EIC STEP Scale Up

Code: 38538 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIC-2026-STEP | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Council-EIC (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/11/2025 | End submission calls: 25/11/2026

The EIC STEP Scale Up call presents a unique opportunity for ambitious scale up companies (SMEs and small mid-caps) with game-changing innovations in Europe’s critical technology areas. It offers a powerful combination of financial and strategic support designed to propel your groundbreaking solution to the forefront of these sectors.

EIC Accelerator 2026 - Short application

Code: 38494 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIC-2026-ACCELERATOR-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Council-EIC (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/11/2025 | End submission calls: 17/12/2025

The EIC Accelerator supports companies (principally SMEs, including start-ups) to scale up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. The EIC Accelerator focuses in particular on innovations, building on scientific discovery or technological breakthroughs (‘deep tech’) and where significant funding is needed over a long timeframe before returns can be generated (‘patient capital’).

The EIC Accelerator supports the later stages of technology development as well as scale up. The technology component of your innovation must therefore have been tested and validated in a laboratory or other relevant environment (e.g. at least TRL 5). The EIC Accelerator looks to support companies where the EIC support will act as a catalyst to crowd in other investors necessary for the scale up of the innovation.

ERC Public Engagement with Research Award

Code: 38385 | Identifier Code: ERC-2026-PERA | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Research Council (ERC) | Start submission calls: 14/10/2025 | End submission calls: 15/01/2026

The Public Engagement with Research Award is established to recognise and reward those Principal Investigators who successfully engage audiences outside their domain with ERC-funded research. The purpose of this award is also to recognise good practice and to encourage more ERC grantees to develop public engagement activities. For this award, public engagement is defined as the involvement of the public in the design, conduct or dissemination of activities funded by the ERC. Engagement is a two way process, involving interaction and mutual understanding for mutual benefit.

MSCA Choose Europe for Science 2025

Code: 38363 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MSCA-2025-COFUND-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 01/10/2025 | End submission calls: 03/12/2025

Icing in the context of sustainable aviation

Code: 38340 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-15 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

The field of aircraft icing is of particular importance because it relates to the safety of flight facing adverse weather conditions, which became increasingly extreme during the last decade.

The aviation industry is working to develop clean and sustainable aviation. There is the need to innovate while maintaining safety.

Predicting and avoiding road crashes based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data

Code: 38337 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-14 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

One of the principles of the Safe System Approach is to turn from mainly re-active to pro-active management of road safety, i.e. not to derive needs for intervention primarily from crash investigations, but to intervene before serious crashes happen.

The ubiquitous gathering of ever-growing amounts of data and their processing in the digital transport system support this idea providing valuable information on traffic situations and events. Potential data sources include amongst others: smart phones, wearables, connected vehicles, drones, road-side sensors (e.g. camera, radar), etc.

Progress in computing power, in the accuracy of location services and in video analytics are further enablers in the processing and analysis of such data in order to identify safety-critical situations or conflicts based on surrogate safety metrics.

Safety of Cyclists, Pedestrians and Users of Micromobility Devices

Code: 38334 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-13 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

The share of trips made by active modes is increasing, which is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This increase is linked to cities actively placing more focus on the mobility and safety needs of pedestrians, cyclists, e-cyclists and users of other micro-mobility device, which materialises in new regulations, and in new or improved infrastructure. However, pedestrians and cyclists remain heavily affected by crashes.

Concurrently, the use of electrically assisted devices (such as e-bikes, e-scooters, e-cargo bikes, mobility systems used by people with disabilities, etc.) – to be referred to as micromobility modes – is increasing exponentially because these modes represent an efficient means of personal mobility, as well as a new and effective mode for the last-mile delivery of goods within the city area. Micromobility modes, shared and owned, have been adopted by commuters, tourists, the elderly, food and goods delivery companies, and come in varying sizes and operating speeds.

When their use emerged, micromobility modes were associated with high hospitalisation rates, mainly for the micromobility users themselves, but also pedestrians and cyclists. While efforts have been made to regularise and standardise these vehicles, especially in the case of shared e-scooters, there is still a significant knowledge gap related to the operational safety of these vehicles in cities.

Integrating inland waterway transport in smart shipping and multimodal logistics chains

Code: 38331 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-10 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

While the increased use of sustainable transport modes and multimodal solutions are critical levers for transport, logistics and supply chain decarbonisation, and despite obvious environmental advantages, the modal share of the EU IWT sector has remained below expectations over the last decades.

The seamless integration of inland waterway transport in multimodal supply chains requires the physical and digital connection to other land transport modes and maritime transport. Digitalisation is not a goal in itself but an important supporting development required to remain competitive and to improve the connectivity to ports, other transport modes and the clients (e.g. to keep the direct costs low and to allow synchromodal solutions).

Digital interconnectivity (with logistics systems and other digital platforms for transport) is crucial to increase the modal share of IWT in multimodal logistics chains and to be able to significantly contribute to the modal shift goals as presented in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.

Reliable data and practices to measure and calculate transport emissions in multimodal transport chains

Code: 38328 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-09 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport represent around 25% of total man-made GHG emissions and continue to grow.

The negative impact of these is further strengthened by the existence of other external costs of transport, including air pollution, noise, congestion and accidents.

The EU, Member States and industry have made considerable efforts to reduce transport-related GHG emissions and associated external costs.

Accurate and reliable information on emissions is an important tool to increase effectiveness of specific emission reduction measures undertaken by public authorities and businesses.

Accelerating freight transport and logistics digital innovation

Code: 38326 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-08 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

Electronic Freight Transport Information (eFTI) platforms established in line with Regulation 2020/1056 will play a central role in facilitating the implementation of business-to-authority (B2A) information exchange processes related to multimodal transport of goods.

In line with the Regulation’s requirements, common specifications for a single comprehensive data set and harmonised protocols for data sharing will ensure interoperability of the information shared electronically between actors, and the requirements for rights-based access-control system will establish safeguards for cybersecurity and trust.

The use of electronic means to exchange regulatory information is also expected to reduce administrative costs for economic operators, to enhance the efficiency of freight transport services and to facilitate green transformation of the logistics sector.

Innovative construction and maintenance, with the use of new materials and techniques, for resilient and sustainable transport infrastructure

Code: 38323 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-07 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

The overarching policy background is the European Grean Deal, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

In the transport area, this translates into a 90% reduction of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

To deliver the European Green Deal, there is a need to revise and upgrade numerous policies, including those for transport and large-scale infrastructures.

Federated CCAM data exchange platform (CCAM Partnership)

Code: 38320 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-06 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

Data sharing plays a pivotal role in supporting R&I, enabling deployment, and enhancing the competitiveness of the CCAM industry.

Within the realm of data sharing, there are two distinct categories of data that are particularly pertinent:

1. mobility data, and
2. data for research and development.

The common European mobility data space aims to facilitate mobility data access and sharing, and is supported by projects, notably from the Digital Europe Programme.

Approaches, verification and training for Edge-AI building blocks for CCAM Systems (CCAM Partnership)

Code: 38315 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

CCAM-enabled vehicles are constantly sensing their surroundings on road conditions, location, nearby vehicles and infrastructure. Such data is shared in real-time, while data from other sources is received.

This needs powerful and optimised large data processing algorithms, which requires large amounts of computing power, data processing, real-time operation and high levels of security.

However, most existing AI computing tasks for automated vehicle applications are relying on general-purpose hardware, which has limitations in terms of power consumption, speed, accuracy, scalability, memory footprint, size and cost.

Hardware advancements driven by initiatives such as the Chips JU calls must be complemented by significant efforts to optimise AI algorithms for CCAM functionalities, ensuring their efficient performance on edge-specific hardware.

Integration of human driving behaviour in the validation of CCAM systems (CCAM Partnership)

Code: 38309 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

The deployment of CCAM systems in mixed traffic will mean intense interaction with all road users such as the human drivers of other vehicles as well as pedestrians and riders of two-wheelers. These interactions (including implicit and explicit communication by humans and CCAM systems) will play a crucial role in the acceptance and thereby the penetration of CCAM systems in future road transport.

CCAM systems will have to show safe and human-like driving behaviour, so that their decisions and actions can be anticipated easily by all road users, respecting the variety of typical driving behaviour across different countries as well as the need for CCAM systems to respect traffic rules and support road safety.

Next-generation environment perception for real world CCAM operations: Error-free and secure technologies to improve energy-efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and circularity (CCAM Partnership)

Code: 38304 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

The initial deployment of Level 4 automated vehicle services in urban and other complex settings has encountered significant challenges in environmental perception and decision-making, leading to occasional remote assistance calls, blockages and accidents that have impacted public trust.

At the same time, the increasing computing power demand is in conflict with a limited usage of energy and resources to meet sustainability requirements.

Thus, emerging large-scale demonstrations of automated vehicles should be accompanied by objective-oriented research aimed at addressing these challenges directly, while targeting improvements in performance, accuracy, reliability, and cyber-security.

Real time monitoring of regulated and non-regulated emissions from all types of vessels and other port activities in order to enforce emission limits in waterfront cities

Code: 38301 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D5-17 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

There is a pressing need to measure accurately the different types of emissions in coastal and port environments located near to cities, because of their negative impact on the environment and human health.

Ports, as intricate environments showcasing a variety of vessels including novel designs, pose a challenge to the development of standardised technologies capable of collecting and assessing real-time pollutant emissions data from these ships docking at ports.

This is vital for enforcing emissions limits and validating the data for enforcement purposes.

Monitoring and Evaluation of the Societal Readiness Pilot

Code: 38298 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D2-09 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

The European Commission has a strong interest in learning from the implementation of Societal Readiness actions piloted in eight topics from the Cluster 5 work programme 2025, and resulting in an estimate of eighteen projects to be implemented.

Conclusions on the pilot’s monitoring and evaluation will be the basis for the European Commission’s decision to replicate further these actions, to improve its implementation and possibly widen its use to other fields of application.

The instructions and definitions applying to pilot topics are included in the introduction of the Horizon Europe Main Work Programme 2025 for Climate, Energy and Mobility.

Accelerated multi-physical and virtual testing for battery aging, reliability, and safety evaluation (Batt4EU Partnership)

Code: 38283 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D2-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

This topic aims to reduce development costs and time to market of new battery systems by accelerated multi-physical and virtual testing. Current test strategies are still very time consuming and costly due to the need to understand the impact of multi-physical operational loads (electric, thermal, mechanical, etc.), potential failure modes, ageing and misuse on the safety and reliability of battery cells and modules.

To overcome these barriers, new multi-physical test strategies supplemented by virtual testing are required taking into account the most impactful parameters on ageing, reliability and safety and their dependencies.

Integrating advanced materials, cell design and manufacturing development for high-performance batteries aimed at mobility (Batt4EU Partnership)

Code: 38280 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D2-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

The scope covers quasi-solid and all-solid-state lithium-ion battery technologies (up to 5% liquid electrolyte weight percentage) which encompasses Si-C composite anodes or lithium metal anodes.

Development of sustainable and design-to-cost batteries with (energy-)efficient manufacturing processes and based on advanced and safer materials (Batt4EU Partnership)

Code: 38277 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D2-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

Proposals are expected to target technologies for design-to-cost batteries, with little reliance on CRMs, from one of the following two main technologies:

• Liquid electrolyte lithium-ion batteries with lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) or manganese-rich HLM (high lithium, manganese) as cathode materials (design-to-cost lithium-ion batteries for mobility);
• Sodium-ion batteries for mobility applications.

Phase out fossil fuel in energy intensive industries through the efficient integration of renewable energy sources

Code: 38265 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-06 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Proposals are expected to demonstrate an innovative solution for the efficient, long lasting and cost-effective local integration of one or a combination of renewable thermal, electrical, bioenergy and other renewable energy sources in industrial processes, for heating, cooling and power generation, while optimising process efficiency and reuse, possibly upgrade of excess heat, with the aim of avoiding or drastically reducing fossil fuel use.

Optimal combination of low embodied carbon construction products, technical building systems and circularity principles for climate neutral buildings (Built4People Partnership)

Code: 38261 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Buildings result in greenhouse gas emissions over their whole life cycle (operational and embodied emissions). Buildings can also contribute to long-term carbon removals by storing carbon in construction products.

Construction and renovation works must also meet a variety of inter-related requirements such as structural and fire safety, acoustics, and a healthy and comfortable indoor environment.

Although much research has focused on developing materials and products with reduced whole life carbon emissions, the life cycle impacts of buildings depend on a complex interaction between individual products, components and technical building systems, spatial distribution, usage during their lifetime, and other design choices.

There is therefore a need to deliver buildings and renovation works with minimal life cycle impacts, in particular global warming potential, based on circularity principles, also accommodating future building use-change through design for flexibility, and using innovative combinations of products and systems that result in optimal building-level performance.

Innovative approaches for the deployment of Positive Energy Districts

Code: 38257 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Recent projects have demonstrated the feasibility of PEDs, but there is a need to further demonstrate climate-neutral impact, while developing and demonstrating innovative approaches and solutions for overcoming technical, business, social and organisational constraints in several domains.

Such domains include, for example, climate mitigation, integration of renewable energy sources and energy storage in buildings, grid connections, accommodation of distributed energy generation and storage at district level, permitting, data privacy and security and the application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Presently, these constraints, which inhibit the demonstration of complete and qualified PEDs, require the cooperation of key professionals from the public and private sector, such as municipal and regional authorities and those from the energy and construction sectors, in complex implementation processes.

Innovative pathways for low carbon and climate resilient building stock and built environment (Built4People Partnership)

Code: 38252 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

EU and associated countries continue to develop innovative building solutions that support the decarbonisation and climate resilience of buildings and the built environment, addressing energy performance, circularity, sustainability, resource efficiency, climate resilience, safety, durability and adaptability of the building stock, and whole life carbon emissions.

A key challenge remains the accelerated uptake of such solutions in building and renovation projects.

Building value chain actors – such as housing association, municipal and regional authorities, or policy makers – require planning methods and procedures that embed the uptake of innovative building solutions and define pathways for the decarbonisation and climate resilience of the building stock and the built environment under their responsibility.

Smarter buildings as part of the energy system for increased efficiency and flexibility – Societal Readiness Pilot

Code: 38249 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

The construction sector and the building subsector remain among the least digitised.

Smart buildings can contribute to reducing energy demand, curbing operational CO2 emissions, integrating RES and enhancing grid flexibility through optimised energy usage.

At the same time, it is essential that smart buildings are flexible and adaptive to changing needs and usage patterns and are user-friendly to encourage widespread adoption of these technologies by grid operators, construction professionals, building facility managers and users.

Furthermore, to ensure the societal benefits of the smart building technologies there is a need for increased user knowledge, acceptance and satisfaction.

On-site innovative robotic and automated solutions and techniques for more sustainable and less disruptive building renovation and construction

Code: 38246 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Buildings need to be sustainable and resource efficient, and the rate of deep renovation needs to be increased.

This can be accelerated by modernising the construction sector and embracing the latest developments in robotics and automated systems.

There is need for further research on innovative on-site robotic and other automated solutions and techniques that make renovation and construction works more sustainable, less disruptive, faster, as well as more accurate, cost effective and resource efficient.

New CO2 capture technologies

Code: 38243 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-24 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Development of new or emerging capture technologies with high potential for cost reduction.

Proposals shall address capture of CO₂ either from one of the following areas (and explicitly identify which is being covered):

1. Point sources, or
2. Directly from air (direct air capture, DAC).

Underground Thermal Energy Storage in dense urban areas

Code: 38239 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-22 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

In scope are novel technologies, interfaces, design methods and organisational concepts that result in the most effective and sustainable use of subsurface space in dense urban areas by Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) systems such as ATES, CTES and BTES.

Proposals should consider the integration in the existing energy grids and interaction with other urban uses of the subsurface (e.g., subways, underground utilities, buildings), including energy geostructures of buildings, tunnels, slabs, energy sheet pile walls, etc., with potential geothermal heating, cooling, and sinks or storage opportunities.

Proposals should address the uncertainties in the seasonal energy demand to increase the predictability of the required subsurface space, the interactions among systems for the sake of optimal use of subsurface and thermal efficiency.

Innovative tools and services to manage and empower energy communities

Code: 38236 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-20 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

The project should:

• Develop innovative and open-source tools for managing shared energy community assets (e.g., energy storage facilities) and optimising energy community management (e.g., selection and switching of aggregators, preparation and trading of smart contracts, peer-to-peer and energy sharing, self-consumption);
• Develop open-source tools for forecasting, prediction and advanced data analysis using AI tools and in-depth data analysis for customers and prosumers for autonomous optimisation of consumption, production, storage, smart devices (appliances), and electric vehicle (EV) both at household and energy community levels;
• Extend DSO SCADA and substation systems for autonomous control of grid assets and seamlessly integrate these systems with home and building energy management systems for direct and fast control and data acquisition to implement local (distribution) grid services (constrain alleviation, grid reconfiguration, restoration of supply, maintenance, and enhancement of energy quality), real-time assessment and monetisation of the use of grid resources;
• Integrate the three elements above as a basis to establish a platform for cooperation between individual customers or prosumers, entire energy communities, wide area aggregators, and DSOs to provide, acquire, and settle energy system-oriented services (system-wide balancing, support of frequency regulation). The cooperation platform should be based on a plug-and-play integration of the energy community eco-system components (hardware and software), using and extending relevant communication standards and data models. The integration mechanism should be embedded within the core systems used by customers/prosumers, DSO (and TSO), aggregators and market operators, fully aligned with SGAM;
• Develop tailored security solutions for private and public communication networks used by IoT apps and devices (smart appliances) across energy carriers;
• Ensure the follow-up and implementation of EU policy measures, including by conducting quality assessments and introducing national community energy targets;
• Foster institutional allies at local and regional levels;
• Provide access to and capacities for using digital planning tools;
• Identify the barriers for network operators (e.g. legal, economic, regulatory etc.) who want to introduce smart consumption options for their customers.

Innovative solutions for a generative AI-powered digital spine of the EU energy system

Code: 38233 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-19 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

To achieve the Green Deal objectives for 2030 and 2050, substantial investments are required in a smart and digitally enabled energy system capable of integrating higher shares of renewable energy and electrification of demand and electricity storage.

This encompasses various sectors such as transport (notably electric vehicles), industry (heating and hydrogen production) and residential heating.

Next generation distribution substation for increasing the system resilience

Code: 38228 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-18 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Projects are expected to:

• Demonstrate the integration of power electronics, intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), and software solutions in the distribution substations or in their proximity;
• Demonstrate real-time monitoring and analysis of grid conditions (including power quality, voltage levels, grid component monitoring, and overall system performance) that allow operators to quickly identify and address any potential issues or disturbances, help to prevent outages and minimise the impact of service disruptions;
• Consolidate data streams from otherwise dispersed sources to create unified visualisations and consolidated analytics that offer insights into the performance of distributions substations;
• Develop the concept of a flexible and programmable electricity distribution grid in which the substation is a centre of intelligence that facilitates optimal power routing while ensuring the resilience of the electricity grid.

Development of innovative solutions strengthening the security of renewable energy value chains

Code: 38225 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-14 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Proposals are expected to provide in-depth assessments that will lead to novel solutions improving critical aspects of specific renewable energy technologies and their respective value chains impacting EU’s energy security.

De-risking wave energy technology development through transnational pre-commercial procurement of wave energy research and development

Code: 38222 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-13 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

The challenge is the development and demonstration of cost-effective wave energy converters that can survive in a harsh and unpredictable ocean or sea environment through demand-driven pre-commercial procurement (PCP). The challenge is open to proposals seeking to steer wave energy development in an effective way at a European level and to bring these technologies to the market.

The operation of wave energy prototypes in real sea conditions is a critical step to establish confidence in the devices and to facilitate the large-scale roll-out of this renewable technology. Pre-commercial procurement has been shown to be an effective tool to de-risk such activities.

Extending the lifetime of crystalline silicon PV modules (EUPI-PV Partnership)

Code: 38217 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-12 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

The degradation rate might vary depending on many factors such as material properties, environmental stress (solar irradiance, humidity, temperature, wind speed, dust, etc.), installation, design and type of components and connections, with some components deteriorating on their own and others impacting additional PV components, leading to more severe failures. 

Towards commercialisation of Perovskite PV and development of dedicated manufacturing equipment (EUPI-PV Partnership)

Code: 38214 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-10 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Metal halide perovskite solar cells have attracted much attention because of their low-cost fabrication and high efficiency. In addition, tandem devices, especially perovskite-Si tandems, are expected to play an important role in perovskite commercialisation.

Poor stability of these devices remains however the key challenge in their path toward commercialisation.

To overcome this issue, a robust encapsulation technique by employing suitable materials and structures with high barrier performance against the external environment must be developed to protect perovskite devices.

Understand and minimise the environmental impacts of offshore wind energy

Code: 38211 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-08 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Proposals are expected to address at least five of the following aspects:

• Provide better knowledge and understanding of the cumulative environmental impacts of the offshore wind energy deployment according to the EU targets, when added to the current and planned human activities carried out in the same areas;
• Expand existing studies, field monitoring, and analysis from local to larger areas, and from site- or species-specific impacts to more general ones. Further develop and deploy field monitoring activities, measuring multiple pressures and impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems and their services, as well as pollution, from installation to decommissioning and possible repowering, including operational phase and maintenance activities;
• Test and demonstrate field monitoring and modelling technologies that allow to go beyond state-of-knowledge, regarding life-cycle environmental impacts of offshore wind energy deployments;
• Improve instruments and models for Maritime Spatial Planning, and environmental assessments at plan and project level that are in alignment with public authorities’ needs;
• Improve modelling capacity and environmental impact assessments of future offshore wind deployment;
• Support the identification of areas where wind energy deployment is particularly suitable without significant environmental impact and areas where on the contrary, it should be avoided;
• Identify strategies, test, and demonstrate technologies that avoid, minimise, mitigate and compensate the environmental impact of bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind energy systems, propose mitigation and restoration measures and if feasible, provide net-positive environmental impacts. The activities carried out under this point are expected to achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project.

Particular attention must be dedicated to ensuring that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable) and to leveraging existing community practices for data sharing especially those in the relevant European common data spaces and in the European Research infrastructures.

ERC Consolidator Grants

Code: 38205 | Identifier Code: ERC-2026-COG | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Research Council (ERC) | Start submission calls: 25/09/2025 | End submission calls: 13/01/2026

Improved reliability and optimised operations and maintenance for wind energy systems

Code: 38202 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-07 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Proposals are expected to address at least four of the following aspects:

• Develop and validate solutions to increase the reliability of wind energy systems and their components, thus ensuring security of supply and further reducing the environmental impacts;
• Develop new methods, computational techniques and tools to analyse and predict the reliability of wind energy systems, considering the analysis of the failure modes of existing systems and including a focus on new analytical approaches, technologies and materials;
• Develop new methods and tools for condition and health monitoring of wind energy systems and their components;
• Develop and validate solutions to optimise the operation and maintenance of wind energy systems and their components, for example through improved scheduling and predictive maintenance, autonomous tools, robots and vehicles, semi-automated inspection methods or advanced repair methods;
• Develop and validate new components to be incorporated in structures’ designs to improve the safety and efficiency on-site during maintenance activities in wind farms;
• Develop and validate innovative digital tools to facilitate wind farm operation and maintenance, for instance through improved interoperability, decision-making support tools, condition and health monitoring techniques and innovative sensors, while ensuring increased cybersecurity and data sharing.

• Develop and validate solutions to increase the reliability of wind energy systems and their components, thus ensuring security of supply and further reducing the environmental impacts;
• Develop new methods, computational techniques and tools to analyse and predict the reliability of wind energy systems, considering the analysis of the failure modes of existing systems and including a focus on new analytical approaches, technologies and materials;
• Develop new methods and tools for condition and health monitoring of wind energy systems and their components;
• Develop and validate solutions to optimise the operation and maintenance of wind energy systems and their components, for example through improved scheduling and predictive maintenance, autonomous tools, robots and vehicles, semi-automated inspection methods or advanced repair methods;
• Develop and validate new components to be incorporated in structures’ designs to improve the safety and efficiency on-site during maintenance activities in wind farms;
• Develop and validate innovative digital tools to facilitate wind farm operation and maintenance, for instance through improved interoperability, decision-making support tools, condition and health monitoring techniques and innovative sensors, while ensuring increased cybersecurity and data sharing.

Demonstration of thermal energy storage solutions for solar thermal plants and systems

Code: 38199 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Support will be given to the demonstration of innovative thermal energy storage solutions in the following areas: (i) concentrated solar power (CSP) and/or (ii) solar thermal heat and/or cold.

Competitiveness, energy security and integration aspects of advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin value chains

Code: 38195 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Projects are expected to assess the energy security and industrial competitiveness aspects of value chains for advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin, in view of the new situation in the EU regarding energy security and industrial competitiveness with the rest of the word. 

Large-scale production of liquid advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin

Code: 38176 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 16/09/2025 | End submission calls: 17/02/2026

Demonstrate innovative large-scale production of liquid advanced biofuels and/or renewable fuels of non-biological origin for sectors with specific need for such fuels (particularly aviation and shipping and energy-intensive industries).

Production is expected to be based on various EU sustainable biomass feedstocks, notably biogenic residues and wastes, biogenic part of slurries and industrial wastes, and/or on non-biological origin feedstocks, such as renewable hydrogen and CO₂ or renewable carbon, nitrogen, or their compounds, through chemical, biochemical, biological, and thermochemical pathways, or a combination of them.

Scaling up deep tech ecosystems

Code: 38162 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) | Start submission calls: 10/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

Pan-European research infrastructures are strategic assets to boost R&I, scientific discoveries and deep-tech developments at regional, national and European levels.

They have a strong role in increasing the R&I potential of academia and industry in local and regional ecosystems, thus enhancing competitiveness, innovation in strategic areas and overcoming fragmentation.

The Council conclusions on strengthening the competitiveness of the EU and overcoming the fragmentation of the European Research Area encouraged better use and deployment of Research Infrastructure facilities and services by academia and industry, including SMEs and start-ups across the entire EU.

European network of national competence centers for innovation procurement

Code: 38159 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) | Start submission calls: 10/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

Many public buyers around Europe still lack experience on innovation procurement and need training and guidance.

To tackle this challenge, several countries around Europe have set up national competence centers that cooperate with policy makers in their country to implement capacity building measures for innovation procurement.

With support of Horizon 2020 funding, in the past, five new competence centers were set up and started collaborating with five existing competence centers across borders.

Expanding Investment Ecosystems

Code: 38157 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) | Start submission calls: 10/09/2025 | End submission calls: 20/01/2026

The lack of later-stage funding and partners for expansion to foreign markets is one of the most problematic aspects of business growth particularly for the startups from less developed innovation ecosystems. In order to scale to a leading business, startups need to expand to foreign markets beyond their region.

At earlier stages start-ups are typically supported by local investors and partners. However, in order to expand inside the EU they would need access to the funding from actors with presence and knowledge in these new markets.

The lack of partners for expansion to foreign markets beyond their region is harmful for local start-ups’ growth and investor activity and the development of regional scale-ups, even more so for women-led companies.

While the limited number of established European start-up hubs attract significant money and traction, the innovation ecosystems in other areas struggle to keep pace with fewer resources, including funds and technical expertise.

In the struggle for resources, many start-ups face the choice to either forego growth and ultimately close their business or move elsewhere, while foreign investors struggle to enter new markets due to insufficient information about the market, its opportunities and regulatory frameworks.

ERC SYNERGY GRANTS

Code: 38122 | Identifier Code: ERC-2026-SyG | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Research Council (ERC) | Start submission calls: 10/07/2025 | End submission calls: 05/11/2025

The aim is to provide support for a small group of two to four Principal Investigators to jointly address ambitious research problems that could not be addressed by the individual Principal Investigators and their teams working alone.

Support for the Ukrainian tech SMEs and startups

Code: 38109 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIC-2025-UKRAINIANTECH-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) | Start submission calls: 12/08/2025 | End submission calls: 26/11/2025

This action focuses on deep-tech startups which 1) have high-impact innovation technology, product, service, or business model that could create new markets or disrupt existing ones, and 2) have the ambition and commitments to scale up.

The successful applicants are expected to work on the deep-tech innovation within the abovementioned priority areas. Such companies often struggle to attract financing because the technology and investment risks are too high.

This topic is designed to enable promising deep-tech startups to develop further their innovations from at least TRL 4 (technology fully validated in a lab) and attract the investment amounts needed for scale up in a shorter timeframe.

The applicants are expected to demonstrate in their application that they:

• have developed technology validated in the lab level (at least all aspects of TRL 4 completed)
• have the potential to reach application and market in period of 2-3 years;
• possess the necessary Intellectual Property Rights to ensure freedom to operate and adequate protection of the idea;
• have a clear vision on the intended pathway and route to market. This includes specific milestones together with concrete and verifiable KPIs to assess progress towards the market.

Applications from women-led companies are encouraged.

If relevant, for those applicant companies that are currently located in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country, a clear intention to relocate back the company to Ukraine whenever feasible is expected.

Waste-to-value devices - circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials

Code: 38104 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIC-2025-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Council-EIC (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 24/07/2025 | End submission calls: 29/10/2025

Fossil fuels supply a majority of the world’s energy and also provide the raw materials, or feedstocks, for many essential everyday products.

While energy provision is becoming increasingly decarbonized, the production of fuels, chemicals and materials requires carbon atoms as feedstocks.

However, their production can be “de-fossilized”, by utilising renewable energy and alternative carbon sources. Likewise, a circular economy approach offers scope to reduce external dependencies and source other essential molecular feedstocks including critical raw materials from wastes.

Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic unstructured construction environments

Code: 38101 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIC-2025-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Council-EIC (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 24/07/2025 | End submission calls: 29/10/2025

Robotic automation offers significant advantages to several sectors, yet on-site construction robotics is amongst the most challenging and least understood fields in robotics.

The unstructured, dynamic environment with human presence makes navigation and automation of the many concurrent construction tasks deeply challenging. Further, the current state-of-the-art solutions focus on adding higher degrees of automation to legacy tools, such as heavy equipment designed for diesel engines and human operators.

Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionize Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer

Code: 38098 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIC-2025-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Council-EIC (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 24/07/2025 | End submission calls: 29/10/2025

Imaging is a crucial component of cancer clinical protocols, providing detailed morphological, structural, metabolic, and functional information. However, harnessing the full potential of the data generated through medical imaging in clinical settings remains challenging.

Clinicians often struggle to combine diverse and large-scale data into a comprehensive view of patient care, disease progression, and treatment efficacy.

The inability to seamlessly integrate and interpret diverse data sources result in suboptimal patient outcomes and inefficiencies in the delivery of healthcare.

Biotech for Climate Resilient Crops and Plant-Based Biomanufacturing

Code: 38095 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIC-2025-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Council-EIC (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 24/06/2025 | End submission calls: 29/10/2025

Land based agricultural production is the source of approximately 95% of human food nutrients (UN FAO).

Intensive and often inappropriate practices in agriculture have however resulted in severe soil degradation, thereby reducing the capacity of soils to support food production and other important ecosystem services such as the regulation of water, nutrients, and carbon cycles.

Soil degradation is further accelerated by the effects of climate change, with abiotic stresses such as heat, drought, salinity, and waterlogging, often in combination, having negative effects on the world’s crop production.

The direct impact of a changed climate is also frequently accompanied by indirect impacts due to alterations in the composition and behaviour of weeds, insects, pathogens, and soil microbiome, alongside the impacts of increased amounts of human-generated pollutants.

ERC STARTING GRANTS

Code: 38014 | Identifier Code: ERC-2026-STG | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Research Council (ERC) | Start submission calls: 09/07/2025 | End submission calls: 14/10/2025

The Starting Grant supports excellent Principal Investigators starting or having recently started their own independent research team or programme.

A Starting Grant Principal Investigator should have already shown evidence of the potential for research independence, for example, by having produced at least one important publication as its main author or a publication without the participation of their PhD supervisor.

Enhanced Learning Strategies for General Purpose AI: Advancing GenAI4EU (RIA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

Code: 37995 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-07 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Soft Robotics for Advanced physical capabilities (IA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

Code: 37992 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Soft robotics represents an important avenue to advance robotics, particularly for enhancing safety and physical interaction. Its potential lies in creating systems with intrinsic and functional safety, capable of securely interacting with humans across various scenarios. By using compliant designs, these systems overcome the limitations of rigid robotic systems, such as limited adaptability and reduced safety around humans. Novel design methods, the use of smart materials, deformable physical architectures, and bioinspired approaches are key to improving robotic performance. However, significant challenges remain in learning, modelling, simulation, control, actuation, sensing, and the integration of soft electronics.

To address this, proposals should focus on exploiting novel materials and design methods for non-rigid structures, along with advanced control techniques for soft robotic systems.

Assessment methodologies for General Purpose AI capabilities and risks (RIA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

Code: 37990 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has led to the development of increasingly sophisticated general-purpose AI (GPAI) models and systems. These models, such as large language models and multimodal AI systems, demonstrate remarkable capabilities across a wide range of tasks. However, assessing the capabilities of these models remains a significant challenge. Traditional evaluation methods often fail to capture the full spectrum of abilities exhibited by GPAI models and systems. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the development of new assessment frameworks, methodologies and tools that can comprehensively evaluate these models in terms of their trustworthy and ethical behaviour and operation, ensuring their reliability, fairness, and alignment with human values.

Advanced sensor technologies and multimodal sensor integration for multiple application domains (IA) (Photonics Partnership)

Code: 37987 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The scope of this topic focuses on the advancement and application of photonic sensor technologies and their integration into multimodal systems. Proposals are expected to address the development of sensor technologies and their validation through trials in realistic use cases. This includes exploring multi-modal sensor capabilities, as well as employing sensor fusion and machine learning approaches for the analysis of sensor data.

Software Engineering for AI and generative AI (RIA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

Code: 37985 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DATA-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The latest developments in AI are demanding computation infrastructures designed to maximize the number of FLOPS. Europe has a window of opportunity to leverage open source and ensure that the European industry is at the cutting edge of these new processing infrastructures. The current methods and tools to develop and efficiently deliver AI pipelines and complex generative AI applications present several shortcomings.

Current identified challenges include the continuous management of data pipelines, novel testing methods (e.g. differential testing or improved performance testing), optimized deployment strategies (in terms of using energy efficient resources or the best performant), management of dependencies with a diverse set of types of hardware, algorithm bias and discrimination against certain groups, determined by characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, age or disability, as well as the maintenance of the effectiveness of AI applications, notably generative AI ones. The explainability of AI models is another crucial challenge that must be also tackled at the software engineering level, possibly in synergy with explainability methods at the machine learning stage. Also, large language models and foundational models require the development and operation of complex system architectures that need to handle data processing at large scale, continuous training of models and inference. Furthermore, AI pipelines and generative AI application also strongly suffer from poor protection against learning dataset poisoning, as well as prompt poisoning; software engineering methods and tools providing support to protect against those attacks are thus direly required. This presents novel challenges for developers that will need to be addressed with the development of new methods, mechanisms and tools covering the above, including neuromorphic computing, but not limited to.

Empowering AI/generative AI along the Cognitive Computing continuum (RIA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

Code: 37983 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DATA-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The Cloud to Edge Continuum needs to provide seamless and trustworthy integration of diverse computing and data environments spanning from core cloud to edge to IoT and support the enormous data, processing needs, and new resource types brought by next generation AI technologies.

Different types of AI processes pose different requirements that compute infrastructures need to meet to execute them. The state-of-the-art in generative AI and large language models is heavily reliant on high-performance processing and very large AI models. Cutting-edge hardware accelerators that power these processing systems are scarce on the market and only available in highly specialised, high-performance infrastructures in certain cloud and HPC environments at considerable costs. At the same time, the requirement to gather, process, and transmit massive amounts of data to the central data processing environment remains a barrier for many AI applications. All these factors urge the emergence of efficient tools and mechanisms to empower the distribution of AI training and inference processes throughout the computing continuum.

Innovative Advanced Materials (IAMs) for conformable, flexible or stretchable electronics (RIA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for Europe partnership)

Code: 37980 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-MATERIALS-47 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The concept of “ubiquitous electronics” can be a unique opportunity for the EU, opening up new avenues for e.g., wearable electronics, e-textile, e-skin, wellbeing solutions and Internet of wearable things (IoWT), which represent strategic markets for the EU. Innovative and advanced materials (IAMs) can enable new technologies and the much-needed paradigm of an electronic device that can adapt to any substrate. Despite the progress made in this field, current devices are made up of a limited proportion of flexible, conformable, and stretchable components, mainly sensors, while the rest of the circuit remains rigid, limiting this technology shift.

The overall objective is to discover Innovative Advanced Materials (IAMs), including 2DMs, with improved properties in terms of flexibility, conformability and stretchability that can enable novel flexible electronic applications, with a focus on environmentally friendly technologies with reduced carbon footprint processing.

Innovative Advanced Materials (IAMs) for photonics, enabling low-power and ultra-broadband performance for telecommunication (RIA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for Europe partnership)

Code: 37974 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-MATERIALS-46 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

IAMs can be the ideal candidate for several applications in photonics and optoelectronics. These include ultrafast integrated photonic circuits, with modulators, waveguides, detectors, emitters and switches, which play a crucial role in the ongoing quest to increase the speed of data transmission in telecommunications networks. In addition, they find utility in high-frequency transmitter modulators and receiver demodulators, which are essential for advancing wireless telecommunications technologies. They can also serve as integral components in optical interconnects for data centers, high-performance computing (HPCs), and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) computing systems.

GenAI for Africa

Code: 37972 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-HUMAN-08 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

International cooperation in semiconductors (CSA)

Code: 37970 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-19 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The CSA on semiconductors and semiconductor-based photonics will support the European Commission and Member States by mapping global supply chains and industrial strengths, identifying opportunities for cooperation, and defining key research areas beneficial for Europe. It will analyse risks to EU technological leadership and economic security, including issues like overproduction, export controls, and non-market practices. The action will also promote standardisation, joint events, researcher mobility, and prepare comparative analyses of international cooperation modalities.

GenAI4EU central Hub (CSA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

Code: 37967 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

This horizontal Coordination and Support Action for GenAI4EU will develop a strong and visible European GenAI ecosystem of developers and users, aiming to strengthen the coordination, impact and visibility of the GenAI4EU initiative across diverse sectors. This CSA should be prepared, managed and coordinated by the key stakeholders in this field, in particular those active in developing local GenAI communities, tech transfer, attracting investment, and making the European GenAI stakeholders visible.

Serving as a hub for collaboration, this project seeks to streamline efforts in developing high-impact GenAI-based applications while fostering cooperation among various GenAI stakeholders, from startups, academia and large user industries, including large IT suppliers and integrators.

It will support all the Horizon Europe Pillar 2 clusters, in addressing their policy needs through the implementation of the GenAI4EU initiative, in particular in supporting mechanisms to pool efficiently and make sufficient data of high quality available (in particular from the European Data Spaces, but exploiting other sources of data as appropriate), and facilitate collaboration with the AI Factories.

The proposed project is expected to involve close collaboration and coordination among the projects implementing GenAI4EU, developing a strong community. It should also help them to maximise their impact and increase their visibility.

Specific support for the Virtual Worlds Partnership and the Web 4.0 initiative (CSA) (Virtual Worlds Partnership)

Code: 37965 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-17 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The launch of the co-programmed European Partnership for Virtual Worlds aims to build a strong industrial and end-user ecosystem in the EU, engaging society and providing access to funding, expertise, and technology across the virtual worlds value chain. The Coordination and Support Action (CSA) will be led by key stakeholders and is expected to deliver Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas (SRIAs) for both Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0, ensuring they are open, interoperable, sustainable, inclusive, and aligned with EU values. It will establish a European Virtual Worlds Partnership, strengthen links across EU and national initiatives, promote awareness and outreach, and support standardisation. Ultimately, it seeks to create a competitive ecosystem where European companies play a leading role in developing, deploying, and adopting safe, ethical, and trustworthy Virtual Worlds.

Drive the evolution of the internet towards open and interoperable Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds: building blocks in priority areas (RIA) (Virtual Worlds Partnership)

Code: 37962 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-16 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The aim of this topic is to advance the evolution of the internet towards open and interoperable Web 4.0 enabling Virtual Worlds, ensuring seamless user experience navigating across platforms by increasing the take up of digital commons technologies and other Open Source solutions in Europe. The action will thus leverage the strong and active community of European Open Source innovators that can contribute to relevant digital commons to deliver on key features of virtual worlds.

This topic will support early demonstrations for Web 4.0 and its architectural framework, through the use of key building blocks where there is sufficient level of maturity and critical mass of commons contributors (such as in the context of the Next Generation Internet initiative).

The envisaged Web 4.0 shall be powered by open and decentralised technologies enabling interoperability between platforms and networks and freedom of choice for the users. It should be developed through Open Source / digital commons and tackle security, scalability and sustainability at the core of the technological developments.

Applicants should define the mechanisms for contributing to and aligning with the strategic roadmap for research and innovation and the architectural Framework as it becomes available from the specific separate support action HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-17: Specific support for the Virtual Worlds Partnership and the Web 4.0 initiative (CSA).

Applicants should devise appropriate mechanisms for cooperating with the other projects under this action to ensure that they work in a coherent way towards the vision of an open, interoperable Web 4.0

GenAI4EU: Generative AI for Virtual Worlds: Advanced technologies for better performance and hyper personalised and immersive experience (IA) (AI/Data/Robotics & Virtual Worlds Partnerships)

Code: 37959 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-15 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Generative AI, at the edge and integrated in devices, will bring better performance, a more personalised and a more immersive experience for an inclusive and wider adoption of Virtual Worlds. Small and frugal AI models would enable faster inference contributing to lower latency while improving security and privacy by processing data closer to the user, preserving EU Values. Smart digital assistants will accompany users throughout their journey within Virtual Worlds, bringing new innovative communication modalities, advancing collaborative intelligence and decision-making AI capabilities.

Core technologies for virtual worlds (RIA) (Virtual Worlds and Photonics Partnerships)

Code: 37956 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-14 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Virtual worlds will impact the way people live, work, create and share content, the way public administrations interact with citizens as well as the way businesses operate, innovate, produce and interact with customers.

Multimodal interaction and immersion are key dimensions of Virtual Worlds and will be supported by innovative optics and photonics technologies to achieve the full potential of Virtual Worlds core technologies.

A broader adoption of Virtual Worlds will need better and more realistic immersion and interaction, mixing modalities, sensors and actuators for an ever-improved user experience: touch, smell, haptics, etc will be better stimulated, bringing users closer to real-world sensations, serving Virtual Worlds.

Many challenges remain to be addressed to realize optics and photonics technical solutions that offer high-performance, excellent visual quality, high-quality user experience, and sustainable services and devices, for head-mounted displays (HMD), autostereoscopic displays or sensing devices.

Coupled with display and sensing technologies, algorithms and metrics should be considered to exploit the underlying light (transportation) models given the utilized modality and address e.g. scene representation, content generation, compression, transmission, content reconstruction, content-to-display adaptation, or rendering. Moreover, the quality of integration, both from a user and technological perspective, will be essential for a broad adoption of Virtual Worlds.

Challenge-Driven GenAI4EU Booster (RIA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

Code: 37953 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-09 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

This initiative seeks to boost Europe’s developer community and accelerate the adoption of trustworthy Generative AI in three strategic sectors crucial for competitiveness: aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications. In pharmaceuticals, GenAI can revolutionise drug discovery by rapidly generating target-specific molecules, reducing development time from years to seconds, and helping to prevent health crises such as COVID-19. In aerospace, it can optimise aircraft design, streamline manufacturing, predict maintenance needs through sensor data, improve route planning, and enhance pilot training with realistic simulations. In telecommunications, it enables the creation of intelligent and automated networks with applications in network management, optimisation, healing, slicing, predictive maintenance, and mapping. Proposals must focus exclusively on one sector, design and implement a multi-stage competition around industry-driven challenges, and provide participating companies with technical guidance, business mentoring, and access to data. Strategic industry players should be core partners, ensuring the work is relevant and impactful. While the outcomes will be pre-competitive, each proposal must include a draft exploitation plan, with the consortium responsible for guiding the competitions and supporting participants in developing powerful, industry-ready solutions.

Strengthening the fabless Start-up and SME ecosystem in Europe (CSA)

Code: 37950 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-08 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Fabless semiconductor start-ups and SMEs play a key role in driving innovation and economic growth within the global technology sector. These companies, which design chips and outsource their manufacturing, are at the forefront of technological advancements, fueling innovative developments in semiconductor technologies related to AI, data processing, communications, automotive, and more. Globally, fabless companies contribute to approximately 50% of chip revenues. However, Europe’s share in this crucial market is less than 1%, highlighting a significant gap that needs to be addressed to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy and economic security. European fabless startups and SMEs often face significant challenges in accessing cohesive and timely information, financial resources, and relevant infrastructures and services. Nurturing and supporting the growth of European fabless SMEs is essential for building a competitive ecosystem that fosters rapid innovation, job creation, and sustainable growth. This Coordination and Support Action (CSA) aims to bridge this gap by providing targeted support and advocacy for Europe’s fabless semiconductor start-ups, SMEs and small mid-caps, ensuring their voice is heard and their potential is fully realized.

Robust and trustworthy GenerativeAI for Robotics and industrial automation (RIA) (AI/Data/Robotics & Made in Europe Partnerships)

Code: 37940 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-07 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Proposals integrating Generative AI in robotics and industrial automation are expected to substantially contribute to productivity gains, including for instance in engineering industries, the automotive sector, food production or other sectors related to manufacturing industries. All proposals will have to demonstrate their expected impact on the competitiveness of the selected application sector.

Post-exascale HPC (CSA)

Code: 37935 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Proposals are invited for a Coordination and Support Action that will guide and prepare European HPC for the post-exascale era of converging supercomputing, quantum computing and artificial intelligence worlds.

The action should bring together the key scientific and industrial players in Europe, ensuring strong AI engagement, and should liaise with the relevant international post-exascale efforts (e.g. the International Exascale Project (InPex)), the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking advisory bodies such as the Research and Innovation Advisory Group (RIAG) and the Infrastructure Advisory Group (INFRAG), the EuroHPC JU private partners (i.e. the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing ETP4HPC, the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), and the European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC)), relevant EuroHPC main initiatives (e.g. the DARE Framework Programme Agreement on RISC-V processors, HPC Centres of Excellence, AI Factories, etc), the hosting entities of European AI Factories and future AI Gigafactories, and other relevant European projects and initiatives.

Supporting Digital Partnerships in Quantum technologies (RIA)

Code: 37925 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Proposals are expected to address quantum technology challenges in the fields of quantum communication, computing, simulation, and sensing, identifying the added value and mutual benefits for both EU and Korean partners. This includes integration across various disciplines such as physics, engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, theory, algorithms, software, manufacturing, control, and infrastructures.

Quantum Computing – complementing the quantum computing FPAs with the development of a technology agnostic software stack (RIA)

Code: 37922 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The project aims to establish a universal and interoperable quantum computing ecosystem through a technology-agnostic software stack, enabling integration with classical computing systems such as HPC and cloud infrastructures (including EuroHPC supercomputers). It will promote standardized software architectures, compilers, and simulators to ensure portability across platforms and demonstrate workflows that combine quantum and classical computing to tackle complex challenges, highlighting quantum acceleration or advantage.

The initiative will also support training of software developers in quantum programming, development of algorithm libraries, and integration of quantum error correction. Strong collaboration between Horizon Europe quantum projects and EuroHPC initiatives is emphasized, requiring joint agreement on open software stack interfaces from the start. These interfaces must be open, consultative, and well-documented to ensure alignment and facilitate cooperation.

All developments should adopt open-source platforms, use recognized free/open licenses (e.g., FSF, OSI, EUPL), and be published in open repositories such as GitHub. Furthermore, research outputs—including data and workflows—must follow FAIR principles and be made openly accessible whenever possible, while respecting the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.”

Continuation of the Quantum Technologies Flagship (CSA)

Code: 37918 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The new Quantum Flagship CSA will serve as a global observatory, monitoring and reporting on international advances in quantum technologies. It will actively disseminate EU achievements through regular articles and wide promotion, while also supporting the European Commission and related projects with resources, expertise, and event organisation. In addition, it will design targeted communication strategies to raise awareness among different audiences, strengthen coordination between the EU, Member States, and international partners, and provide essential input for harmonising strategies. Finally, it will assist governance structures to ensure smooth implementation of the Flagship’s strategic vision, including supporting the creation of new bodies or initiatives when needed.

EU Prize for Women Innovators

Code: 37903 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIC-2025-PRIZE-WIP | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: European Innovation Council-EIC (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 17/06/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

The European Prize for Women Innovators celebrates the women entrepreneurs behind Europe’s game-changing innovations, so that they may inspire other women and girls realise their full potential as the EU’s future scientists, innovators, and tech leaders.

There are three prize categories:

• The Women Innovators prize
• The Rising Innovators prize
• Women Leadership Category

EIC pre-accelerator - Widening

Code: 37875 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-02-ACCESS-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 12/06/2025 | End submission calls: 18/11/2025

This action focuses on early-stage deep-tech startups which

1. have high-impact innovation technology, product, service, or business model that could create new markets or disrupt existing ones, and
2. have the ambition and commitments to scale up.

The successful applicants need to work on deep tech innovation.

Such companies often struggle to attract financing because the technology and investment risks are too high.

Support for R&I policy making in the EU enlargement countries

Code: 37872 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-04-ACCESS-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Research and innovation play an important role in tackling challenges but also in ensuring a sustainable and inclusive growth while boosting the resilience of production sectors, the competitiveness of economies, and the transformation of the socio-economic systems across Europe.

The enlargement countries are trying to advance in the fields of Research, Development and Innovation (RDI). Closer links between research and innovation, and institutional cooperation to produce high-quality knowledge, underpinning economic and societal solutions are paramount to help bridging the R&I gap between the EU Member States and enlargement countries.

Actions stemming from this call will foster capacity building efforts in enlargement countries to advance R&I eco-systems, improve the Technology Transfer Process, promote networking of and access to excellence, thus optimising the participation in and impact of Horizon Europe (and successor programme) across the region.

Activities from this call will strengthen and foster the development of the human capital base in the region, they will promote the establishment of open, inclusive and responsible national research and innovation eco-systems, support institutional reform through the development of inclusive gender equality plans in line with Horizon Europe and the ERA objectives, as well as support evidence-based policy making.

Science comes to town 2027

Code: 37868 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-07 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The engagement of citizens, local communities and civil society are at the centre of the European Research Area (ERA), seeking greater societal impact and increased trust in science, in line with the ERA Policy Agenda (2022-2024) Action 14 – ‘Bring science closer to citizens’.

The action supports a small group of cities to co-organise and host a joint 1-year programme “Science comes to town 2027”, with a robust concept and brand, that focuses on connecting citizens and scientists in the participating cities and beyond.

Various events and activities should be organised, such as lectures, workshops, exhibitions, competitions or prizes, in the spirit of the European Capital of Culture or the European Green Capital, highlighting the contribution of science to society and the results of R&I projects supported by national/regional/EU funds, including the Horizon Europe programme.

Strengthening of the European Science for Policy Ecosystem

Code: 37865 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-06 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

Science for evidence-informed policymaking or Science for Policy (S4P) refers to the use of the best available scientific evidence, knowledge, and expertise to inform policymaking, aiming to achieve better public policies.

By integrating science into policymaking, governments and organisations can make better-informed decisions and develop effective strategies that are grounded in a deeper understanding of complex and interconnected issues.

Programme-level collaboration

Code: 37862 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

Since the introduction of the European Research Area (ERA) in 2000 and starting with Framework Programme 6 and the introduction of the ERA-NET scheme, programme-level collaboration among EU Member States and Associated Countries and their research and innovation funding programmes has become a cornerstone of the ERA.

Hundreds of networks among research funders have been created over time, serving different research needs, but always coordinating public research investments across borders and allowing researchers to apply for calls for transnational research projects funded by the participating states.

Investigating and addressing career barriers faced by underrepresented and marginalised researchers

Code: 37859 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

Researchers from underrepresented groups and marginalised communities – including, e.g., racialised researchers, researchers with disabilities, LGBTIQ or refugee researchers – encounter structural, material, and cultural inequalities.

The challenges and barriers they face include, but are not limited to, more working precarity, higher rates of gender-based violence and harassment, epistemic injustice and lack of recognition, unequal access to resources, mentorship and support networks, and other obstacles stemming from cultural or social stereotypes leading to conscious and unconscious biases. These disparities are furthermore often exacerbated due to the compounded effects of multiple and intersecting discriminations.

Despite increasing efforts, there is still limited understanding of how these intersectional inequalities manifest themselves and how they can be and are being addressed at EU and national level and in research performing organisations and funding organisations.

Research and innovation to provide evidence that support reforms of research assessment

Code: 37856 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

A global movement is underway to significantly enhance the evaluation process for researchers, research projects and research institutions. 

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), the Leiden Manifesto, the Latin American Forum on Research Assessment (FOLEC-CLACSO), and the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment and the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) under Action 3 of the European Research Area Policy Agenda 2022-2024 are the main initiatives that strive to shift away from inappropriate reliance on metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor.

Instead, they acknowledge the diverse range of research practices, activities and outputs that go beyond publications.

They aim to reward practices, activities and outputs that contribute to a higher quality and impact of research, while also recognising and mitigating systemic biases, particularly gender biases, within traditional assessment metrics.

Enable sustained coordination and guidance at the European level on institutional non-profit open access publishing

Code: 37853 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The conclusions on ‘high quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing’ that the Council of the European Union adopted in May 2023 highlight the importance of equitable scholarly open access publishing models where authors can publish their work irrespective of their institutional affiliation or funding source, with no fees to them or their readers.

EU Member States also called for supporting the development of publishing models led by public research organisations.

In recent years, universities, research institutions and other organisations relevant to research have increasingly engaged in setting up their own open access publishing activities and services. 

Rolling out the ERA Policy Agenda results

Code: 37848 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

This action contributes toward the implementation of the European Research Area (ERA) with targeted interventions in selected policy areas focused on a broad roll-out of the results developed under the first ERA Policy Agenda (2022-2024).

It addresses areas including open science, research assessment, research careers, knowledge valorisation, and research management.

European Researchers' Night and Researchers at Schools 2026-2027

Code: 37844 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MSCA-2025-CITIZENS-01-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 17/06/2025 | End submission calls: 22/10/2025

Proposals should cover both the organisation of the European Researchers’ Night and the implementation of the Researchers at Schools initiative.

It supports events that can last up to two days: they can start on Friday and continue the following day. Pre-events, prior to the main event, and related post-events, such as wrap-up meetings or small-scale follow-up events, can also be organised. It is the occasion for a Europe-wide public and media event for the promotion of research careers.

The European Researchers’ Night targets the general public, addressing and attracting people regardless of the level of their scientific background, with a special focus on young people and their families, pupils and students, and notably those who do not have easy access to, and thus are less inclined to engage in STEAM fields (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) or research activities.

The Researchers at Schools initiative brings school classes to research facilities and researchers to schools or other pedagogical and educational centres. This allows researchers to interact with pupils on societal challenges and on the key role of research to address them. Pupils will thus also learn directly about research projects and initiatives related to EU main priorities.

AI-generated digital twins for science

Code: 37842 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-TECH-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The aim is to use generative artificial intelligence (AI), in line with the GenAI4EU initiative and other key EU initiatives, like the Apply AI strategy, to deliver digital twins of complex real-world systems that advance the state-of-art of European research infrastructures and show transformative potential in their operations.

The solutions should pave the way for new methods to conduct research by the RIs through AI generated and powered digital twins.

They should propose suitable setups for creation of new digital twins or enhancing existing ones, already available within the scientific communities and relevant research infrastructures and for which an existing baseline on generative Artificial Intelligence models exists, the required data fusions, visualisations and execution of the workflows.

The focus is on key impact sectors, such as healthcare (including mental health), transportation, agriculture, environment or manufacturing, or other fields related to the Clean Industrial Deal, in line with the European objectives seeking to leverage AI to address societal challenges, improve public services and drive inclusive economic growth.

The proposed solutions, underpinning the provision of improved and advanced future services, should support RIs in new areas of research and/or a wider community of users, including clearly identified and relevant industrial, scientific or policy users and enhance the potential of the RIs in addressing EU’s policy objectives and socio-economic challenges.

The proposed solutions should, at least in part, be demonstrated in a relevant environment that can lead to sustainable production and include a cost estimate for the operations.

AI-powered impact simulations in support of the Destination Earth initiative

Code: 37839 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-TECH-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

Informed decision-making involves an increasing number of data sources, including high quality data from research infrastructures, and simulations.

While the concept of Digital Twins in Earth Systems promises an increased interactivity for users to run various future impact scenarios, the complexity of such setups is challenging.

Initiatives like Destination Earth (DestinE) have shown to generate massive data amounts that cannot be easily moved and therefore need to be processed on the RIs where they reside.

AI solutions can help with complex data management activities but also benefit from the available data and compute resources, and combine them efficiently with required simulation services.

Implementing research infrastructure technology roadmaps

Code: 37836 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-TECH-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

Research infrastructures require constant technology development to maintain and upgrade their services and to create new ones, to keep pace with the advancements of research and meet the requirements of emerging user communities from academia and innovation ecosystems.

The manufacturing capacity of industry, including SMEs, is often required for this, and the co-creation of technological components is a defining feature of many research infrastructures. In some cases, manufacturing capabilities are lacking inside the EU, putting Europe’s technological sovereignty at stake.

New technologies and solutions for reducing the environmental and climate footprint of research infrastructures

Code: 37833 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-TECH-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The aim of this topic is to deliver innovative technologies and solutions which generate a step change in reducing the environmental and climate footprint of research infrastructures through the full life cycle of research infrastructures.

Proposals should identify common methodologies, among the concerned research infrastructures, to assess environmental impact and strategies to reduce it, as well as efficiency gains in the broader ecosystem.

Research infrastructure services advancing frontier knowledge (bottom-up)

Code: 37831 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

This topic aims at providing trans-national access (on-site or remote) and/or virtual access to integrated and customised research infrastructure services for curiosity-driven research in wide scientific domains, offered by a wide range of complementary and interdisciplinary top level research infrastructures.

Given the funding rate, the topic also aims at fostering the sustainability of the access scheme.

Research infrastructure services advancing frontier knowledge

Code: 37828 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

This topic aims at providing trans-national access (on-site or remote) and/or virtual access to integrated and customised research infrastructure services for curiosity-driven research in wide scientific domains, offered by a wide range of complementary and interdisciplinary top level research infrastructures.

Given the funding rate, the topic also aims at fostering the sustainability of the access scheme. Proposals are expected to address one domain area and must explicitly state which area they address.

Research infrastructure services to enable R&I addressing main challenges and EU priorities

Code: 37825 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

This topic aims at providing trans-national access (on-site or remote) and/or virtual access to integrated and customised research infrastructure services for challenge-driven research and innovation in each of the areas listed below, offered by a wide range of complementary and interdisciplinary top level research infrastructures.

Access also includes ad hoc users’ training and scientific and technical support. Training courses for using the infrastructures may also be supported. Training courses and ad hoc users’ training will prepare the new generations of researchers to properly exploit leading-edge research infrastructures, and should provide them with appropriate skills for data stewardship.

Activities to facilitate and integrate the access procedures, to further develop the remote or virtual provision of services and to improve, customise and harmonise the services the infrastructures will also be supported, including for better serving the needs of open EU industrial research and innovation.

Research infrastructure services to enable R&I addressing main challenges and EU priorities related to the health domain

Code: 37822 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

This topic aims at providing trans-national access (on-site or remote) and/or virtual access to integrated and customised research infrastructures services for challenge-driven research and innovation in each of the areas listed below, all related to the health domain, offered by a wide range of complementary and interdisciplinary top level research infrastructures.

Using Generative AI (GenAI4EU ) for Scientific Research via EOSC

Code: 37819 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The scope of this call is to demonstrate and foster the use of Generative AI for Scientific Research, in line with the GenAI4EU initiative and other key EU initiatives, like the Apply AI strategy, throughout the research data lifecycle supported by EOSC.

Generative AI can be used for activities such as writing, data generation and analysis, reporting and many others, for improving productivity. This enables lifting science beyond the human scale by facilitating the deployment and use of smart algorithms, machine learning and AI services onto the Web of FAIR Data. The awareness and readiness of using Generative AI for scientific research must be raised by training activities.

Data stewards, skills and training for Open Science and FAIR practices

Code: 37817 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The uptake of Open Science practices and of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) requires dedicated, professional profiles for data curation and data management, as well as equipping researchers with adequate skills and supporting them for the sharing and re-use of FAIR research digital objects.

However, at present, data stewards and related profiles lack well-defined career paths, and data sharing and other open science practices are not fully mainstreamed within the research community and are often not recognised in research assessment practices.

Advancing AI-readiness and Machine-Actionability in the EOSC Ecosystem

Code: 37814 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

Today, the sustainable FAIRification of data can be a bottleneck towards the goal of a European web of FAIR data and services.

The use of AI/ML can significantly help in the process of FAIRification, data curation and data quality assurance, close to the source of the data. EOSC shall promote actions that give incentives to further advance AI-readiness and Machine-Actionability in the EOSC federation for FAIRification and to support their application.

FAIR Integration for Enhanced Research Data in the EOSC ecosystem and beyond

Code: 37811 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The scope of this call topic is centred on advancing the interoperability and integration of research data within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), in alignment with the broader context of the Common European Data Spaces and cross-sector collaboration.

EOSC Nodes with federating capabilities for the EOSC Federation

Code: 37808 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The call aims to further develop the cross-domain EOSC system of systems, building upon the results of the previous INFRAEOSC calls. The focus is on developing and expanding the EOSC federation through a network of nodes as baseline elements of the federation model.

These EOSC nodes will establish a set of essential federating capabilities, compatible with the EOSC EU Node reference architecture, following the EOSC Federation Handbook and EOSC interoperability framework.

They should have a clearly described identity and offer unique value to EOSC users, for example representing a specific thematic domain (e.g. data or computing) or geographical area amongst the Horizon Europe participating and associated countries.

Preparatory actions exploring future frameworks for research infrastructures investment plans and funding streams, for integrated and sustained scheme for access and for joint technology development.

Code: 37806 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

Proposals should address only one of the following areas and should explicitly state which area they address:

1. Area 1: Strengthening research infrastructures investment plans and diversifying funding streams
2. Area 2: Preparatory action to explore a more integrated and sustainable scheme for access to research infrastructures
3. Area 3: Framework for joint research infrastructure technology developments

Support to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures

Code: 37803 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) brings together policy makers, funding bodies, and the scientific community to identify joint investment priorities for pan-European research infrastructures as well as to foster their implementation, sustainability and impact.

A comprehensive and efficient support structure is essential for the effective execution of ESFRI’s tasks and activities.

Consolidation of the Research Infrastructure landscape – Individual support for evolution, long term sustainability and emerging needs of pan-European research infrastructures

Code: 37800 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

This topic targets the consolidation of the EU research infrastructures landscape through the support, together with the countries, that are members of the research infrastructures, to the strengthening, long-term sustainability, reorientation or evolution of ESFRI Landmarks or European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs).

Early phase implementation of ESFRI Projects that entered the ESFRI Roadmap in 2021

Code: 37797 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

This topic targets the research infrastructure projects that entered the ESFRI Roadmap in 2021^[1], due to their scientific excellence and organisational maturity as well as to their strategic importance for the European Research Area and the structuring of the European research infrastructure ecosystem.

Proposals must explicitly state which ESFRI Project they target.

Training and up-skilling of research infrastructures technical staff

Code: 37794 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Research Infrastructures (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 18/09/2025

In research infrastructures there is the need for staff with an extraordinary blend of scientific, technical and managerial expertise.

Considering that highly skilled personnel play a vital role in constructing, operating and implementing research infrastructures and serving users, research infrastructures must be able to attract, up-skill, and valorise specialised staff to exploit their full potential.

Soil Salinity in Europe: Drivers, indicators, current levels and temporal changes

Code: 37790 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-11 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

Excessive soil salinity is a significant environmental issue in Europe, negatively impacting soil fertility, plant growth, soil biodiversity, the soil microbiome, and overall ecosystem functioning.

Climate change, coupled with increased evaporation and irrigation, is likely to exacerbate salinization, potentially leading to uncertain consequences for carbon storage and water cycling because of soil degradation induced by salinity.

Salinity is one of the descriptors in the proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience and is recognized as one of the major drivers of soil degradation. The extent of soil salinization in Europe remains uncertain.

Currently, there is no quantitative model capable of predicting future soil salinization in Europe under changing climate conditions at the resolution necessary for local management action and policy development.

Network on carbon farming and emissions reductions for agricultural and forest lands

Code: 37787 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-10 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

The success of carbon farming in Europe will be judged on the quantity and quality of the sequestration of carbon in plants and soils and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural soils, as well as on the benefits for sustainability objectives (notably biodiversity) of the activities leading to such carbon sequestration or emission reductions, in a context of increasing impacts from climate change.

To upscale carbon farming successfully and to establish long-term business perspectives, it is essential to standardise the methodologies and rules for monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) the gains or losses in carbon sequestered.

Currently, private schemes apply very different benchmarks and rules to the carbon credits placed on the voluntary markets. With a high degree of transparency, environmental integrity, and methodology standardisation, buyers should have more trust in the quality of the offered carbon farming credits, land managers should also be able to more easily estimate their potential revenues, and policy makers should be keener to allow the use of such credits to warrant compliance with the EU climate regulatory framework, including currently existing 2030 targets (Effort-Sharing Regulation, Regulation on land use, land use change and forestry – LULUCF) and the 2050 climate neutrality goal. Therefore, such a regulated framework should contribute to develop a successful market for carbon farming.

Citizen engagement for sustainable land management through local and regional authorities

Code: 37784 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-09 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

Citizen engagement is one of the building blocks of the Mission Soil but despite the advances in recognising the importance of soil health and the momentum for soil in the political agenda, active participation in soil protection and restoration and understanding of soil health importance often remain limited among non-experts.

Activities under this topic should involve local and regional authorities in the protection and restoration of soil health and establish participatory processes that take into account citizens’ priorities.

Local and regional participatory processes should result in Territorial Management Agreements aimed at the protection and restoration of soil health for the provision of ecosystem services, including biodiversity, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Support to the operation and further development of soil-health science-policy interfaces and national soil-health hubs

Code: 37781 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-08 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

A range of programmes, projects and initiatives have been working at international, EU, and national level to increase and systematise available scientific knowledge on soil health and drivers of soil degradation, and to facilitate the uptake of this knowledge in policies for more sustainable soil management practices.

This includes efforts, including under the Mission Soil, to create dedicated structures at national level to facilitate the sharing and transfer of knowledge between science on the one hand, and the designing and implementation of policies on the other.

However, linkages between different science-policy interfaces in the European and international landscape remain relatively weak, and their effectiveness is subject to debate, while some do not appear to be fully operational.

Improved land suitability for soil health and sustainable biomass production

Code: 37778 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-07 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

Soil, as a fundamental component of terrestrial ecosystems, is crucial for biomass production and its capabilities and limitations.

Hence, effective land use planning must consider the requirements and constraints associated with different soil properties.

For instance, excessive nutrient export due to biomass removal can negatively impact soil health and the overall ecosystem functioning.

Consequently, prioritizing land suitability, alongside other key biophysical aspects such as climate, is essential for maintaining soil health while ensuring sustainable biomass production.

When stakeholders and land managers take land suitability and soil properties into account, they can make more informed decisions about e.g., land use, land management practices, and environmental protection.

This approach ultimately promotes sustainable and efficient land management strategies for biomass production.

Quantifying the impact of farming practices on soil health in arable lands

Code: 37775 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-06 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

Agricultural land covers nearly half of the EU, with two-thirds dedicated to arable crops. Farming practices, especially in combination, are critical for maintaining soil functions such as structure, nutrient cycling, and water retention — key to food production and ecosystem resilience.

There is a need to better understand how different farming practices impact the composition and functions of soil biodiversity, carbon capture and storage, GHG emissions, water infiltration and retention.

Additionally, more knowledge is needed to understand how multiple threats and farming practices simultaneously interact and affect soil health (e.g. the interplay between various farming practices and climate change).

EU global footprint on soils

Code: 37772 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

The use of bio-based products (e.g. food, feed, fibre, wood and biomass) by businesses and consumers in the EU has an impact on soil health globally.

However, this impact has been poorly studied and understood. The European Commission has developed a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based framework to monitor the evolution of the overall environmental footprint of EU production and consumption and to compare it against planetary boundaries, the “EU Consumption Footprint Platform”.

However, this framework does not sufficiently consider the specific impact on soil health and there is a need to enrich the existing indicators in terms of physical, chemical and biological soil properties.

Developing transfer functions for the Soil Monitoring Law

Code: 37769 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

The proposed Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law – SML) aims to put in place a coherent and integrated soil monitoring framework for all soils across the EU.

However, currently there are many different methods in the EU to monitor and assess soil health, from sampling to laboratorial procedures, and some Member States have long-standing soil monitoring systems and procedures which they prefer to keep for economic reasons and to safeguard long-term datasets.

Validated transfer functions are therefore needed to reliably convert soil measurements to a common reference method and to facilitate a smooth and cost-effective transition to a harmonized soil health assessment across the EU.

Some knowledge on transfer functions is already established for certain soil physical and hydraulic properties, but existing knowledge does not cover the entire combination of laboratorial and field methods available across the EU for all the soil descriptors present in the SML proposal.

Increasing environmental resilience through a better knowledge and management of the soil-water nexus

Code: 37766 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

The world is facing an increasing trend in the frequency and virulence of extreme events like droughts, wildfires, and floods, with soil, and more precisely soil-water interactions, playing a key role in their occurrence and impact.

A holistic response is necessary to face these events and better manage the risks and impacts they create onto the environment, food security, the economy and human security.

Social, economic and cultural drivers, and costs of land degradation

Code: 37763 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

The social, economic, cultural, political, and regulatory factors that drive land management and land degradation and the interaction among these factors has been insufficiently explored.

Moreover, there is a knowledge gap in estimating the costs that land degradation generates on-site, directly affecting land users and managers, and offsite, borne by society.

Currently, the lack of knowledge on the costs of land degradation hampers the development of cost-benefit scenarios for the adoption and implementation of soil conservation and restoration actions across the EU and Associated Countries.

An improved understanding of the social, economic, political, regulatory, and cultural factors, together with quantification of the costs of land degradation, should lead to evidence-based strategies, policies and integrated approaches that support land managers in rural, intermediate, and urban areas to adopt and implement sustainable land management practices that reduce and eventually stop land degradation and enhance soil health.

Living Labs for soil remediation and green redevelopment of brownfields

Code: 37760 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 30/09/2025

De-industrialisation and abandonment of areas previously developed for industrial or commercial purposes have produced many brownfields all over Europe, representing a major concern at different levels with adverse effects on the economy the environment, human health, social well-being and quality of life in their surroundings.

However, many brownfields are located within urban boundaries and as such represent an opportunity for sustainable urban regeneration initiatives and offer competitive alternatives to greenfield developments (in line with the New European Bauhaus initiative).

Pre-commercial procurement of breakthrough solutions for climate proofing of public buildings

Code: 37757 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-01-CLIMA-06 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

Buildings are vulnerable to climate change in different ways. For example, climate change can increase their risk of collapse, damage their construction materials, and even threaten their structural integrity. It can also cause significant loss of value because of more storms, snow or subsidence damage, water encroachment, deteriorating indoor climate and reduced building lifetime.

Besides impacting the structural features of a building, climate change can influence the conditions under which people live, work and interact indoors. An inability to properly regulate indoor temperatures may lead to thermal discomfort for users, potentially negatively impacting health, well-being, and productivity. In most places, users need to use heating and cooling systems to cope with thermal discomfort brought about by temperature extremes.

Better understanding incentives for private sector financing of adaptation solutions

Code: 37754 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-01-CLIMA-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

Financing was highlighted by 93% of the Mission Charter signatories as the biggest challenge their region or local authority face. This was not unexpected and financing for adaptation is also one of the key enabling conditions identified by the Mission Implementation Plan.

Adapting to the impacts of climate change requires mobilising significant resources, which can only be achieved by mobilising private and public funding alike. So far, the private sector involvement in financing implementation of adaptation measures and solutions has been quite limited. At this stage, climate adaptation generally relies to a large extent on some kind of public support.

EU Digital Twin Ocean: Contribution to the EU DTO core infrastructure through applications for sustainable ocean management

Code: 37751 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-08 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 07/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

Proposals should target at least two new Digital Twin Ocean (DTO) domain applications, either addressing policy or regulatory implementation or sustainable marine or maritime business operations (aquaculture and fisheries, sustainable tourism, etc.), with demonstrated usability at different geographical scales, for ocean and coastal management and planning, policy or regulatory implementation and decision-making or sustainable marine and maritime business operations. Each verified use cases (implementation of the domain applications at different geographic settings, including the relevant data, models, tools and interactions with stakeholders) should be demonstrated in at least 3 different sea basins (amounting to 6 use cases in total), with each of the 4 EU sea basins (1. Atlantic and Arctic Sea basin, 2. Baltic and North Sea, 3. Mediterranean Sea basin and 4. Danube River basin and Black Sea) covered at least by one use-case.

Testing and demonstrating innovative solutions to improve resilience to extreme heat, including addressing health impacts

Code: 37748 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-01-CLIMA-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

Rationale

With more frequent and intense heatwaves, extreme heat is the deadliest manifestation of climate change in Europe. It is estimated that, in the summer of 2022, heat was responsible for 60,000-70,000 premature deaths in Europe.

In fact, the European Climate Risk Assessment identifies heat as the largest and most urgent climate hazard for human health. Heat risks to the general population are already at critical levels in Southern Europe. More and urgent action is needed to reduce health risks, both from heat indoors and outdoors.

Mission Lighthouses coordination and support activities

Code: 37745 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-07 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 07/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

The Mission Ocean and Waters defines “lighthouses” as central hubs that foster the development and deployment of innovative solutions across technology, society, business, and governance. Their purpose is to accelerate progress towards the Mission’s objectives and deliver a positive impact in river and sea basins through science and technology.

To ensure broad regional engagement, the Mission is organised around four area-based lighthouses: the Atlantic-Arctic, the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic-North Sea, and the Danube River-Black Sea. These lighthouses act as cooperation platforms and apply a systemic approach that connects inland waters with marine ecosystems.

Proposals under this framework are expected to bring together diverse public and private organisations, networks, and expertise. Their role is to ensure continuity of the four lighthouses while expanding their scope to cover all Mission objectives and to facilitate the implementation of the Mission’s second phase.

Actions should provide basin-level support to stakeholders, enabling the replication and scaling up of innovative solutions. Since water challenges are transboundary in nature, coordination and cooperation across regions and basins are essential for the effectiveness of solutions and for addressing shared problems.

By 2030, proposals must demonstrate how their activities contribute to the Mission’s objectives during the deployment and upscaling phase. Cooperation with European research infrastructures is encouraged to strengthen impact, sustainability, and knowledge exchange.

Demonstrating solutions to help hotspots in coastal regions to adapt to climate change

Code: 37744 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-01-CLIMA-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

Rationale

As highlighted in the first European Climate Risk assessment by the European Environment Agency: Southern Europe, low-lying coastal regions (including many densely populated cities) and EU outermost regions are geographical ‘hotspots’ concentrating climate risks with high severity and demanding urgent action.

On the other hand, the IPCC sixth assessment report recognised sea level rise as an “existential threat for coastal communities and their heritage, particularly beyond 2100”, also highlighting the urgency for increasing adaptation efforts. This is why this topic specifically addresses coastal resilience in hotspot regions.

Restoring Ocean and Waters on Islands

Code: 37739 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-06 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 07/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

The goal of this topic is to work with public authorities to accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions to achieve Mission objectives and targets on islands, including small ones.

The project should test and demonstrate effective solutions to achieve the Mission’s specific objectives and targets on islands. The project should thus test and demonstrate solutions contribute to:

1. protecting and restoring marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and Nature Restoration Regulation, and/or
2. preventing and eliminating pollution of our ocean, seas and waters, in line with the EU Action Plan Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil and/or
3. making the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circular, in line with the European Climate Law and the holistic vision enshrined in the Sustainable Blue Economy Strategy.

Supporting regional and local authorities in developing their Action Plans towards climate resilience

Code: 37738 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-01-CLIMA-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

This topic relates to the Mission’s first and second objectives^[1] and aims to have at least 70 regional and local authorities that will have formulated their climate adaptation Action Plans.

As described by the first European Climate Risk assessment and addressed by the Commission’s Communication on Managing Climate Risks, asymmetrical exposure to climate impacts exacerbates the already existing disparities between regions in terms of need for climate adaptation, risk prevention and preparedness.

Restoring Ocean and Waters in waterfront Cities and their Ports

Code: 37735 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 07/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

The goal of this topic is to accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions to achieve Mission objectives and targets in waterfront cities and ports.

The project should test and demonstrate effective solutions to achieve the Mission’s specific objectives and targets in waterfront cities. The project should thus test and demonstrate solutions that contribute to:

1. protecting and restoring marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and Nature Restoration Regulation, and/or
2. preventing and eliminating pollution of our ocean, seas and waters, in line with the EU Action Plan Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil and/or
3. making the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circular, in line with the European Climate Law and the holistic vision enshrined in the Sustainable Blue Economy Strategy.

Supporting regions and local authorities in assessing climate risks

Code: 37732 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-01-CLIMA-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

The first European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) concluded that Europe is not prepared for rapidly growing climate risks.

Assessing climate risks is one the first steps that regional and local authorities need to undertake in the adaptation planning.

This step is key to provide robust adaptation plans that respond to the needs of the regional and local authorities.

Restoring Ocean and Waters in Regions

Code: 37728 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 07/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

The project should test and demonstrate effective solutions to achieve the Mission’s specific objectives and targets in coastal and riparian areas. The project should thus test and demonstrate solutions that contribute to:

1. protecting and restoring marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and Nature Restoration Regulation, and/or
2. preventing and eliminating pollution of our ocean, seas and waters, in line with the EU Action Plan Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil and/or
3. making the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circular, in line with the European Climate Law and the holistic vision enshrined in the Sustainable Blue Economy Strategy.

Digital technologies and energy transition in fisheries and/or aquaculture

Code: 37719 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 07/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

The fisheries and aquaculture sectors, including algae, are critical components of the global food system, contributing significantly to food supply, food security and sustainable economic growth. Energy, specifically fuel consumption, is one of the major cost items in the European fisheries and aquaculture sector, putting the economic viability of the European fleet and aquaculture activities under tremendous pressure during periods of high energy prices. Moreover, this fuel usage contributes to CO₂ and other emissions, including underwater noise. Innovative solutions are needed to transform the energy landscape of the fisheries and aquaculture, making these critical industries more sustainable, resilient, and economically viable.

Projects under this topic will demonstrate how digital technologies can address the need to reduce energy consumption and associated economic and environmental costs in European fisheries and/or aquaculture and provide real-time, accurate, and actionable data and information to reduce energy use. This can include the use of advanced (remote) sensing technologies and monitoring devices, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, data-driven approaches and data analytics, robotics and automation.

Investigator-initiated multinational early-stage innovative clinical trials for paediatric cancer

Code: 37718 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-02-CANCER-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

This topic will contribute to the achievement of the Mission’s objective to provide better treatments for cancer.

The focus is on children (0-14 years of age, e.g. age of first cancer diagnosis) and/or adolescent (15-19 years of age, e.g. age of first cancer diagnosis) cancer patients.

Paediatric oncology has made considerable progress, increasing patient survival rates up to 80%; yet cancer remains the leading cause of death in children and adolescents.

Progress in R&I to support the development of targeted cancer treatments for children has been rather limited.

Over the past 20 years, less than 10% of new anti-cancer drugs have received marketing authorization for paediatric use, resulting in limited availability of innovative therapies to treat paediatric cancers.

This is even more striking when cancers with poor prognosis are considered.

A toolbox for public authorities to address marine plastics and litter from river-to-ocean

Code: 37713 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 07/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

Understanding and tackling the inland sources, pathways, distribution and cumulative impacts of marine litter and plastic pollution into the ocean is fundamental to reduce the overall anthropogenic impact on our ecosystems and to guide the process towards the Mission’s 50% plastic litter reduction target in European water systems.

The overall aim of the activities under this topic is to co-design with relevant public authorities and public service providers, as well as other interested parties the most appropriate tools and solutions to address marine litter and plastic pollution according to a land-to-river-to-sea approach at basin level.

The main deliverable of funded projects under this topic will be a toolbox providing evidence-based data and information on sources, pathways, distribution and cumulative impacts of marine litter on ecosystems and water quality, including plastics and information on related hotspots and areas of accumulation, together with a set of demonstrated, sustainable and environmentally sound removal solutions, as well as measures to prevent litter and plastics reaching the sea.

Work should focus on inland waters (including deltas and coastal areas), where, in the absence of systematic monitoring of plastic litter, data and standardised methodological tools and techniques for collection, identification, classification and quantification of plastic pollution are most urgently needed. Activities are also expected to enhance cross-border cooperation and coordination at different levels, national, regional, local.

Blue Parks - Towards a coherent European network of strictly protected areas for restoring healthy and productive marine ecosystems

Code: 37708 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 07/05/2025 | End submission calls: 24/09/2025

The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets a target to legally protect at least 30% of EU seas and to strictly protect 10% of EU seas by 2030. Member States have supported this target and have started the scientific and technical work to identify new areas to be (strictly) protected. Strictly protected areas are also expected to play a role in the implementation of obligations to restore habitats listed in the Regulation on Nature Restoration (habitat types in Annex II and habitats of species covered by the regulation) through passive restoration. There are however many data gaps concerning the distribution and condition of habitats and potential different strategies in Member States to find suitable areas for strict protection that may hinder the creation of a truly coherent EU network of strictly protected areas. There is a need for science-based conservation planning at a sea basin or sub-basin scale which would also take into account potential trade-offs due to the main uses of the sea as well as maximise benefits for climate and fisheries. While there are ongoing projects that should support the planning of future EU Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) networks, none of them is currently focusing on the specific target of strictly protected areas and delivering benefits for climate and fisheries, as well as explicitly addressing potential spatial trade-offs with offshore renewables and other activities.

Understanding the effects of environmental exposure on the risk of paediatric, adolescent and young adult cancers

Code: 37706 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-02-CANCER-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

This topic contributes to the Cancer Mission objectives by improving the understanding of the impact of environmental exposures including, their interaction with other relevant factors on cancer onset and progression and/or other relevant health outcomes along the cancer patient journey.

The age group of interest for this topic includes children, adolescents and young adults (less than 40 years of age at first cancer diagnosis).

Sustained collaboration of national and regional cancer funders to support the Cancer Mission through translational research

Code: 37703 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-02-CANCER-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Common challenges in translational cancer research require effective transnational cooperation on prioritised efforts, leveraging national, regional and charity-based resources and appropriate funding schemes. Important achievements of translational cancer research funding by long-term collaboration of national and philanthropy funding organisations have been obtained by the TRANSCAN network under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2007-2013) and Horizon 2020 (2014-2020).

More efforts are warranted to address the potential for sustainable coordination, the access to and sharing of research data to enhance the understanding of cancer as well as to further the alignment of national, regional and foundation or charity-based cancer research and innovation programmes and activities in Member States and Associated Countries. The EU contribution will not be used to co-fund the grants to third parties described hereunder.

Innovative, AI-based solutions for urban planning and management

Code: 37701 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 04/09/2025

Urban planning and management require the analysis and integration of data ranging from zoning laws and buildings to overground infrastructure (street networks and their amenities, rail networks, etc.) and underground infrastructure (sewage, gas, electricity, heat, and water supply networks). Besides this complex physical urban fabric, urban planning and management cover intangible features such as administrative organisation, flows of goods and services, environmental determinants, demographic, social, and economic trends, evolving social values, behaviours, and local cultures.

Since the 1980-ties, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) integrating urban information within layers of data and translating them into tables, graphs, and maps, were introduced in urban planning with the purpose to allow a more efficient data collection, analysis, aggregation, and management, enabling planning and decision-making for increasingly sustainable and innovative cities. However, given the rapid digitalisation of almost every aspect of urban life and the increase in complexity and variety of data over the last decades, the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) opens promising, new opportunities for embedding sustainability and climate-neutrality concepts in urban planning and management. AI-based applications (including generative AI) and tools such as machine learning (ML), neural networks (NNs), deep learning, autonomous systems, pattern recognition, simulation modelling – Digital Twins, Internet of Things (IoT), etc. can be harnessed to guide decision-making, predict trends, develop scenarios, optimize resource allocation, engage citizens, and further enhance and promote human creativity, inclusiveness and well-being in urban planning and design.

Coupling circularity and climate mitigation in industrial sites and their cities and regions

Code: 37698 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 04/09/2025

Climate mitigation and circularity are key building blocks for achieving industrial and urban futures that are climate-neutral and sustainable. While mitigation and circularity performance are typically modelled at the global or national level, a gap persists in action plans and practice at local level where the coupling of decarbonisation and circularity against the background of industrial-urban symbiosis and of the sharing economy (energy and materials) could yield significant ecological, economic and social benefits. There is therefore a pressing need to overcome the lack of coordination among industrial, circularity and urban activities and actors that yields sub-optimal outcomes in terms of climate mitigation, energy efficiency, resource use (including water), environmental pollution, material valorisation and waste reduction.

Proposals must involve at least three different demonstration sites and at least three replication sites. The consortia should involve key circular economy and mitigation actors from both local public authorities and industries in a certain region. Demonstration sites are expected to cover at least two different economic sectors, value chains and/or services.

Broadening the living labs approach for soil health in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Code: 37696 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-02-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 04/09/2025

Living labs are an effective tool to bridge the gap between science and practice in soil health. They are based on three key principles: (a) co-creation of solutions with diverse stakeholders, (b) implementation in real-life settings, and (c) active involvement of end-users. These labs bring together multiple actors who conduct experiments on sites such as farms, forests, urban green spaces, industrial areas, and enterprises, where practices are tested and monitored under real conditions.

Improving soil health requires site-specific and adaptive practices. However, reaching millions of small land managers with tailored solutions and advisory support remains a challenge, mainly due to weak feedback loops between land managers and researchers, which can result in inappropriate or poorly adapted practices.

This topic therefore promotes human-centred initiatives that integrate research, development, education, and extension to support sustainable soil management. The aim is to accelerate and expand the adoption of context-specific soil health solutions in Africa and Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC). While the Mission Soil living labs concept will not be directly replicated, it will serve as inspiration for new participatory models and community-driven initiatives emerging from African and LAC contexts to act as drivers of change in soil management.

Living labs to enhance soil health in Continental, Boreal and Alpine biogeographical regions

Code: 37693 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-01-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 04/09/2025

The Mission Soil promotes the use of living labs as an innovative approach to research and innovation in soil health. Living labs bring together multiple actors in real-life sites at local or regional levels to co-create and test solutions, with the goal of improving soil health and governance and reaching 100 living labs and lighthouses by 2030.

Soil health living labs are long-term collaborations involving 10–20 sites (such as farms, forests, urban green areas, or industrial lands) where soil challenges are addressed and monitored under real-life conditions. Depending on context, fewer sites may also be accepted. Lighthouses are exemplary sites that demonstrate solutions, provide training, and communicate best practices; they can be part of a living lab or independent.

Projects are expected to initiate or strengthen participatory processes, with durations adapted to the longer timescales of soil processes. By working together across living labs, actors can compare results, exchange practices, replicate solutions, and accelerate the transition towards healthy soils.

Increasing walking and cycling: to reap health benefits, emission reductions and integrate active mobility and micro-mobility devices, with smart technologies and infrastructure

Code: 37689 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-MISS-2025-06-CIT-CANCER-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Missions | Start submission calls: 06/05/2025 | End submission calls: 04/09/2025

Mobility and transport are essential in daily life but also contribute heavily to greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, congestion, and reduced urban liveability. Active mobility options such as walking and cycling provide sustainable, healthy, and low-cost solutions that can help achieve the EU’s climate targets of reducing emissions by 55% by 2030 and reaching climate neutrality by 2050. They also bring major health benefits: physical activity lowers risks of cancer and chronic diseases, supports recovery for patients during or after treatment, and improves survival and quality of life.

To fully realise these benefits, cities must invest in high-quality infrastructure, including safe cycling and walking networks, integration with public transport, improved planning, and better traffic management. The growing use of micro-mobility devices (e-bikes, e-scooters) also requires inclusion in smart and connected transport systems. While connected mobility and cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) are being developed, bicycles and e-scooters are not yet fully integrated. Expanding digital infrastructure and connectivity to include them would improve safety, support wider adoption, and increase their share in urban transport.

Fostering Innovative and Compliant Data Ecosystems (IA) (AI, Data and Robotics Partnership)

Code: 37685 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-13 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The continuous expansion of EU legislation, both in digital domains (such as GDPR, the Open Data Directive, the Data Governance Act, the AI Act, and the Data Act) and non-digital fields (such as the Green Deal, due diligence, healthcare, and transport), is creating increasing challenges for businesses and professionals to remain compliant. The complexity and growing volume of reporting obligations also make it difficult for regulators to enforce laws and for organisations to comply effectively, highlighting the need for innovative solutions to simplify compliance processes and strengthen competitiveness within the EU.

A further challenge arises from the limitations of real-world data, including issues of availability, confidentiality, and bias. Synthetic data is becoming an essential tool to address these shortcomings by improving data quality, diversity, and representativeness, thereby supporting AI-driven innovation and regulatory compliance. In this context, actions should also cover aspects such as cybersecurity, interoperability, reproducibility, and standardisation, and where relevant, collaborate with related initiatives to facilitate secure and effective data sharing across platforms and sectors. Moreover, comprehensive user training and support must be provided, involving stakeholders both inside and outside projects, to ensure adaptability and scalability in response to evolving regulations and diverse organisational needs. Proposals should demonstrate how they address the real needs of users and stakeholders, linking training and support to clear and measurable progress indicators.

Preparing the Advancement of the state of the art of submarine cable infrastructures (CSA)

Code: 37679 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-12 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Submarine connectivity infrastructures are vital for Europe’s strategic autonomy and economic security, with potential secondary uses such as early-warning systems against natural hazards. To stay at the technological forefront, Europe must advance not only cable technology but also related components like repeaters, landing stations, control centres, acoustic sensor networks, and cybersecurity. While some progress comes from broader research in optical communications and network management, there is a need for a dedicated roadmap and SRIA focused on submarine cable technologies. Key research areas may include multi-core fibre, digital signal processing, repeater systems, intelligent and acoustic sensing, oceanographic sensors, cable network management, underwater robotics, and wireless sensor networks for monitoring and threat detection.

Open Internet Stack: development of technological commons/open-source 3C building blocks (RIA)

Code: 37676 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-11 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

This action will foster an Open-Source framework, developed through commons, i.e. Open Source software governed by communities of contributors, that will provide key technology components for the operation of the 3C large scale pilot. They will be addressing relevant areas, structuring them in a stack and supporting the development of 3C building blocks making them available through a library of digital commons supporting applications on top of the European providers ecosystem.

Roadmap for next generation computing technologies from IoT device level to edge to cloud to HPC (CSA)

Code: 37672 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-10 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

Alignment of stakeholders towards the supply-side large-scale pilot of end-to-end infrastructures integrating device, network computing and communication capabilities (CSA)

Code: 37669 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-09 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The CSA governance mechanism is expected to consolidate priorities and align strategies between demand and supply sides for key infrastructure services, while coordinating with EU policies such as the White Paper. It will oversee the delivery of open-source Telco Edge Cloud building blocks aligned with industrial and European initiatives (IPCEI-CIS, Sylva, Anuket, Nephio, CAMARA), ensuring continuous feedback between vertical sectors and supply-side pilots. By providing a European alternative to multinational-led platforms, the project will serve as a forum for consultation with demand-side actors, while also identifying paradigm shifts in areas such as virtual worlds, mobility, and energy. Furthermore, it will assess opportunities for monetising edge computing, ensuring interoperability and advancing innovation across dynamic content delivery, AI adoption, and the telco-cloud-edge-IoT continuum.

Large-scale pilots for supply end-to-end infrastructures integrating device, network computing and communication capabilities for Telco Edge Cloud deployments, as a basis for Connected Collaborative Computing Networks (3C networks) (RIA)

Code: 37665 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-08 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 10/06/2025 | End submission calls: 02/10/2025

The Commission’s White Paper stresses the need to strengthen Europe’s digital infrastructure through the creation of the 3C Network (Connected Collaborative Computing). This involves the convergence of connectivity (5G/advanced mobile networks) with cloud and edge computing to meet future demands from IoT and AI.

Investments in these technologies will support Europe’s industry, sustainability goals, and innovation. To achieve this, Europe needs more edge and cloud facilities, advanced network management, and neutral interconnection services.

A large-scale pilot of the 3C Network will integrate devices, networks, cloud, and edge computing across sectors, complementing existing EU initiatives like Digital Europe and IPCEI-CIS, and paving the way for future deployments.

Developing and embedding upcycling technologies into viable business (Processes4Planet partnership) (IA)

Code: 37662 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-05-TWIN-TRANSITION-35-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Demonstrators for clusters of social circular enterprises (IA)

Code: 37659 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-05-TWIN-TRANSITION-21-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Enhanced logistics and operations of construction sites (IA)

Code: 37656 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-05-TWIN-TRANSITION-11-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Development of safe and sustainable by design alternatives to Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) (IA)

Code: 37653 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-05-MATERIALS-51-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

PFAS are a large class of substances used in a wide range of applications (for instance, as adhesives, coatings, lubricants, sealants, surfactants), for their technical and/or safety functions (e.g., water and oil repellence, antiadhesion, thermal & chemical stability). Nevertheless, PFAS have been detected in groundwater, surface water and soil, the remediation of which is extremely problematic. Their accumulation in the environment has been linked to negative effects for the wildlife and the human health, including carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic and toxic effects for the endocrine system. In January 2023, five national authorities submitted to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) a PFAS restriction dossier to ban the manufacture, placing on the market and use of PFAS as a chemical class in all uses, with few exemptions.

The Commission initiative for SSbD sets a framework which should be a reference in the proposal. The new alternatives to be developed should meet the technical functions required in the specific applications and align with such framework.

Innovative Advanced Materials (IAMs) for robust, fast curing sealants and coatings for manufacturing and final assembly (IA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for Europe partnership)

Code: 37644 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-05-MATERIALS-43-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

One of the main factors limiting the lifespan of products (and their components) is their prolonged exposure to environmental elements. The combination of different stressors and changing conditions (operational, daily, seasonal) results in accelerated aging and premature or unanticipated failures. To prevent the resulting adverse effects, protective coatings and sealings are key to provide additional protection without requiring the reassessment of the physical design of the product/component, nor the inherent properties of the parts to be coated/sealed.

Moreover, performance evaluation of coated samples to select coating solutions which meet the demands of industrial end users constitute another bottleneck in the fast development of IAM-based coatings. In addition, recyclability is often hampered by the sealants and coatings used. The new IAMs-based coatings, functionalised surfaces and sealings should allow to decompose products and structures into recyclable or reusable parts.

Innovative Advanced Materials (IAMs) for product monitoring, smart maintenance and repair strategies in the construction sector (RIA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for Europe partnership)

Code: 37640 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-05-MATERIALS-42-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

EU-Japan cooperation on the exploitation of Quantum Space Gravimetry data

Code: 37637 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-81 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Space Critical EEE Components for EU non-dependence – Advanced Packages and Memories

Code: 37635 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-74 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Space Critical EEE Components for EU non-dependence - Connectors

Code: 37632 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-73 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Unrestricted access to state-of-art space EEE components and related technologies is a pre-requisite for the EU space industry responding to EU space missions. However, especially for some families of components, the available solutions in EU do not meet the current high-performance space requirements. Currently, alternative products sourced from outside EU, are either affected by non-EU export control, that limits its use, or present challenges in terms of trustable supply chains for the implementation of EU space missions with a security dimension.

Within the frame of this topic, it is expected to finance and implement development projects aiming at maturing critical space EEE components with the final goal of lowering the dependency from outside EU. This will be done by establishing a long-term sustainable supply chain for supporting EU strategic autonomy in the space sector. The selection of the supply chains shall reflect this objective. Therefore, the supply chain shall preferably be built fully based in EU and when this can only be achieved partially (i.e. because of lack of current EU capabilities for unrestricted advanced semiconductor processes or advanced materials that cannot be developed within the project), services procured from outside EU shall nevertheless ensure that the overall supply chain will remain trustable and not affected by non-EU export control. The latest scenario is subject to the approval of the granting authority.

Space Critical Equipment and Related Technologies for EU non-dependence – Chip Scale Atomic Clocks and Solar Cells

Code: 37626 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-72 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Unrestricted access to state-of-art space equipment and related technologies is a pre-requisite for the EU space industry responding to EU space missions. However, especially for some families of equipment, the available solutions in EU do not meet the current high-performance space requirements and alternative products, sourced from outside EU, are either affected by non-EU export control with extra territorial applicability, that limit the access, re-export or raise challenges in terms of trustable supply chains for the implementation of EU space missions with a security dimension.

Within the frame of this topic it is expected to finance and implement development projects aiming at maturing critical space equipment with the final goal of lowering the dependency from outside EU, establish a long-term sustainable supply chain and support EU strategic autonomy in the space sector. The selection of the supply chains shall reflect this objective. Therefore, the supply chain shall preferably be built fully based in EU and when this can only be achieved partially (i.e. because of lack of current EU capabilities that cannot be developed within the project), services procured from outside EU shall nevertheless ensure that the overall supply chain will remain trustable and not affected by non-EU export control. The latest scenario is subject to the approval of the granting authority.

Space Critical EEE Components for EU non-dependence – RISC-V Microprocessor on 7nm

Code: 37623 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-71 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Innovative Earth observation services in support of maritime litter detection and ship source pollution policies

Code: 37621 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-46 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Supporting the AI/ML digital transition of Copernicus Services

Code: 37618 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-45 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

This R&I agenda focuses on integrating Artificial Intelligence and advanced data techniques to enhance Earth observation capabilities, especially within the Copernicus programme. Key priorities include developing AI-based retrieval algorithms for satellite sensing, improving cloud and shadow detection, and enabling multi-source segmentation. There’s emphasis on data fusion, mining, and compression methods to manage large datasets efficiently, as well as on hybrid and ensemble data assimilation to improve forecasts and analyses. The agenda also supports observation-driven forecasting and Earth system deep learning models for better prediction accuracy. Additionally, it explores the use of large pre-trained models, super-resolution applications, adaptive workflows, enhanced user interfaces, and AI-powered chatbots for improved user interaction with Copernicus services.

Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) evolution: new and innovative ocean data assimilation techniques

Code: 37615 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-44 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Copernicus Anthropogenic CO₂ Emissions Monitoring & Verification Support (CO2MVS) capacity: new and innovative methods to estimate the impact of fires on vegetation and related carbon fluxes

Code: 37613 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-43 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Research and innovation will focus on better understanding the impact of wildfires on the carbon cycle and emissions linked to land use change. A key priority is improving fire modelling, especially in relation to drought and vegetation interactions, which remains a challenge at regional and global scales. Initiatives like FireMIP have evaluated fire models, but the required model complexity is still uncertain. There is a need to integrate observation-based data into global systems like CO₂MVS to enhance monitoring. Additionally, understanding fire effects on vegetation will help refine estimates of emissions and improve air quality forecasting in systems like CAMS and fire risk predictions in CEMS.

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) evolution: improved soil-vegetation-atmosphere modelling and data assimilation of atmospheric constituents

Code: 37610 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-42 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

To achieve the expected outcomes, research and innovation will focus on improving models and techniques related to soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions, evapotranspiration, and trace gas and aerosol dynamics. This includes enhancing numerical models, parameterizations, and data assimilation methods, particularly for CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) systems. Additional priorities include refining methodologies for estimating deposition fluxes, developing accurate pollen source models for more allergenic species, exploring global pollen modelling, and increasing the use of satellite data to improve dry deposition and emission calculations.

Improving the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families

Code: 37608 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-STAYHLTH-01-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The scope of this topic is set by the definitions provided by ‘The international classification of diseases’ – World Health Organization (WHO) ICD11 under ‘6A00: Disorders of intellectual development’ and under ‘20: Developmental anomalies’  including disorders of intellectual development, such as ‘LD40: Complete trisomies of the autosomes’ and ‘LD90: Conditions with disorders of intellectual development as a relevant clinical feature’.

Moreover, the three types of autism with disorders of intellectual development (6A02.1, 6A02.3 and 6A02.5) under ‘6A02: Autism spectrum disorder’ are also within the scope of this topic.

The focus of this topic is human-centred on the persons with long-term intellectual disabilities and their formal and informal carers, including families.

The life expectancy of persons with intellectual disabilities has increased in the last 20 years, which makes it even more important to analyse the role of their families acting as informal carers (e.g. ageing parents).

Facilitating the conduct of multinational clinical studies of orphan devices and/or of highly innovative (“breakthrough”) devices

Code: 37605 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-IND-03-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The focus of this topic is on multinational clinical studies of orphan devices and/or of highly innovative (“breakthrough”) devices, including digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools and techniques.

The emphasis within rare disease research and innovation has predominantly centred on pharmaceuticals, leaving a noticeable gap in the support for developing orphan devices.

Orphan devices are specifically intended for use in rare diseases or conditions or in specific indications for rare cohorts of patients with an otherwise non-rare disease or condition.

Advancing knowledge on the impacts of micro- and nanoplastics on human health

Code: 37602 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-02-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Plastics are an important material in our economy that are everywhere in our daily lives but can present negative environmental and health impacts.

A significant amount of plastic ends up in the environment, degrading into micro- or nano-sized plastic particles that are defined as micro- or nanoplastics (MNPs).

MNPs can be detected in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide in food, water, air and consumer products.

These MNPs have been documented to accumulate in the human body into cells and tissues (e.g. liver, kidney, gastrointestinal track, placenta, testicles) and cause associated adverse biological effects (e.g. inflammatory response, geno-, cyto-, neuro- and nephron-, respiratory and reproductive toxicity).

The impact of pollution on the development and progression of brain diseases and disorders

Code: 37599 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-01-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Life-long exposure to pollutants in the living and occupational environment is an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases, leading to a variety of serious physical and mental health impacts and causing preventable disease burden with associated elevated economic costs.

Pollution disproportionately impacts certain vulnerable groups (e.g. children and older adults) or groups who are more sensitive or more exposed (workers, populations living in polluted areas) to this type of environmental stressor.

At present, over 10% of annual premature deaths in the 27 EU Member States are related to environmental pollution.

Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) evolution: new and innovative processing and methods for future Sentinels and other satellites for reanalyses

Code: 37594 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-41 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Advancing innovative interventions for mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders

Code: 37593 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-DISEASE-02-two-stage | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders, that include for example severe depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addictive behaviours (drugs, alcohol, gaming and others), obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and autism spectrum disorder are a high burden for patients, health systems and society, and remain unmet medical needs.

More innovative, safer and more effective therapeutic and relapse-preventing solutions based on active substances are required, as for example for mental disorders many available treatments show modest efficacy, non-negligible side effects, discontinuation problems and high relapse rates

Preparing demonstration missions for collaborative Earth Observation and Satellite telecommunication for Space solutions

Code: 37588 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-32 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Boosting the translation of biotech research into innovative health therapies

Code: 37587 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The Commission Communication ‘Building the future with nature: Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU’  has recently identified research and technology transfer to the market as a major challenge for the biotechnology sector.

This topic aims to speed up the development of innovative biotechnology-based therapies by supporting the initial phases of clinical research.

SMEs play a key role in the EU’s potential to innovate, with most biotechnology-derived drugs in development being progressed by SMEs and small biotech companies.

Leveraging multimodal data to advance Generative Artificial Intelligence applicability in biomedical research (GenAI4EU)

Code: 37583 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The availability of large-scale multimodal health data, scientific information, and novel Generative AI models, combined with high-performance computing capacities offer an unprecedented opportunity for researchers to achieve breakthroughs in our understanding of disease development and to develop new predictive models for disease management, personalised treatment solutions and personalised care pathways. 

Advancing cell secretome-based therapies

Code: 37580 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Secretome-based therapies have emerged as a promising alternative to cell-based therapies.

The secretome of cells is defined as the repertoire of molecules and biological factors that are secreted into the extracellular space and has been shown to be a key factor for therapeutic activity due to its paracrine effects.

The potential to manufacture, store and use secretome factors as off-the-shelf products, while maintaining the therapeutic benefits of cells but with fewer safety concerns, has placed the secretome at the forefront of regenerative medicine. Different cell secretomes or parts thereof have been the subject of clinical trials, but there is currently no regulatory-approved secretome-based therapy owing to several challenges.

Currently, for the majority of secretome-based therapies, the main bottlenecks are: the incomplete understanding of their mode of action, their reproducibility due to a lack of standardised manufacturing processes and a lack of potency- and quality assurance assays. Additional limitations are the characterisation of the bioactive factors and the optimisation of the delivery strategies.

Enhancing cell therapies with genomic techniques

Code: 37577 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Therapies based on cells, stem cells or somatic cells, have been shown to be highly effective as therapeutics for a variety of health conditions.

However, bottlenecks remain which currently hamper their safe and efficient application on a large scale.

Genome- and epigenome editing have great potential to overcome some of these bottlenecks and to lead to the next-generation of cell-based therapies.

Advancing the frontier of cell-based therapy with these tools and further translation of such research into clinically viable solutions may open up a new era of innovative therapies.

Digitalisation of conformity assessment procedures of medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices

Code: 37574 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-IND-02 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The regulations on Medical Devices (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices (IVDR) have introduced stricter regulatory requirements in view of ensuring a high level of patient safety and public health. The implementation of the new regulatory requirements still remains a challenge for manufacturers.

SMEs face particular challenges as they have limited resources to adapt to the new framework.

One of the main issues reported by manufacturers is the complexity and perceived unpredictability of the conformity assessment procedure involving a Notified Body.

Digital enablers and building blocks for Earth Observation and Satellite telecommunication for Space solutions

Code: 37569 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-31 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Optimising the manufacturing of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs)

Code: 37568 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-IND-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

New pioneering treatments called Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs), including cell and gene therapies, are at the cutting edge of medicines discovery.

Owing to their precise nature, ATMPs embody personalised medicine and reflect a shift in medicine towards potentially one-time curative therapies instead of chronic therapies that mainly cure the symptoms but not the underlying cause of diseases.

Tackling high-burden for patients and under-researched medical conditions

Code: 37565 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-07 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

A number of medical conditions fail to be recognised and/or be correctly diagnosed in a significant proportion of patients.

As a consequence, they are inadequately treated and often can become a chronic and high burden for the patient.

These medical conditions, including:

1. myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome,
2. autism,
3. gynaecological diseases,
4. low back pain,
5. other,

may be insufficiently researched even though they manifest with high prevalence.

Implementation research addressing strategies to strengthen health systems for equitable high-quality care and health outcomes in the context of non-communicable diseases (GACD)

Code: 37560 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-06 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The European Commission is a member of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD).

The GACD specifically addresses NCDs and supports implementation science to improve health outcomes. This topic is launched in concertation with the other GACD members (international funding agencies) and aligned with the 10^th GACD call.

ISOS Pilot Mission Detailed Design – satAPPs component

Code: 37559 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-24 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

ISOS Pilot Mission Detailed Design – Logistics component

Code: 37554 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-23 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

ISOS Pilot Mission Detailed Design – HOST component

Code: 37550 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-22 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

To tackle the above expected outcomes, the following R&I actions should be addressed taking into account the provided technical annex:

• R&I to complete ISOS Pilot mission detailed mission and system design (including relevant key technology maturation) for the platform component (HOST), demonstrating the achievement of the required TRL for all relevant technologies;
• R&I on key enabling technologies relevant for design of a scalable, modular, flexible platform component, equipped with robotic manipulation, satAPPs compatibility and refuelling capability (for the HOST and the hosted servicer and logistic spacecraft), that can be extended and reconfigured to meet different demands (e.g., governmental and commercial, IOD/V and additional servicer hosting slots, robotic/manufacturing testbeds, warehouse and logistic node, etc.);
• Contribution to the overall ISOS pilot mission detail design in close cooperation with other mission components, the ISOS Pilot Mission Coordination and Support Action and the ISOS Pilot Mission Advisory Group;
• R&I on related HOST functions and applications including related operational concepts considering the use of distributed computing, multi-agent and network architectures and supported by simulations, enhancing the overall pilot mission system functionality.

ISOS Pilot Mission Detailed Design – Servicing component

Code: 37547 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-21 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

To tackle the above expected outcomes, the following R&I actions should be addressed, taking into account the provided technical annex:

• R&I to complete detailed mission and system design (including relevant key technology maturation) for the servicing component as part of the ISOS pilot mission. More specifically, projects should finalise the detailed design for this component building on current or previous developments, demonstrating the achievement of the required TRL for all relevant technologies;
• Contribution to the overall ISOS pilot mission detail design in close cooperation with the other mission components (including other servicing components), the ISOS Pilot Mission Coordination and Support Action and the ISOS Pilot Mission Advisory Group;
• R&I on related service capabilities and applications including operational concepts for servicing individual or fleets of satellites based on the functionality of the pilot mission system design. More specifically, possible use case for servicing a real EU asset is expected to be developed up to delivery of a concept of operations (CONOPS).

Digital solutions for autonomy for space transportation systems, design and simulation tools – targeting demonstration

Code: 37544 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-13 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Support for the functioning of the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R)

Code: 37543 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-05 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Recent history has illustrated the potential extent of threats posed by new or emerging infectious diseases, as well as the central importance of global collaboration and coordination to fight such regional or international challenges.

GloPID-R was established in 2013 for this reason, in response to a request for coordination by the Heads of International Research Organisations.

GloPID-R now provides a widely recognised platform for infectious disease research funders to work together to better tackle severe epidemics such as Ebola or Zika, pandemics at regional level that affect outermost regions, as well as global pandemics such as COVID-19.

Leveraging artificial intelligence for pandemic preparedness and response

Code: 37538 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-04 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need of finding innovative approaches to pandemic preparedness and response, including digital solutions leveraging AI technologies.

AI is a fast-developing field, holding an enormous potential in using the multitude of data from an equally vast range of sources, which should be used for improving preparedness and response to epidemics or pandemics in the EU and Associated Countries.

Digital solutions for autonomy for space transportation systems, design and simulation tools - Digital enablers and building blocks

Code: 37537 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-12 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

To tackle the above-mentioned expected outcomes, the following R&I is expected to be addressed:

• the maturation of eco-design software tools enhancing reconfigurability in orbit
• the maturation of disruptive/game changing technologies related to digitalisation

Development of antibodies and antibody-derived proteins for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases with epidemic potential

Code: 37534 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-03 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

As shown by the COVID-19 pandemic, infectious diseases remain a major threat to health and health security in the EU and globally.

Viral disease emergence is expected to accelerate due to among other, climate change, and thus a proactive approach to the development of antiviral prophylactics and therapeutics in preparedness for future infectious disease outbreaks is needed.

The availability of antibodies and antibody-derived proteins would provide a critical preparedness measure against future health threats, due to infectious disease epidemics or pandemics.

CSA on access to European spaceports

Code: 37529 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-11 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 25/09/2025

Testing safety and efficacy of phage therapy for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections

Code: 37528 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly as a health Emergency in 2016.

AMR is contributing to morbidity and mortality increasing the burden for society and healthcare costs.

This is due to a worrying increase on the number of bacteria resistant to antibiotic treatment, causing chronic and often life-threatening infections such as wound and urinary tract infections.

The World Health Organization (WHO) lists AMR among the top 10 threats for global health and recognises that a lack of innovation is set to undermine antibiotic performance and health gains, with a major gap in the discovery of innovative antibacterial treatments.

End user-driven application of Generative Artificial Intelligence models in healthcare (GenAI4EU)

Code: 37524 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-CARE-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Health (Cluster 1) (2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025

Healthcare professionals face important challenges related to efficiency, patient safety and provision of quality care with limited health systems’ resources.

Multimodality of health data combined with the available high-performance computing capabilities have the potential to empower effective and accurate use of trustworthy and ethical Generative AI-based solutions, augmented by other AI tools to address these challenges.

Generative AI may benefit patients, healthcare professionals and health systems.

Towards human-centric, sustainable and resilient energy-intensive industries (Processes4Planet and Clean Steel partnerships) (CSA)

Code: 37521 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-39 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Industry 5.0 recognises the power of industry to achieve societal goals beyond jobs and growth to become a resilient provider of prosperity. It focuses on making production respect the boundaries of our planet improving competitiveness of European process industries and placing the wellbeing of the industrial worker at the centre of the production process, while increasingly embracing digital and green technologies to remain the solution provider for all Europeans.

Synergies and mutual learning with national and regional initiatives in Europe on Industrial decarbonisation (CSA)

Code: 37518 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-38 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

The governance of the action should be under the authority of national and regional governments and relevant public bodies who are responsible for national and regional policies, strategies and programmes addressing energy intensive industries.

Proposals should support the coordination of national and regional public authorities’ funding of research, innovation, acceleration of public/private R&I and deployment of technologies for the energy intensive industries’ decarbonisation. It should be aligned with the policies rolled out under the Clean Industrial Deal. The proposals should take into account and build on the Mutual Learning Exercise on Industrial Decarbonisation.

Solving issues in carbon-neutral iron and steel making processes with diverse input materials of varying quality (Clean Steel Partnership) (RIA)

Code: 37514 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-37 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

The topic calls for collaborative approach between academia, industry (including SMEs) and research organizations with the purpose to support: i) understanding, validating, and solving essential problems to allow maturity of innovative technologies in the industrial investment panorama for future carbon-neutral iron and steel making, ii) accelerating a reliable transition to climate neutrality in view of the end of the free ETS allowances by providing solutions optimized for different scenarios, and iii) fulfilling the Commission Recommendation 2024/774 on a Code of Practice on industry-academia co-creation for knowledge valorisation.

Safe and clean processing technologies and products (Processes4Planet partnership) (RIA)

Code: 37511 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-36 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

Whereas the release of pollutants by European industry has generally decreased during the last decade, and it is expected to continue to do so, industry still contributes significantly to the emission of many pollutants into the European environment. Pollution harms our health and our environment. In addition to affecting people’s health, pollution is one of the main reasons for the loss of biodiversity. Moreover, only emissions of historically important pollutants are reported by industry. Information on emerging and less known pollutants, especially those not regulated by the Industrial Emissions Directive, and related methods of monitoring is lacking. GHG emissions from industry are not included in the scope of this topic. Pollutant emissions to air, water and soil are considered.

Smart integration of net zero technologies into Energy Intensive industries (Processes4Planet and Made in Europe partnerships) (IA)

Code: 37507 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-34 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

As the industry decarbonises net-zero technologies can be applied to a wide range of energy intensive sectors and processes. Furthermore, the Net-Zero Industry Act which is part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan, is aiming at increasing the manufacturing capacity of strategic net-zero technologies to meet at least 40% of the EU’s annual deployment needs. In this framework the aim of this topic is to accelerate the deployment of net-zero technologies in at least one industrial sectors through a closer collaboration between, net-zero technology manufacturers and energy intensive industries.

Integrated use of renewable energy carriers in industrial sites (Processes4Planet partnership) (RIA)

Code: 37496 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-33 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Digital, Industry & Space (Cluster 4)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 22/05/2025 | End submission calls: 23/09/2025

There is a broad range of renewable energy carriers (e.g., electricity, hydrogen, solar heat, ammonia, etc) which can be utilised in the process industries. Many of them are provided with significant temporal variations, e.g., renewable electricity and solar heat. Integrated design and operation of these highly complex systems within process industry sites are needed to cope with the fluctuations of the energy inputs and to achieve overall energy and cost efficiency. Industrial symbiosis and integration of production systems with energy systems in industrial sites can ensure overall emission reduction. These approaches can increase the efficiency of generation and enable solutions that avoid losses, supporting stability and efficiency of power systems.

Co-funded European partnership for Resilient Cultural Heritage

Code: 37493 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL2-2025-03-HERITAGE-01 | Programme name: Horizon Europe (2021-2027) | Sub-program: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Societies (Cluster 2)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 15/05/2025 | End submission calls: 16/09/2025