Both Horizon Europe and cascade funding offer access to EU innovation funding. Both fund research and innovation activities. And both come with compliance obligations that extend well beyond the award decision.
But they are fundamentally different instruments — in scale, in process, in who they are designed for, and in what they actually require from the organisations that receive them. Choosing the wrong route wastes months of preparation effort. Choosing the right one significantly improves your chances of success.
This article maps the key differences across seven dimensions and offers a practical decision framework for organisations evaluating both options.
What you are actually applying for
This is the most fundamental distinction — and the one most commonly misunderstood.
When you apply for a Horizon Europe grant, you are applying directly to the European Commission (or its executive agencies). You are proposing a multi-year collaborative project, typically as part of a consortium of at least three organisations from three different countries. If successful, you sign a Grant Agreement with the Commission. You are a beneficiary — a principal party to the legal contract.
When you apply for cascade funding, you are applying to a consortium that has already received a Horizon Europe grant. That consortium is redistributing a portion of its own funding to third parties through an open call it manages itself. If successful, you sign a sub-grant agreement with the consortium — not with the Commission. You are a third party receiving financial support, not a direct beneficiary of the programme.
The implications of this distinction run through everything that follows.
Scale and funding amounts
Horizon Europe projects are large. A standard Research and Innovation Action or Innovation Action typically involves budgets of several million euros — often €3 million to €10 million or more — shared across a consortium of multiple partners. Individual partner budgets within a project can range from a few hundred thousand euros to several million.
Cascade funding is designed for a different scale entirely. Grants typically range from €50,000 to €200,000 per award, though some programmes offer up to €500,000 for more complex activities. The amounts are smaller by design — cascade funding is intended to reach organisations that could not compete in a full Horizon Europe call, and the grant size reflects activities that can be delivered by a smaller team over a shorter timeframe.
For organisations that need significant funding to deliver a complex, multi-year programme, cascade funding is insufficient. For organisations that need seed funding to test a specific innovation, validate a technology, or access the EU funding ecosystem for the first time, it is often the right scale.
Who can apply
Horizon Europe is open to a wide range of organisations — universities, research institutes, companies, SMEs, public bodies, NGOs — from EU member states and associated countries. Most collaborative projects require a consortium of at least three independent legal entities from three different countries. Individual organisations cannot apply alone to most standard calls.
Cascade funding is typically designed for individual organisations — a single SME, startup, researcher, or innovation team. Most cascade calls are specifically targeted at smaller entities: companies with fewer than 250 employees, early-stage startups, or first-time EU funding applicants. The consortium requirement does not apply. You apply alone.
This makes cascade funding accessible to organisations that simply do not have the capacity — the team, the network, the administrative infrastructure — to build and coordinate a multi-partner Horizon Europe consortium.
The application process
Horizon Europe proposals are submitted through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal following a standardised structure: Part A (administrative) and Part B (technical, up to 40 pages for standard RIA/IA). Proposals are evaluated by independent experts against three criteria — Excellence, Impact, and Implementation. The process from submission to Grant Agreement signature typically takes 12 to 18 months. Success rates in competitive calls sit between 10% and 15%.
Cascade funding applications are submitted to the call organisers — the consortium running the parent project — through whatever platform or system they have set up. Applications are shorter, typically 5 to 15 pages, and structured around the specific requirements of the call. Evaluation is conducted by the consortium using external reviewers. The process from submission to decision typically takes two to three months. The number of awards is smaller, but so is the applicant pool — making cascade funding proportionally more accessible than the raw success rates of Horizon Europe might suggest.
Who you deal with
In a Horizon Europe project, your institutional counterpart is the executive agency managing your grant — REA, EISMEA, CINEA, HaDEA, or ERCEA depending on your project’s thematic area. Your Project Officer is a Commission-side contact who monitors your project and manages the reporting and payment process. All formal interactions — report submissions, amendment requests, payment releases — go through the agency and the Funding and Tenders Portal.
In cascade funding, your counterpart is the consortium that awarded you the sub-grant. They set the reporting requirements, manage the payments, and assess whether you have delivered what you committed to. The Commission is not your direct interlocutor — though the compliance obligations ultimately flow from the Commission’s rules through the consortium’s Grant Agreement to your sub-grant agreement.
Compliance obligations
This is where many organisations are surprised by cascade funding.
Because cascade funding grants are smaller and the application process is simpler, it is tempting to assume that the compliance requirements are proportionally lighter. They are not.
Horizon Europe beneficiaries must comply with the full Grant Agreement framework: cost eligibility rules, time recording requirements, deliverable and milestone tracking, financial reporting with Certificates on Financial Statements above certain thresholds, and audit exposure for up to five years after the final payment.
Cascade funding recipients are subject to the compliance requirements set by the consortium in the sub-grant agreement — which in turn reflect the obligations of the consortium’s own Grant Agreement with the Commission. In practice, this means:
- Activities must be completed as described and evidenced
- Costs must be documented and eligible under the applicable rules
- Reporting must be submitted to the consortium on time
- Records must be maintained for the retention period specified in the sub-grant agreement
The scale is smaller. The compliance logic is structurally similar. Organisations that enter cascade funding treating it as a low-obligation grant and discover the documentation requirements when the first reporting deadline arrives have made a costly assumption.
Timeline and speed
Horizon Europe operates on long cycles. Work Programmes are published in advance, calls open for defined periods, evaluation takes months, negotiation takes more months, and the Grant Agreement is signed typically 12 to 18 months after submission. Planning and preparation — particularly consortium building — often begins a year or more before the submission deadline.
Cascade funding moves significantly faster. Calls open throughout the year, often with submission windows of 60 to 90 days. Decisions are communicated within two to three months. Funded activities can start quickly. For organisations that need funding on a realistic near-term timeline — rather than planning for a funding event 18 months away — cascade funding is often the only viable option.
Decision framework: which route fits your situation?
Rather than a simple comparison, the right question is: what does your organisation actually need right now?
Horizon Europe is likely the right route if:
- You have a significant, multi-year research or innovation programme that requires substantial funding
- You have — or can build — the consortium relationships needed for a collaborative project
- You have the administrative capacity to manage a complex Grant Agreement over multiple years
- Your timeline allows for 12 to 18 months from preparation to project start
- You are targeting a specific call topic that directly fits your work
Cascade funding is likely the right route if:
- You are an SME, startup, or organisation applying for EU funding for the first time
- You need to validate a specific technology, product, or approach on a defined scope and budget
- You do not have the capacity — or the partners — for a full Horizon Europe consortium application
- You need funding on a faster timeline
- You want to build a track record in EU-funded work before engaging with larger programmes
Both can be relevant if your organisation is at a stage where cascade funding can provide the immediate proof-of-concept validation that strengthens a future Horizon Europe proposal. Many organisations use cascade funding strategically — as an entry point into the EU funding ecosystem that builds credibility, experience, and results that feed directly into a larger application.
Finding the right support for your route
If cascade funding is your route, the practical challenge is finding the right call at the right time. Calls are published across dozens of programme websites and consortium platforms — not centralised in a single database.
cascadefunding.eu aggregates active cascade funding open calls from across Europe in one place, updated continuously. Subscribing to the daily newsletter ensures you do not miss relevant opportunities as they open.
For a personalised match — checking your eligibility against active calls and getting a ranked shortlist based on your organisation’s profile — the Cascade Funding Matcher does that in under two minutes. Three free searches, no credit card required.
If Horizon Europe is your route, the investment required — in proposal preparation, consortium building, and strategic positioning — is significant. Sploro’s EU Funding Strategy service helps organisations identify the right calls, build a structured funding roadmap, and position themselves competitively before the proposal preparation process begins. For organisations ready to write, Sploro’s Proposal Writing service covers the full proposal development process — from the technical narrative to the work plan, budget, and impact case — built around how evaluators actually score proposals.
Final thoughts
Horizon Europe and cascade funding are not competing alternatives — they are different instruments designed for different situations. The mistake is not choosing one over the other. The mistake is not understanding which one fits your organisation’s current position, capacity, and timeline.
For organisations that are ready to commit to a multi-year collaborative programme, Horizon Europe is the right vehicle. For those that are not — yet — cascade funding offers a genuine, funded entry point that builds towards that ambition.
Once funded through either route, the operational and financial management challenge begins. Kronis PMO and Kronis Finance provide the infrastructure to manage that challenge — whether you are coordinating a 12-partner Horizon Europe consortium or delivering a focused cascade funding activity.
Kronis PMO in practice: how a coordinator runs a 12-partner Horizon Europe project
