The Success Rate Myth That Scares Off Good Applicants

Horizon Europe's overall success rate has dropped to around 12% in 2025. Some health calls dipped to 1.7%. That sounds brutal.

But averages lie.

Here's what the data actually shows: SME-specific success rates increased from 12% under Horizon 2020 to nearly 20% under Horizon Europe. The quality of proposals rated "high" by evaluators jumped from 46% to 54%. Better applicants, better results.

The gap between a 2% success rate and a 40% success rate (yes, some calls hit 40%) comes down to call selection. The most competitive areas — generative AI in healthcare, certain Pathfinder calls — attract massive oversubscription. Meanwhile, calls in space technologies, clean energy, and specific Cluster 5 topics routinely see success rates above 25%.

Most people pick calls based on topic fit alone. The ones who get funded also look at historical success rates, budget-per-proposal ratios, and the number of expected submissions. You wouldn't invest money without looking at the odds. Don't invest months of proposal writing without them either.

At Subvio, we surface exactly this kind of data for every open call. Follow for weekly EU grant insights.

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