal (for Digital Europe projects)