MSCA Cross-Sector Collaboration: How the EU’s €6.6 Billion Research Programme Drives Patents, SME Growth, and Entrepreneurship

SME Participation

SMEs have been major beneficiaries of the programme. Of the 4,300+ companies that have participated in MSCA projects under Horizon Europe, 2,200 are SMEs . Through the Choose Europe for Science pilot, SMEs gain direct access to top postdoctoral talent from around the world .

Programme-Specific Impacts

Doctoral Networks (DN)

The MSCA Doctoral Networks are multi-beneficiary doctoral programmes that develop "creative, entrepreneurial, innovative and resilient doctoral candidates" through partnerships across academic and non-academic sectors . Under Horizon 2020, over 1,000 international doctoral networks were funded . Between 2021 and 2023, nearly two out of every five participants were private-sector organisations . The 2026 call has an allocated budget of €593.03 million .

A real-world example is the SERENADE project, coordinated by BSH Appliances (a Bosch subsidiary), which trains seven doctoral candidates split between academic research and industry work, developing AI-based food freshness sensors .

Staff Exchanges (SE)

Staff Exchanges fund short-term international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary exchanges of research and innovation staff, enabling knowledge transfer across the innovation chain . Over 4,500 researchers have participated in Staff Exchanges since 2022 . In 2026, the European Commission is supporting 84 Staff Exchange projects . Participating organisations gain "innovative ways of cooperation and transfer of knowledge between sectors" and "boosted R&I capacity" .

COFUND

COFUND co-funds regional, national, and international doctoral and postdoctoral programmes, embedding MSCA principles (open recruitment, international mobility, intersectoral exposure) into existing programmes . The 2026 COFUND call received 141 proposals and will fund approximately 30 projects with €105.5 million . The 2024 call awarded €104.8 million to 27 projects, supporting over 1,000 researchers across 463 organisations in 36 countries . COFUND programmes must include modules on innovation, entrepreneurship, open science, and research integrity .

Choose Europe for Science Pilot

This new pilot was launched to address researcher precarity by funding host organisations (academic and non-academic) to recruit postdoctoral researchers with pathways to long-term employment . In its first call, 58 proposals were submitted, 49 were eligible, and the Commission funded 16 projects coordinated across 9 countries, involving 84 partner organisations from 25 countries . The initiative aims to offer excellent working conditions and long-term career prospects to turn "brain drain into brain gain" . The next call (2027) opens 8 December 2026 with a budget of €51.25 million .

Cross-Cutting Innovation Impact

Over 30 years, the MSCA has funded over 150,000 researchers, including 28 who later became Nobel laureates . The programme gives researchers exposure to non-academic sectors, equipping them with transferable skills, and creates lasting international networks that persist well beyond project lifetimes .

While patent generation and SME participation data draw largely from the 2021–2023 Horizon Europe period and from a dedicated MSCA impact report, the evidence consistently shows that forced cross-sector collaboration—embedded in every action—is the structural mechanism that converts research into patents, startups, and industry-ready talent.