Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation improve Europe's innovation capacity through strategic cooperation of higher education, vocational education and training, and companies.
Ammatillisen koulutuksen opiskelija ja taustalla opettaja
Photo: Satu Haavisto

The aim of Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation is to:

  • ensure the availability of competence needed in the world of work in the future
  • reduce the skills shortage by developing the curricula in higher education and vocational education and training (VET)
  • and to strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity by supporting the exchange of knowledge and entrepreneurial mindsets.

The activities are particularly focused on digital skills and fields that have been identified as strategically central to Europe's sustainable growth and competitiveness.

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Two different types of projects are funded in Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation:

Lot 1: Alliances for Education and Enterprises

Alliances for Education and Enterprises promote cooperation between companies and both higher education and VET providers. They may focus on one or several economic sectors.

Although at least one VET organisation and one higher education organisation must be involved in every partnership, the partnerships may address either both or only one of these educational fields.

The duration of Alliances for Education and Enterprises is 2 or 3 years, and the grant is a maximum of 1 - 1.5 million euros.
 

Lot 2: Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills

Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills are aimed at creating new strategic approaches and cooperation to develop competence in certain fields that have been identified in the European Skills Agenda, or the Pact for Skills.

A proposal may concern an ecosystem that is not covered by an on-going Blueprint project or an ecosystem that has already an on-going Blueprint. In the latter case, the proposal must address fields and areas that are clearly different from those addressed by the on-going Blueprint project/s

The duration of Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills is 4 years and the grant is a maximum of 4 million euros.

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The organisations and countries mentioned below can participate in Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation.

Alliances for Education and Enterprises

  • partners from at least four different EU member states or third countries associated to the Programme
  • a minimum of eight participating organisations, at least three of which must represent the world of work and three the education sector
  • at least one of the education and training organisations must be a higher education institution and at least one a VET provider
  • in addition, different organisations from Programme Countries as well as from third countries not associated to the Programme may participate in the projects. Russia and Belarus can't be included in the projects. 

Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills

  • must be registered members of the Pact for Skills
  • partners from at least eight different EU member states or third countries associated to the Programme
  • a minimum of 12 participating organisations, at least five of which must represent the world of work and five education and training organisations
  • at least one of the education and training organisations must be a higher education institution and at least one a VET provider
  • in addition, different organisations from Programme Countries as well as from third countries not associated to the Programme may participate in the projects. Russia and Belarus can't be included in the projects. 
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The application process is managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The organisation coordinating the project submits the application to EACEA, which evaluates and selects the projects to be funded.

Application deadline

The 2024 application round ended on 7 March 2024 at 18:00 Finnish time (17:00 CET).

Application forms and instructions are published on the Commission's Funding & Tenders application portal.

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Support and guidance for the application process are provided by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Additionally, EDUFI informs about the action in Finland and advises Finnish applicants on general application questions. Contact information can be found at the bottom of the page.

Information about EACEA and EDUFI's applicant webinars, as well as their materials, can be found below.

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Funding was granted to Finnish organisations in the application rounds of 2021, 2022 and 2023.

In EACEA's project database, Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation projects can be found in the Topic menu under the code INNO.

Finnish organisations in Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation
Explore the projects of Finnish organisations in the Excel spreadsheet. You can find more information through the external link in the table.
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Participants’ experiences of Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation projects.

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Contact the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) responsible for the application: EACEA-EPLUS-ALLIANCES [at] ec.europa.eu (EACEA-EPLUS-ALLIANCES[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

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