State of Play and General Information:
Sustainable Energy (SE) development is essential for Africa and Europe’s green energy transition in order to tackle the global challenge of climate change. Providing reliable and clean energy access to millions of people worldwide is necessary. By 2030, around 660 million people will remain without access to electricity (IEA[1]). 85% (about 560 million people) will be in Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore 2.3 Billion[2] people do not have access to clean cooking devices, and they rely on the traditional use of solid biomass, kerosene, or coal as their primary cooking fuel. Systemic change and transformation are needed, which requires a more holistic and integrated approach.
To this end, the Long-Term Joint EU-AU Research and Innovation Partnership on Sustainable Energy (LEAP-SE) program, co-funded by the European Commission (EC) under Horizon Europe, aims at developing a long-term partnership between Europe and Africa on Research and Innovation (R&I) on sustainable energy. This partnership is set within the framework of the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy (CCSE) partnership of the AU-EU High-Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation.
LEAP-SE is a six-year program conducted by a consortium of about 20 partners from European and African countries. The programs budget is approximately 30 million €, including 10 million € from the EC. This partnership is based on the achievements of previous programs, such as the LEAP-RE program.
General Call information:
LEAP-SE consortium members are launching the second edition of a transnational joint Call for proposals in 2026, co-funded by European and African national/regional research funding agencies (members of the LEAP-SE consortium), following the first call launched in 2025. The selected projects will focus on achieving goals of mutual benefit based on a balanced and cooperative approach. Particular attention will be given to strengthening the impact of R&I-supported activities for the well-being of society in Europe and Africa.
The total indicative call budget is around €12 million, provided by funding organisations, plus €3.5 million from the EC’s contribution.
Information on the LEAP-SE Joint Call 2026:
Project consortia must consist of project partners from a minimum of four countries from the two continents. At least two independent legal entities from two different Member States from the European Union or Horizon Europe associated countries participating to the Cofund Call should ask and be eligible to receive support from the relevant participating funder and at least two independent legal entities from two countries from the African Union. At least one partner from the African Union should ask and be eligible to receive support from the national/regional participating funder.
African research and innovation Organisations from countries/regions not participating in the Call are eligible to apply for funding, although the resources available for this are limited.
The consortium must include at least one partner from the institutional research sector (academic, public research center, non-profit organisation, etc.) coming from participating countries (remind the list here of the countries) and one partner from the private sector (commercial company) coming from participating countries must be part of the consortium (remind the list here of the countries).
Total requested funding of each project consortium should not exceed 1.5 million €, and the maximum funding per partner in one project is set at 500 k€. However, not all funding agencies will apply these amounts. Partners must refer to their funding agency’s limit.
The eligibility criteria might be slightly adapted; the final eligibility criteria will be on the call text.
Scope of the Call and Priority Areas for Collaboration:
LEAP-SE Joint Call 2026 can fund basic research, industrial research, applied research and experimental development projects (covering all innovation steps) that are 12-36 months long.
Applicants should be aware that each funding agency participating in the LEAP-SE Joint Call 2025 will apply its own rules and regulations regarding eligibility and criteria (nationality, theme, nature of project, TRL, rate of subsidy etc.).
The range of activities recommended for collaboration under LEAP-SE will focus on 7 identified multi-annual roadmaps:
- Assessment of Renewable Energy Sources and integration of RES in sustainable energy scenarios
- End‐of‐life and second‐life management and environmental impact of RE components –
- Smart stand‐alone systems (SAS)
- Smart grid (different scale) for off-grid application –
- Processes and appliances for productive uses (PRODUSE)
- Innovative solutions for priority domestic uses (clean cooking and cold chain)
- Production and utilisation of green hydrogen
Project call presentation/webinar :
Two webinars of Call presentations will be held in two languages, French and English, for all interested participants.
The English session is organised for November 24th 2025, at 10:00 CET. Registration to the webinar (mandatory): https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zx3hrH-PR7W3f82wxrTq2g
The French session is organised for December 8th 2025, at 13:30 CET. Registration to the webinar (mandatory) :https://anr.webex.com/weblink/register/r1620eae12ad77a58b6b4a3cf314373c1
Indicative Call calendar
| Publication of the Call | 19 November 2025 |
| Deadline for Pre-proposal submission (mandatory) | 05 February 2026 |
| Communication of Pre-proposal assessment | 29 April 2026 |
| Deadline for Full Proposal submission | 24 June 2026 |
| Communication of Full-proposal assessment | Mid-November 2026 |
| Latest starting date of selected projects | 01 April 2027 |
General remarks:
An International Review Panel of independent experts will support the LEAP-SE Joint Call 2026 to ensure effective implementation, rigorous monitoring and evaluation.
Indicative list of funding organisations participating in the 2026 Call (subject to updating)
| Country | Flag | Funding Organisations and Contact person(s) |
| Africa | ||
| Algeria |  | MESRS : Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique |
| Cameroon |  | MINESRI : Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation àparticipation to be confirmed |
| Côte d’Ivoire |  | FONSTI : Fonds pour la Science, La technologie et l’Innovation à participation to be confirmed |
| Egypt |  | STDF: Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority |
| Kenya |  | NRF: National Research Fund à participation to be confirmed |
| Morocco |  | MESRSI : Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research IRESEN: Institut de Recherche en Énergie Solaire et Énergies Nouvelles à participation to be confirmed |
| Namibia |  | NCRST: National Commission on Research, Science and Technology à participation to be confirmed |
| Senegal |  | MESRI : Ministère de l’enseignement supérieur, de la recherche et de l’innovation |
| South Africa |  | NRF: National Research Foundation DSTI: Department of Science and Innovation |
| Tunisia |  | MHESR : Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research |
| African partners without funding organisations |  | LGI: LGI Sustainable innovation |
| Europe | ||
| Austria |  | FFG:Osterreichische Forschungsforderungsgesellschaft Mbh |
| Belgium |  | F.R.S-FNRS: Fund for Scientific Research |
| France |  | ANR: Agence Nationale de la Recherche LaRI : La Réunion Innovation |
| Germany |  | JUELICH-Ptj: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH |
| Italy |  | MUR: Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca |
| Poland |  | NCN: National Science Centre |
| Portugal |  | FCT: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia |
| Romania |  | UEFISCDI: Research, Development and Innovation Funding |
| United Kingdom |  | UKRI: UK Research and Innovation |
| Slovenia |  | ARIS: Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency |
| Türkiye |  | TUBITAK: The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye |
[1] https://www.iea.org/reports/sdg7-data-and-projections/access-to-electricity
[2] https://www.iea.org/reports/sdg7-data-and-projections/access-to-clean-cooking#abstract
 | The LEAP-SE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Program Cofund Action under Grant Agreement 101172838. |
