Dialogue between the authorities and business: tools of the Horizon Europe Programme to support Ukrainian entrepreneurs

On January 8, 2026, the Regional online platform “Dialogue between the authorities and business” took place. The event was organised by the Donetsk Regional State Administration together with the National Research Foundation of Ukraine. Representatives of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU took part in the event.

The event was opened with a welcome speech by Oksana Golovko, the Director of the Department of investment and innovation development and foreign relations of the Donetsk Regional State Administration. She of the department emphasised the importance of Ukraine’s integration into the European Research Area and that business is one of the driving forces of this integration process.

Andriy Kuznetsov, the First deputy executive director for grant support of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, also congratulated the participants. He appealed not to be afraid to write grant applications for participation in calls. And in order for the applications to be successful, the representative of NRFU advised to attend information events organised by Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine for potential participants of the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon Europe.

Maksym Kolisnyk, Leading Officer of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU, presented the Framework Programme, its structure, and innovations of the 2026-2027 work programmes. He also spoke about the current opportunities of the Programme for supporting business projects, including participation tools, choosing types of projects and financing, finding partners for creating consortia.

In particular, the speaker described in detail Horizon Europe open calls, related to business. Maksym Kolisnyk also emphasised the importance of the synergy of science and business, providing information about opportunities in this regard. So, as of January 8, 2026, 574 contests are available: 125 open and 449 that will be opened on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal.

Regional online platform “Dialogue between government and business” aims to strengthen the interaction of science and business to ensure the innovative development of regions and the state as a whole, so the participants asked many questions to the Office’s specialists regarding the participation of Ukrainian business in the Programme. Based on the results of the event, it was agreed to hold a meeting if necessary with the involvement of representatives of the Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovation (IP office) in the dialogue.