Alliances for Education and Enterprises

Overview

Objectives

These Alliances aim to foster innovation in higher education, vocational education and training, enterprises and the broader socioeconomic environment. In particular, Alliances for Education and Enterprises intends to achieve one or more of the following objectives:

• Fostering new, innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning;
• Supporting skills development in the STEM domains;
• Supporting the setting up of incubators within education and training institutions across Europe;
• Promoting corporate social responsibility;
• Fostering a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial attitudes, mind-sets and skills in learners, educational staff and other workers;
• Improving the quality and relevance of skills developed and certified through education and training systems;
• Facilitating the exchange and co-creation of knowledge between higher education and vocational education and training, research, the public sector and the business sector;
• Building and supporting effective and efficient higher education and vocational education and training systems.

Activities/actions supported

Projects should normally last 24 or 36 months (with the duration chosen at application stage) and cover at least one of the following activities: boosting innovation; developing a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mind-sets, competences and skills; stimulating the flow and exchange of knowledge between higher education, VET, enterprises and research; identifying resilience-related, market needs and emerging professions.

For more details on the activities to be implemented, please see the text of the call.

Anticipated outcomes

The Alliances are meant to strengthen synergies between stakeholder, fostering innovation, new skills, a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mind-sets. Moreover, Alliances are expected to contribute to the development of regional innovation eco-systems and directly provide a valuable input to the economy, integrating work-based learning. At a larger scale, Alliances for Innovation are expected to target societal and economic challenges, both in education and employment, and to address key areas such as innovation challenges, skills provision, addressing severe skills gaps, climate change, green economy, demography, digitisation and artificial intelligence.

Alliances are meant to have a short- and long-term impact on the wider range of stakeholders involved, at individual, organisational and systemic level, including beyond the project's lifetime.

Institution providing the funding

EACEA

Size of funding

EUR 1 million per 2-year project
EUR  1.5 million per 3-year project

Conditions

Overview of eligibility criteria

The applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities, if applicable) must be public or private organisations established in an EU Member State or third country associated to the  Erasmus+ Programme.

Consortia must must cover at least 4 EU Member States or third countries associated to theErasmus+ Programme, involving a minimum of 8 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities). The consortium must include at least 3 labour market actors (enterprises or companies, or representative intermediary organisations, such as chambers, trade unions or trade associations) and at least 3 education and training providers (VET and HEIs), as applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities). There should be at least one HE institution and one VET provider involved as applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) in each proposal.

Overview of award criteria

Award criteria include the following:

• Relevance of the project (maximum score 25 points): this includes, among others, the relevance of the proposal to EU-level policy priorities and EU values; the quality of the project's needs analysis; the inclusion of digital and green skills, STEM skills and resilience skills; complementarity with other actions and innovation;
• Quality of the project design and implementation (maximum score 30 points): this includes, among others, the coherence between the project's objectives and activities; the quality of the methodology and approaches to management; the workplan and quality control measures; as well as the appropriateness of the budget and financial control measures;
• Quality of the partnerships and cooperation arrangements (maximum score 25 points): this includes, among others, whether the project involves complementary organisations with the necessary profile, competences, experience and expertise; proposed approach to collaboration and decision-making;
• Impact (maximum score 20 points): this includes, among others, the potential positive impact on participants and participating organisations, as well as other individuals; approaches to ensuring the dissemination and sustainability of project results and outcomes

Project proposals have to score a minimum of 70 points in total to be considered for funding.

Procedures

Application procedures

Applications must be submitted to EACES via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Call ID Lot 1: ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PI-ALL-INNO-EDU-ENTERP.

Application support available

For help related to this call, please contact EACEA-EPLUS-ALLIANCESec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EACEA-EPLUS-ALLIANCES[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

For additional information, please consult the 2026 Erasmus+ Programme Guide.

Useful links

Link to funding opportunity

Link to the programme for more info