Initiatives focusing on talent development, excellence and honors in higher education have been on the rise throughout Europe over the last fifteen years. But a European network uniting these initiatives was still lacking. This gap is now filled with the creation of the European Honors Council (EHC). The EHC is launched on June 3 2016 at the international conference ‘Honours Futures’ in Utrecht (NL). The EHC offers opportunities for exchange of knowledge and good practices, possibilities for student and teacher exchange at honors level, joint research projects and a platform to support the development of (structural embeddedness of) honors programs in national education systems. The EHC is now open for individual membership.