Improved components and tools to increase the safety of electrolysers

Opened

Code: 39401 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-01-03 | Programme name: 27323 | Start submission calls: 10/02/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

The focus of this topic is on advancing and validating novel components and control solutions aimed at improving the operational safety of low-temperature electrolyser systems. This topic is open to a broad range of low-temperature electrolysis technologies, including conventional configurations such as Alkaline Electrolysers (AEL), Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysers (PEMEL), and Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolysers (AEMEL), as well as emerging designs such as membrane-less electrolysers and decoupled electrolyser systems.

Cost-efficient and reliable designs towards gigawatt-scale electrolytic hydrogen production plants

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Code: 39398 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-01-02 | Programme name: 27323 | Start submission calls: 10/02/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

This topic aims to drive innovation in integrated hydrogen production plants by reimagining plant design, architecture, and deployment models.

The focus should be on developing novel concepts for highly efficient, cost-competitive, and reliable electrolytic hydrogen production plants at very large scales (≥400 MW), leveraging commercially available electrolyser stacks, advanced system engineering, and innovative BoP and plant components (e.g., purification, compression, thermal integration, power electronics).

As relevant, the design specifications and components innovation roadmaps (e.g to optimise performances and durability when operating dynamically or improve end of life recycling), is also encouraged.

Development and validation of innovative approaches, catalysts, electrolytes and components for electrolysis technologies based on low-quality water

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Code: 39395 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-01-01 | Programme name: 27323 | Start submission calls: 10/02/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

Proposals should aim to realise a breakthrough water electrolysis technology that can produce hydrogen from low-quality water, i.e. beyond tap water and from various sources (excluding saline and seawater) operating at low energy consumption levels.

The project should demonstrate a stable electrolyser cell unit incorporating innovative solutions at the material, component, cell architecture level, and alternative half-cell reactions to overcome the challenges in the electrolysis of low-quality water.

In line with EU sustainability and CRM strategies and the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA KPIs for the selected water electrolysis technology, the prototype cell should also minimise the use of PFAS and/or CRM. The target is to validate the innovative technology at TRL 4, assessing its potential for circularity, sustainability, and economic viability.

Joint demonstration of solutions to build soil resilience to extreme weather events and support food security

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Code: 39391 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2026-06-CLIMA-SOIL | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 23/09/2026

Developing and scaling practical solutions to enhance soils’ resilience to extreme weather events is crucial for climate change adaptation. As extreme weather events like droughts, heavy rainfall and flooding, heatwaves and other temperature anomalies (e.g. unseasonal frosts) become more frequent, widespread and severe, they pose significant threats to soil health, agricultural productivity, and food security at large.

This is due to, inter alia, soil erosion, nutrient leaching, increased salinisation, loss of soil organic carbon, reduction or loss of microbial activity, waterlogging and oxygen depletion, depending on the type of extreme weather event considered. Strengthening soils’ resilience at farm and landscape levels, considering also the context, e.g., in terms of governance (rules and institutions), is vital to cope with these challenges.

Creating a framework that suits different pedoclimatic conditions and regions should help ensure that the best approaches are put in place to maintain food security and promote sustainable farming practices, and that overall landscape resilience to these events is enhanced.

Energy efficient urban and sub-urban public transport, complemented by shared mobility

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Code: 39388 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2026-04-CIT-01 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 08/10/2026

Public transport is firmly at the centre of sustainable urban mobility policies at EU level and across Member States, in complementarity with active mobility and shared mobility services.

However more needs to be done to make sure that urban and suburban public passenger transport, including coaches, and urban mobility service car fleets are energy efficient and attractive, contributing to climate neutrality targets as well as to cleaner and healthier urban and sub-urban environments.

Transition to low-temperature heating solutions in multi-apartment buildings

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Code: 39385 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2026-04-CIT-02 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 08/10/2026

Low-temperature district heating systems in urban areas offer higher potential for integration of renewable energy sources and waste heat, but their deployment is slowed down because the existing stock of inefficient buildings has been designed for high-temperature heat delivery systems.

The topic supports the creation of the conditions necessary for the conversion of existing supply solutions – district heating, as well as individual heating ones – into low-temperature alternatives, along with reducing and optimising the heat load of buildings.

Introducing circular economy models in the construction sector, from buildings to city scale

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Code: 39382 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2026-04-CIT-NEB-B4P-CCRI-03 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 08/10/2026

Applying circularity principles in the construction sector at building, district and city level can reduce the whole life-cycle GHG emissions and support more efficient resource use of the building stock, and help deliver climate-neutral, smart and circular cities, and a more sustainable built environment.

To achieve this, there is a need for tools, solutions and associated business models with market potential that facilitate the adoption of inclusive circular construction economy models, as well as a more efficient use of buildings, ultimately reducing the need to extract raw materials.

Leveraging long-term field experiments and other datasets to develop AI-ready decision support systems for sustainable soil management

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Code: 39379 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-04 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 23/09/2026

Long-term field experiments (LTEs) can be defined as “agricultural experiments for monitoring soil and crop properties under changing climate conditions and different management with a minimum duration of 20 years”. LTEs are typically owned or managed by public research institutions.

Enabling user-centred and open innovation initiatives to enhance soil health in Ukraine

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Code: 39376 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-03 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 23/09/2026

In Ukraine, soils are exposed to degradation due to nutrient mismanagement, acidification, erosion, compaction, salinisation, and contamination, with the war further contributing to devastation by releasing toxic elements, causing long-term damage to both ecosystems and human health

During military activities, soils are among the most heavily affected components of the environment, undergoing mechanical, chemical, and physical degradationThe war has also disrupted research and innovation activities, which further hinder the country’s ability to address soil degradation issues.

Particularly, as before the war, the innovation landscape in Ukraine was already in a need for more supportive political, regulatory and legislative frameworks, and more developed and improved innovation.

Antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic biosynthesis in soils: developing key understanding and counteractive strategies using a One-Health approach

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Code: 39373 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-02 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 23/09/2026

Soil biodiversity plays a major role in human, animal and ecosystem health. Soil microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) have been crucial in the discovery of antibiotics used in human and veterinary medicine.

However, soils can also be a hotspot for antimicrobial resistance development and can play a key role in the transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes between organisms and environmental compartments.

Antibiotic use is expected to increase globally due to the rising demand for food-producing animals, which may further exacerbate the development of antimicrobial resistance in soils.

According to the World Health Organization, antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats to public health.

The driving forces for antimicrobial resistance development in soils are however understudied, as well as the role of soils in the exposure of humans and animals to antimicrobial resistance determinants. Moreover, our knowledge of antibiotics-related genes is currently limited, making it challenging to identify new compounds of interest. To better understand and combat antimicrobial resistance development in soils, a One-Health approach is needed.

Monitoring soil health in practice: equipping stakeholders to sample, analyse, and interpret soil health indicators

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Code: 39370 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-01 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 23/09/2026

Soil health assessments will be key in the EU, especially with initiatives like the upcoming Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive. Assessments will provide critical data to support adaptive management practices that optimise soil health enhancing competitiveness and resilience.

Innovation for regional rail services and new guided transport systems

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Code: 39367 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-ER-2026-FA6FA7-01 | Programme name: 24432 | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 07/05/2026

Regional railways are essential as a link to other transport services but also to serve Europe’s regions, its citizen and businesses, which is why their long-term viability should be ensured. To this end, total costs of ownership are to be reduced while maintaining high service quality and operational safety. The concept to be developed will be tailored to the regional railways and will include digitalisation, automation, and the use of new and mainstream technologies.

Safety and certification guidelines and demonstration of safety components for hyperloop

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Code: 39364 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-ER-2026-FA7-01 | Programme name: 24432 | Start submission calls: 04/02/2026 | End submission calls: 07/05/2026

EU-Rail promote forward looking activities, tackling disruptive technologies and thinking, performing exploratory research to accelerate the pace towards radical system innovations in the guided transport modes and supporting the evolution of the Innovation Programme in scope and targets.

Boosting innovation for better assessment of the added value of innovative integrated healthcare solutions

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Code: 39358 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-IHI-2026-12-SINGLE-STAGE-05 | Programme name: 23667 | Start submission calls: 15/01/2026 | End submission calls: 21/04/2026

With a view to harnessing new science and technologies, this topic aims to fund pre-competitive research and innovation for novel tools, methods, technologies that will foster the development of health innovations to prevent, intercept, diagnose, treat, and manage diseases and enable recovery more efficiently.

Boosting innovation through exploitation of digitalisation and data exchange in healthcare

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Code: 39355 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-IHI-2026-12-SINGLE-STAGE-04 | Programme name: 23667 | Start submission calls: 15/01/2026 | End submission calls: 21/04/2026

With a view to harnessing new science and technologies, this topic aims to fund pre-competitive research and innovation for novel tools, methods, technologies that will foster the development of health innovations to prevent, intercept, diagnose, treat and manage diseases and enable recovery more efficiently.

Boosting innovation for people-centred integrated healthcare solutions

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Code: 39351 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-IHI-2026-12-SINGLE-STAGE-03 | Programme name: 23667 | Start submission calls: 15/01/2026 | End submission calls: 21/04/2026

With a view to harnessing new science and technologies, this topic aims to fund pre-competitive research and innovation for novel tools, methods, technologies that will foster the development of health innovations to prevent, intercept, diagnose, treat and manage diseases, and enable recovery more efficiently.

Boosting innovation through better integration of fragmented health R&I efforts

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Code: 39348 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-IHI-2026-12-SINGLE-STAGE-02 | Programme name: 23667 | Start submission calls: 15/01/2026 | End submission calls: 12/04/2026

With a view to harnessing new science and technologies, this topic aims to fund pre-competitive research and innovation for novel tools, methods, technologies that will foster the development of health innovations to prevent, intercept, diagnose, treat, and manage diseases and enable recovery more efficiently.

Boosting innovation for a better understanding of the determinants of health

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Code: 39344 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-JU-IHI-2026-12-SINGLE-STAGE-01 | Programme name: 23667 | Start submission calls: 15/01/2026 | End submission calls: 21/04/2026

With a view to harnessing new science and technologies, this topic aims to fund pre-competitive research and innovation for novel tools, methods and technologies that will foster the development of health innovations to prevent, intercept, diagnose, treat, and manage diseases and enable recovery more efficiently.

Accordingly, applicants must assemble a collaborative public-private partnership consortium reflecting the integrative and cross-sectoral nature of IHI JU, that is capable of addressing the challenge(s) and scope of the IHI JU Specific Objective 1 ‘contribute towards a better understanding of the determinants of health and priority disease areas’, as defined in IHI JU’s legal basis and described in more detail in the IHI JU SRIA.

Cross-border renewable energy works projects

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Code: 39341 | Identifier Code: CEF-E-2026-CBRENEW-WORKS | Programme name: 3569 | Sub-program: Connecting Europe Facility – Energy Infrastructure | Start submission calls: 05/02/2026 | End submission calls: 12/03/2026

This topic refers to works projects contributing to the implementation of a CB RES project. Works in the meaning of CEF Energy include the purchase, supply and deployment of components, systems and services including software, the development, construction and installation activities relating to a CB RES project, the acceptance of installations and the launching of a CB RES project.

Cross-border renewable energy studies projects

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Code: 39337 | Identifier Code: CEF-E-2026-CBRENEW-STUDIES | Programme name: 3569 | Sub-program: Connecting Europe Facility – Energy Infrastructure | Start submission calls: 05/02/2026 | End submission calls: 12/03/2026

This topic refers to projects for studies contributing to the implementation of a CB RES project. Studies in the meaning of CEF Energy include activities needed to prepare cross-border RES project implementation, such as preparatory, mapping, feasibility, evaluation, testing and validation studies, including in the form of software, and any other technical support measure, including prior action to define and develop a cross-border RES project and decide on its financing, such as exploration of the sites concerned and preparation of the financial package.