The autocratic appeal: nature, drivers and strategies

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Code: 37362 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-07 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Societies (Cluster 2)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

In many parts of the world, democracies are under attack.

Reports and indicators confirm that we are in an ongoing period of authoritarianism, with the number of authoritarian regimes steadily increasing since the beginning of the century.

Instead of the heralded ‘end of history ‘ through the triumph of the liberal democratic order, authoritarianism seems to have gained ground, while the wave of democratisation is receding.

The ongoing invasion of a democratic European country by an authoritarian regime is only a symbol and a consequence of the current wave of authoritarianism.

Towards a European research hub on contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life and culture

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Code: 37359 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-06 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Societies (Cluster 2)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The first-ever EU strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life (2021-2030) is an ambitious and comprehensive strategy adopted by the European Commission on 5 October 2021.

Generations after the end of the Shoah, antisemitism is worryingly on the rise, in Europe and beyond, especially since the turn of the 21st century, the Commission calls “for action, for all Europeans, to ensure that Europe is a place where our founding values are enjoyed by everyone, on an equal basis.” Antisemitism is incompatible with Europe’s core values.

It represents a threat not only to Jewish communities and to Jewish life, but to an open and diverse society, to democracy and the European way of life. The European Union is determined to put an end to it.

Countering and preventing radicalisation, extremism, hate speech and polarisation

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Code: 37354 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-05 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Societies (Cluster 2)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The phenomena of radicalisation, extremism, hate speech and polarisation are a growing threat to democracy and social cohesion.

In recent years, the EU has adopted various strategies to combat racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia, as well as to tackle hate speech and hate crimes.

The EU also has policy tools to tackle all forms of extremism and radicalisation. As recalled in the Joint Communication “No Place for Hate ” of 6 December 2023, these initiatives are all the more urgent given the increase in hate speech and crimes against women and people belonging to vulnerable groups in recent years.

Preparing the EU for future enlargement: challenges and opportunities

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Code: 37351 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-03 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Societies (Cluster 2)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

As underlined in various Commission Communications and following the granting of candidate country status to Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, more needs to be invested in understanding the priorities, opportunities and challenges of enlargement, based on the perspective of an EU with more than 30 Member States.

This also means that EU Member States need to be better prepared, while citizens and civil society need to better understand what enlargement entails.

The proposed research should, on the one hand, improve EU Member States’ understanding of the history,politics and economic situation of the candidate countries and potential candidates through socio-historical research, combined with a legal and economic approach (including expertise from relevant scientific and social sciences).

On the other hand, it should help EU citizens and civil society to better understand the challenges and opportunities associated with possible future EU enlargements.

Standardisation landscape analyses tool (CSA)

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Code: 37348 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-HUMAN-61 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Standards play a pivotal strategic role, serving as the silent foundation of our Single Market, ensuring a high-level of safety, functionality and inter-operability for EU products. They guarantee adherence to policy and legal objectives. At the same time, standards can facilitate access to global markets when they are state-of-the-art and developed within international organisations. This underscores the significant role of standards on the EU policy agenda, including initiatives such as the European Green Deal, Digital Decade, New Industrial Strategy for Europe, the Commission’s EU standardisation strategy, and the Communication European Economic Security Strategy. Future Commission actions – whether it is the implementation of legal frameworks, like the AI and Data Act or the roll-out of the Commission Recommendation on critical technology areas for the EU’s economic security – will depend on standards.

Fostering the consolidation of European science diplomacy

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Code: 37345 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-02 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Societies (Cluster 2)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Thanks in particular to the Horizon 2020 science diplomacy team , which funded three projects in 2016-2022, a dynamic community of European academics and science diplomacy professionals has emerged, leading to the development of the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance.

Further input was provided by the former Strategic Forum for International Science and Technology Cooperation (SFIC), which proposed the development ofan EU Science Diplomacy Platform and Roadmap .

In addition, anincreasing number of Member States have adopted national science diplomacy strategies or agendas or are currently exploring their development and have strengthened the science and technology capacities in their Foreign Ministries (e.g. the creation of an informal network of Science Advisers and Science Diplomacy Coordinators in EU Foreign Ministries).

Horizon Standardisation Booster (CSA)

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Code: 37344 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-HUMAN-60 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Standards are crucial in ensuring the safety, functionality, and interoperability of EU products. They help maintain compliance with policy and legal requirements while also enabling access to global markets when they are cutting-edge and established through international organisations. This highlights the important role that standards play in the EU’s policy agenda, particularly in initiatives like the Digital Decade, the New Industrial Strategy for Europe, the Commission’s EU standardisation strategy, the Communication on Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership and the Communication on European Economic Security Strategy. Future Commission actions – whether it is the implementation of legal frameworks like the AI and Data Act or the roll-out of the Commission Recommendation on critical technology areas for the EU’s economic security – will depend on standards.

To maximize the impact of R&I, early integration of standardisation, as recommended in the Code of Practice on standardisation, is crucial for aligning innovations with policy goals and enhancing market competitiveness.

Advisory support and network to counter disinformation and foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI)

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Code: 37339 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-01 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Societies (Cluster 2)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Hybrid threats, and in particular the phenomena of disinformation and FIMI, are a growing threat to democracy, human rights, social cohesion and European security.

In recent years, the EU has developed and started to implement various strategies and numerous projects to combat disinformation and FIMI.

Facilitated cooperation for AI in Science (CSA)

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Code: 37338 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-DIGITAL-62 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Artificial intelligence is a game-changer for science and innovation, and promises significant opportunities to boost the European competitive edge in R&I that need to be capitalised on. The aim of the CSA is to structure AI-enabled research in Europe and assess options towards optimising the ecosystem for AI in Science in Europe, through a Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda and assessing the potential for possible future R&I initiative(s), in line with the recommendations of the Scientific Advice Mechanism, and the European Commission President’s political guidelines, for the setting up of an AI Research Council.

AI Foundation models in science (GenAI4EU) (RIA)

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Code: 37333 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-DIGITAL-61 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Foundation models in science are an evolving idea in the scientific community and go beyond the Generative AI trend. The purpose of this topic is to tap into their potential, and to advance the development of AI technology specifically tailored for the needs of science.

A foundation model can integrate information from various modalities of data. This model can then be adapted to a wide range of downstream, more specialized tasks. To build downstream applications, the foundation model is fine-tuned with additional training and task-specific examples. Therefore, a foundation model is itself incomplete but serves as the common basis from which many task-specific models can be built via adaptation.

In science, such foundation models could be trained on data from a specific scientific field and then be fine-tuned for a variety of tasks and used by a wider community in the field.

Open strategic autonomy, economic and research security in EU foreign policy

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Code: 37330 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-04 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Societies (Cluster 2)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The EU’s open strategic autonomy refers to the EU’s ability to act autonomously (i.e. without depending on other countries) instrategically important policy areas, linked to both the economic and non-economic sectors.

These areas may include energy, research, health, health, media, technology, defence, defence, food, industry, as well as development cooperation, democracy promotion and the defence and promotion of human rights.

Master School and Fellowship Open Call 2026

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Code: 37328 | Identifier Code: EITUM-BP23-25 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) | Start submission calls: 25/06/2025 | End submission calls: 10/09/2025

EIT Urban Mobility invites universities, academic consortia, and education-focused innovators to submit proposals to its Master School and Fellowship Open Call, designed to accelerate the development and delivery of high-quality learning experiences that build the skills and capabilities needed for sustainable urban mobility.

Using captured CO2 as a resource to replace fossil hydrocarbons in industrial production

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Code: 37327 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-27 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 02/09/2025

Proposals should aimto reduce the capital costs and the energy and environmental footprint of CO2 conversion technologies to make them suitable for wider application in the near to medium term.

European investment atlas of potential CO2 storage sites

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Code: 37323 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-26 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 02/09/2025

The project is expected to create a digital atlas of “investable” underground CO2 storage sites in the EU and associated countries.

The European CO2 Storage Atlas, which is currently being revised and updated by the GSEU project, including estimated capacity and level of storage readiness, provides a good basis, but also shows that data gaps need to be filled and access to the necessary data during project implementation will be critical.

RIS Education Open Call 2026

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Code: 37320 | Identifier Code: EITUM-BP23-25 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) | Start submission calls: 25/06/2025 | End submission calls: 10/09/2025

This call aims at funding projects that can support the overall RIS strategy and aims, offer high-quality education, reach a large audience and market, and gain recognition efficiently with a lasting effect. The EIT Urban Mobility RIS Education objectives are focused on capacity building in innovation and entrepreneurship and urban mobility. These objectives are reflected in the activity types proposed in this call. The activities responding to these objectives should aim to improve transferrable skills that will lead to further innovation and entrepreneurship in urban mobility in RIS countries.

Effects of CO2-stream impurities on CO2 transport and storage

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Code: 37319 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-25 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 02/09/2025

Based on the application chosen (either transport or storage), projects have to deliver:

• Recommendations for design and operation of pipelines and/or ship offloading, including recommendations for public health and safety requirements and for protective and/or mitigating material and/or approaches and/or monitoring technology to avoid adverse effects on the integrity of the relevant transport infrastructure caused by impurities;
• Recommendations for public health and safety requirements and for protective and/or mitigating material and/or approaches and/or monitoring technology to avoid adverse effects on the integrity of the storage complex;
• Guidance and recommendations for technology providers, regulatory authorities, certification and standardisation bodies, and define and implement ambitious dissemination actions to promote the project results and support their uptake.

Cross-regional network and market model for optimisation of long duration storage

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Code: 37315 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-21 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 02/09/2025

The project will develop and test new, advanced, integrated models and toolsfor interregional grids and markets dominated by intermittent and stochastic renewable energy sources.

This spatio-temporal model will be designed to generate, analyse and optimise scenarios for the strategic integration, identification and sizing of LDES (here defined as: >12h) for a future European energy system.

Control and operation tools for a RES-based energy system

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Code: 37312 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-17 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 02/09/2025

Projects are expected to:

• Design and test innovative technologies, processes, and control mechanisms for the seamless integration of massive volumes of renewable energy sources (RES) at distribution and transmission levels. The solutions are expected to incorporate both hardware and software aspects;
• Address network constraints and increase flexibility capabilities of grids, through advanced operation and control mechanisms and tools, for improving the overall grid performance and the efficiency of RES uptake;
• Ensure effective coordination between transmission and distribution levels of the electricity grids, for the integration of massive volumes of RES at multiple voltage levels, maintaining grid stability and overall preparing for a RES-based energy system.

The demonstration, test and validation of the activities should be carried out in at least two pilots in different EU Member States and Associated Countries.

Support to the BRIDGE initiative

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Code: 37309 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-16 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 02/09/2025

The proposal should provide professional support for the overall organisation of the BRIDGE initiative, including administrative and organisational support for its governance, working groups and action groups, as well as coordination with other relevant European or national initiatives.

Building a Long-Term Africa Union (AU) and European Union (EU) Research and Innovation joint collaboration on Sustainable Renewable Energies

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Code: 37306 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-15 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 02/09/2025

The proposal will build on the achievements of the LEAP-RE project to strengthen and create a sustainable framework for cooperation.

The proposal will expand and provide support to the established community of researchers, industry, innovators and funding agencies involved in the partnership, and will seek to build links with other relevant R&D communities.

The activities will contribute to the development of human and institutional capacities and will transform the SA-EU R&I Partnership on Climate Change and Sustainable Energy into a long-term platform for collaboration.