Activities in Europe

During the period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, Aerospace Valley’s Europe Unit actively pursued its mission of supporting stakeholders in the aeronautics, space and drone sectors in accessing European funding, whilst strengthening the Cluster’s integration into European innovation networks.

Strategic monitoring and analysis of European calls for proposals

The Europe Unit has carried out ongoing monitoring of European innovation funding programmes, notably: Horizon Europe (Clusters, EIC), cascade funding schemes, Clean Aviation, Clean Hydrogen, the European Defence Fund, the Innovation Fund, etc.

It has also produced two comprehensive analyses of the 2025 and 2026 European funding programmes, each covering:

•     +15 European programmes examined
•     +250 calls for proposals analysed

This dynamic monitoring tool is continuously updated in line with the latest calls for proposals: this analysis is exclusively reserved for Aerospace Valley members and can be accessed directly via the Connect by Aerospace Valley collaborative platform.

Support for setting up European projects

The Europe Unit offers personalised support to project leaders, from analysing the project idea to providing guidance on the application dossier, including the search for European partners.

The aim is to increase the chances of success for Aerospace Valley members in European calls for proposals.

During this period, the Europe Unit has placed particular emphasis on schemes dedicated to start-ups and SMEs: no fewer than six EIC applications were reviewed, and support was provided for five projects under the EUDIS and DIANA defence market accelerators.

Management of and participation in European projects

Aerospace Valley is a major player in European R&D&I, having secured over 90 European projects since its creation in 2005, 27 of which it has led as coordinator.

Over this period, the Cluster has participated in 19 project proposals, including 3 as coordinator, covering a range of topics such as: skills retention in the aerospace sector, the adoption of Industry 5.0 technologies, and the transition of cities towards climate neutrality.