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Call key data
GenAI for Africa
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Cluster 4 - Digital, Industry and Space
Call number
HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-HUMAN-08
deadlines
Opening
10.06.2025
Deadline
02.10.2025 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 5,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
between € 1,000,000.00 and € 2,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
Generative AI (GenAI) holds the potential of creating in Africa a rich ecosystem of transformative solutions and practical applications addressing the specific societal challenges and opportunities most of the countries are facing.
Call objectives
The proposals should address one or more of the following:
- Agriculture optimisation: GenAI can analyse satellite imagery and sensor data to monitor state of crops, soil conditions, and weather patterns, enabling farmers to boost crop yields and enhance food security through sophisticated predictive analytics and efficient resource management like water and pesticides. This is crucial to mitigate climate change and poor irrigation infrastructures in some areas of Africa.
- Healthcare: GenAI can diagnose diseases from medical images and patient data, enhancing healthcare in remote areas; forecast disease outbreaks and aid in preventive planning, and with the help of chatbots and virtual assistants can offer medical advice and connect patients with doctors, expanding telemedicine services, making healthcare more accessible to remote populations. Particular attention should be paid to the gender dimension in addressing AI biases, sex-specific healthcare needs, and intersecting gender and racial inequalities in health and access to health services.
- Infrastructure and urban planning: GenAI optimises energy usage, integrates renewables, and ensures efficient distribution, while managing water (including groundwater but also rainfall use) and waste (e.g. plastic reduction and reuse) effectively for sustainability, and enhancing safety with real-time incident detection. It also provides support for reconstruction following natural or human-made disasters. This is vital for some African communities with scarce natural resources like water and facing high temperatures by using Digital Twins on urban and rural areas. All these technological solutions depend strongly on the existence and quality of connectivity infrastructure, as a key enabler for unlocking the Digital and Green Transition.
- Digital Skills and learning: Generative AI can personalize learning paths, create multilingual educational content, and offer on-demand virtual tutoring, benefiting rural communities with low resources and fully relying on mobile phones to access online services. Additionally, adaptive learning platforms can use data analytics to tailor teaching, while engineers craft queries to help AI models understand local languages and nuances to set up conversational chatbots for local communities.
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Expected effects and impacts
The proposals should approach these objectives by:
- Conducting an evidence-based analysis to identify particular needs in Africa that GenAI technologies could solve, for one or several of the topics mentioned above.
- Identifying solutions on GenAI developed in the EU that could be applied in Africa for one or several of the topics mentioned above.
- Based on existing EU-based solutions and particular needs, developing and integrating generative Artificial Intelligence models and algorithms specifically adapted for one or several of the abovementioned key areas.
- Involving and supporting start-ups and local networks in 3 to 5 locations in Africa to create innovative solutions to uniquely African challenges in those areas based on GenAI. Co-creation and living lab methodologies should be explored to boost social uptake of proposed solutions. Living labs are ecosystems of experimentation and open innovation, with a systematic approach to co-creation among their users, whether they are researchers, businesses, civil society or public administrations. These open innovation spaces will enable researchers and local actors from the public and private sectors work together using digital technologies to co-create knowledge and solutions that respond to their societal needs, while improving territorial cohesion.
- The approved projects should take into account the AI Act and GDPR as the main legal frameworks to ensure data protection of the data used within third countries.
Where relevant proposals are encouraged to build on, or seek collaboration with, existing projects and develop synergies with other relevant European initiatives. In particular links are encouraged with the projects funded under international cooperation on AI for public good, in the areas of health, digital twin for reconstruction, emergency response and electric grid optimisation, Destination Earth, Copernicus.
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Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:
- African societies benefit from innovative solutions on GenAI applied to key areas:
- Local technological companies in some locations in Africa benefit from the technological capacity to develop targeted solutions to unlock the full potential of GenAI Digital in key areas with the primary focus on rural communities in Africa and women, being an underrepresented group but with a key role in the foundation of these societies.
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Canada, Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Switzerland (Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
EU Body, Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- Legal entities created under EU law (EU bodies) including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
- Joint Research Centre (JRC)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
- EU restrictive measures — Entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) as well as Article 75 TFEU, are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).
- Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine — Given the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the involvement of Belarus, there is currently no appropriate context allowing the implementation of the actions foreseen in this programme with legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine. Therefore, even where such entities are not subject to EU restrictive measures, such legal entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity. This includes participation as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any). Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons.
With specific regard to measures addressed to Russia, following the adoption of the Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745 of 24 June 2024 (amending Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014) concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, legal entities established outside Russia but whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 50% by a legal person, entity or body established in Russia are also not eligible to participate in any capacity. - Measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary — Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022, no legal commitments can be entered into with Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. Affected entities may continue to apply to calls for proposals and can participate without receiving EU funding, as associated partners, if allowed by the call conditions. However, as long as the Council measures are not lifted, such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties, etc.).In case of multi-beneficiary grant calls, applicants will be invited to remove or replace that entity in any funded role and/or to change its status into associated partner. Tasks and budget may be redistributed accordingly.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information
Applications must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Applications must be submitted using the forms provided inside the electronic submission system (not the templates available on the topic page, which are only for information). The structure and presentation must correspond to the instructions given in the forms.
Applications must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.
Activities are expected to start at TRL 4 and achieve TRL 6 by the end of the project.
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