DOCTORAL PROGRAM FOR INTEGRATED RESEARCH ACTIVITIES TO UNLOCK A POTENTIAL OF TOP-LEVEL RESEARCHERS IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY
PERSEUS
PERSEUS is a collaboration between NTNU – Norway’s largest university, 11 top-level academic partners in 8 European countries, and 8 industrial partners within sectors of high societal relevance.
The PERSEUS Doctoral Program aims at fostering the training of highly skilled doctoral researchers in thematic areas of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, Internet of Things, Extended Reality and Information and Cyber Security linked to sectors of the national importance to Norway, namely energy, healthcare, manufacturing, mobility and ocean-based technologies. The Program will award 40 outstanding PhD researchers who would be recruited at NTNU following open, fair and transparent selection procedures applied during two open calls for applications. The incoming 36 month fellowships will be open to all nationalities from all countries in the world in correspondence to MSCA-COFUND mobility rules.
PERSEUS DP will embed a set of digital skills, propose a substantial training in transferable skills, adopt carefully designed interdisciplinary and intersectoral approaches and explore opportunities presented by national and international partners to prepare the top-level researchers who contribute to smart, safe and sustainable future. NTNU will offer to the researchers the state-of-the art laboratories, involvement in prestigious long-term and large-scale research and innovation projects funded by H2020 and the Research Council of Norway and will link the PERSEUS DP to numerous international networks and alliances such as EERA, ERCIM, Climate KIC and NordicFiveTech.
The career perspectives of PhD candidates will be boosted by short term placements (1-3 months) at carefully selected 11 top-level academic partners from 8 countries in Europe and 8 industry partners located in Norway and further enhanced by participation in international events and in seminars and workshops proposed by the PERSEUS project. Finally, the PhD candidates will be proposed various support forms like language courses, guided tours and ESRs spouses integration to ensure a well-being and better integration in the Norwegian society of the foreign students and their families.
MSCA-COFUND-2020
DIGITAL EDUCATION: PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS FOR ETHICAL DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING
SCHOOL EDUCATION: STEM EDUCATION CENTRES
This Destination includes activities targeting a sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply. In line with the scope of cluster 5, this includes activities in the areas of renewable energy; energy system, grids and storage; as well as Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS).
This Destination contributes directly to the Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientations ‘Green transition’, ‘Digital transition’ and ‘A more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe’.
In line with the Strategic Plan, the overall expected impact of this Destination is to contribute to the ‘Ensuring more sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply through solutions for smart energy systems based on renewable energy solutions’.
This destination contributes to the activities of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) and its implementation working groups.
Budget: 6M euro
DIGITAL EDUCATION CONTENT: SUCCESS FACTORS IN DECISION MAKING AND USE BY TEACHERS, TRAINERS AND SCHOOL/INSTITUTION LEADERS
NEXT-GENERATION AI AGENTS FOR REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS IN THE APPLY AI SECTORS (RIA) (PARTNERSHIP IN AI, DATA AND ROBOTICS)
Expected Outcome:
While today’s AI agents still have limited capabilities, advances in model architecture, memory, reasoning, and autonomous behaviour are paving the way to unlocking their potential across economic sectors. The Apply AI Strategy[1]acknowledges this trend and the need to advance research on next-generation AI agents. Project results are expected to contribute to some of the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
Next-generation AI agents are autonomous systems powered by large AI language models (e.g., large language models or large multimodal models), that can plan, utilize tools and perform actions autonomously to achieve specified goals based on high-level instructions. The large AI model acts as the agent’s “brain,” capable of interpreting instructions, generating plans, and using tools. This capability enables agents to autonomously plan and adapt behaviour in real-time to accomplish complex, multi-step tasks. AI Agents hold significant promise in numerous applications areas such as data analytics and coding.
Effective AI agents require careful design, incorporating structured planning and reasoning methods to manage complex tasks, and be equipped with appropriate validation and monitoring techniques. Multi-agent collaboration frameworks further enhance capabilities by enabling structured interactions among multiple agents.
Key aspects in designing effective AI agents include robust planning, reasoning, and search mechanisms that allow agents to approach complex tasks by breaking them down into structured subgoals. Effective memory and state management are necessary to maintaining coherent long-term interactions, achieved through a balanced integration of short-term and external long-term memory solutions. Moreover, integrating external tools and APIs is essential for overcoming limitations in large AI models, enhancing agent performance in tasks requiring accuracy and reliability.
Potential research areas include enhancing AI agent autonomy through advanced self-planning and self-optimization capabilities, enabling agents to improve their decision-making and strategic planning. Other research directions include innovation in memory-augmented AI agents to facilitate robust long-term reasoning and lifelong learning; developing advanced multi-agent frameworks specifically tailored for collaborative agents, including research on AI agent frameworks based on mixed AI architectures, and advancing multimodal reasoning capabilities to enable real-world applications.
All proposals are expected to incorporate mechanisms for assessing and demonstrating progress, including qualitative and quantitative KPIs, benchmarking, and progress monitoring. When possible, proposals should build on and reuse public results from relevant previous funded actions. Communicable results should be shared with the European R&D community through the AI-on-demand platform.
Projects selected in this topic should link to the resources offered by the AI Factories, including the Data Labs. The results may be validated in the Testing and Experiment Facilities and further deployed via the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) and will contribute to the Apply AI strategy.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data, and robotics (ADRA), and all proposals are expected to allocate tasks for cohesion activities with ADRA and the CSA HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18: GenAI4EU central Hub. Proposals should also build on or seek collaboration with relevant projects and develop synergies with other relevant International, European, national, or regional initiatives.
Budget: 38M euro
CHALLENGE-DRIVEN GENAI4EU BOOSTER IN APPLY AI PRIORITISED SECTORS (RIA) (AI/DATA/ROBOTICS PARTNERSHIP)
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
Generative AI (GenAI) promises to transform most industry sectors. This challenge-driven initiative aims to boost both Europe’s developer community and the adoption of powerful trustworthy generative AI solutions in the strategic sectors of aerospace, pharma/drugs and telecommunication networks, key for their competitiveness. In pharmaceuticals, it can, for instance, accelerates drug design by rapidly creating target-specific molecules, reducing development time from years to seconds, and potentially preventing prolonged health crises like COVID-19. In aerospace, generative AI can for instance optimize aircraft design, streamline manufacturing processes, predict maintenance needs through sensor data analysis, route optimisation, and enhance pilot training with diverse, realistic simulations. By embracing generative AI, telecom companies can position themselves at the forefront of a new era of intelligent and automated telecommunications. Specific use-cases include for instance network management, network optimization, network slicing, network healing, predictive maintenance, network mapping and optimization.
Each proposal should focus exclusively on one of the three key sectors mentioned above: aerospace, pharma/drug development, or telecommunications and clearly specify which sector it addresses. Each proposal is expected to focus primarily on the definition, the organization of a multi-stage competition in the chosen sector, as well as the accompanying support to the companies/teams taking part in the challenges, and related activities to maximise the impact of the action.
User industry companies from the strategic sector targeted by the proposal should be core partners in the consortium. They should demonstrate a genuine interest in the projects results and therefore support the challenge participants – in order to reach the most powerful and exploitable results benefitting their industry. The expected results are pre-competitive but the proposal must include a draft exploitation plan outlining commitments on future exploitation. The consortium is responsible for the various stages of the challenges and should provide the necessary support resources during each stage of the competition, including technical assistance and business support to develop an exploitation strategy, but most importantly, provide to the competing FSTP recipients the data necessary to fine-tune models and build powerful solutions meeting industry needs.
Proposals should be driven by impactful use-cases where generative AI can make the difference: a number of industries from the targeted sector are expected to join forces to define challenging problems to solve with GenAI solutions, which then drive the rest of the project. Based on such challenges, the consortium organises a multi-staged competition with an increasing level of complexity. In the different stages (see below), third parties, either single SMEs or small team of organisations led by an SME, compete to address the challenges with GenAI solutions.
For each proposal:
The consortium should define measures to support the winners in maximizing the impact and uptake of their solutions. For instance, after the end of the FSTP grant, the best performing team could be offered the opportunity to conclude partnerships or contracts with the user industries leading the consortium. Measures to support the broad uptake of their solutions in the whole sector should also be considered.
Such multi-staged scheme is expected to be implemented in parallel by the projects funded under this action, each addressing a different sector.
Each proposal, involving several major industry players, should define a clear methodology to implement the various steps of the approach, define the specifications of the stages of the competitions, timelines, targets, KPIs, a solid evaluation methodology including evaluation criteria. The main information should be in the proposal, in addition to all mandatory requirements as concerns financial support to third parties. The beneficiaries will also be in charge of implementing the evaluation methodology, and providing the necessary infrastructure/technical support for the participants to the challenges. The consortium members are also responsible for ensuring high visibility of the competitions.
The projects selected from this call, each addressing one of the three targeted sectors, are expected to collaborate among themselves, in order to make economies of scale in sharing best practices, defining processes for organising the challenges, ensuring efficient monitoring, organising dissemination and communication activities, etc. Such collaboration among the linked actions is expected to be formalised by a collaboration agreement, after the grant agreement signature.
For each proposal, an amount of EUR 5,000,000 is foreseen to be distributed among the winners of Stage 1, in form of FSTP grants, in order to prepare for Stage 2. In addition, a budget of EUR 8,000,000 is foreseen to be distributed among the winners of Stage 2, in the form of FSTP grants, to prepare for Stage 3 of the challenge.
The proposal is expected to make the case for such investment in defining the objectives with sufficient level of information. This amount will be distributed equally among the 4 winning teams of Stage 2, who are expected to develop further their solutions and compete for Stage 3.
Visibility would be important; therefore dissemination and communication campaigns are key. The proposers are also encouraged to seek sponsorship, which would be key for the visibility and prestige of their challenge, and to attract the best developers from the eligible countries to compete, particularly SMEs, alone or within a team competing for the challenges.
All proposals are expected to incorporate mechanisms for assessing and demonstrating progress, including qualitative and quantitative KPIs, benchmarking, and progress monitoring.
When possible, proposals should build on and reuse public results from relevant previous funded actions. Communicable results should be shared with the European R&D community through the AI-on-demand platform, and if necessary, other relevant digital resource platforms to bolster the European AI, Data, and Robotics ecosystem by disseminating results and best practices.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data and robotics (ADRA), and all proposals are expected to allocate tasks for cohesion activities with ADRA and the CSA HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18: GenAI4EU central Hub.
Proposals should also build on or seek collaboration with relevant projects[1] and develop synergies with other relevant International, European, national or regional initiatives. Projects selected in this topic will link to the resources offered by the AI Factories, including the Data Labs. The results may be validated in the Testing and Experiment Facilities and further deployed via the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) and will contribute to the Apply AI strategy[2].
APPLY AI: ROBOTICS FOR MANUFACTURING: ADVANCING CORE SKILLS THROUGH TECHNICAL CHALLENGES (RIA) (PARTNERSHIP IN AI, DATA AND ROBOTICS)
Expected Outcome:
The Apply AI Strategy highlights the need to accelerate the uptake of AI-powered robotics through sectoral pipelines that connect research and deployment. By developing advanced robotics skills based on foundation models and creating adaptable frameworks that can be transferred across different industrial contexts, including automotive, this topic will provide common tools and building blocks to strengthen those pipelines and ensure broad industrial relevance.
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
The proposed project aims to significantly enhance robotics capabilities in manufacturing by developing advanced robotics skills (for example, task and environment aware autonomous pick and place with high precision and speed, human-robot collaboration, etc).
By leveraging the use of next-generation AI, including generative AI, to enable robots to better adapt to real-world environments and interact with human operators, and focusing on reconfigurability, the project will develop industry-agnostic solutions that can be easily adapted to different manufacturing environments.
The project will create a comprehensive framework for robotics skills development in manufacturing, including the initial definition of three technical challenges that must be clearly described at proposal stage, with evidence of their industrial relevance and potential impact. The detailed specification and design of these challenges may be further refined during the first phase of the project in collaboration with industry partners.
The project will organize a multi-stage competition for each of the three identified technical challenges. Each stage of the competition is expected to present an increased level of complexity compared to the previous one. The approach for designing the competitive process, including the use of FSTP, should aim at maximising the impact.
One of the key use cases for this project will be the automotive industry, which should be explicitly included in proposals either as a primary focus or as a dedicated use case, demonstrating how advanced robotics can enhance production efficiency and adaptability in this sector. Other use cases alongside the automotive one are allowed and encouraged, to demonstrate the industry-agnostic nature and the transferability of the developed solutions to different industrial contexts.
User-industry companies from the manufacturing sector (including automotive) should be core partners in the consortium. They should demonstrate a genuine interest in the project results and actively support the FSTP recipients in achieving powerful and exploitable results that benefit their industry.
Organization of the Challenge:
Stage 1 – Open call: The consortium launches an open call for proposals. A challenge, open to all, will allow the selection of the 10 highest-ranked proposals for each of the three technical robotics skills, according to a pre-defined selection process and criteria. Each solution competing for the challenge can be submitted either by a single SME, research organisation or public body secondary or higher education establishment, developer of robotics solutions, or a small team of organizations.
Stage 2 – Competition among Stage 1 winners: The 10 teams or organisations selected from Stage 1 will receive a EUR 200,000 FSTP grant each in accordance with their successfully selected proposal (which addresses the tasks and challenges defined for this stage by the consortium). At the end of Stage 2, the 3 highest-ranked competing solutions will be selected for the next stage according to a pre-defined selection process and criteria.
Stage 3 – Grand Finale (competition among Stage 2 winners): The 3 best teams or organisations selected from Stage 2 will receive a EUR 1,000,000 FSTP grant each in accordance with their successfully selected proposals to address the tasks and challenges defined for this stage. In conjunction, they will prepare for the grand finale that will identify the best performing solution at the end of Stage 3 according to the evaluation methodology defined by the consortium.
The consortium should define measures to support the team winning the grand finale in maximising the impact and uptake of its solutions.
Proposals must include a draft exploitation plan outlining how the solutions developed by the FSTP recipients will be taken up, with concrete support from the user-industry partners to ensure industrial relevance and future exploitation.
This scheme is repeated for each of the three technical challenges.
The consortium will ensure high visibility of the competitions, including possible sponsorships, and will seek to attract the best developers from the EU and associated countries to compete, particularly SMEs, alone or within a team competing for the challenges.
All proposals are expected to incorporate mechanisms for assessing and demonstrating progress, including qualitative and quantitative KPIs, benchmarking, and progress monitoring. This should include the methodology to accompany the challenge participants to the various stages during the project and the assessment methodology during the various selection stages.
When possible, proposals should build on and reuse public results from relevant previous funded actions. Communicable results should be shared with the European R&D community through the AI-on-demand platform and, if necessary, other relevant digital resource platforms to bolster the European AI, Data, and Robotics ecosystem by disseminating results and best practices.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data, and robotics (ADRA), and all proposals are expected to allocate tasks for cohesion activities with ADRA
Proposals should also build on or seek collaboration with relevant projects and develop synergies with other relevant International, European, national, or regional initiatives.
Budget: 18 million euro
BOOSTING SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVENESS IN RURAL AREAS THROUGH INNOVATION
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
The projects under this topic are relevant to the EU policies related to the long-term vision for EU’s rural areas, the vision for agriculture and food and its objective to foster fair living and working conditions in vibrant rural areas, climate objectives, as well as the competitiveness compass which, among its three core areas for action, aims at closing the innovation gap for the EU to boost its competitiveness.
Regaining competitiveness is essential to ensuring long-term prosperity in the EU. However, not all territories have equal access to resources and opportunities. Efforts to enhance competitiveness must therefore also prioritise environmental and social sustainability ensuring that neither nature nor people are left behind in the pursuit of economic growth.
Although rural areas often possess natural resources and are essential to support the provision of ecosystem services, they frequently face societal (e.g., declining and ageing populations, social exclusion and inequality) and market failures (e.g., under-provision of essential services, limited access to finance and infrastructure, digital divide, labour market mismatches) that hinder sustainable development, social inclusion, and competitiveness.
Proposals should:
Proposals may provide financial support to third parties in particular to support start up or businesses. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.
Proposals are expected to build upon already existing results and to search collaboration with the other action funded under this topic and with other relevant projects funded under Horizon Europe. Proposals should include a task and appropriate resources to ensure these collaborations.
Proposals should also allocate appropriate resources to coordinate their work with relevant initiatives developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), particularly in the context of the Rural Observatory and the Startup Village Forum initiative.
This topic requires the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines (e.g., economics, business and administration, education science, gender studies) and the involvement of SSH experts.
Proposals must consider gender in all aspects of project design and implementation, particularly in data analysis, support for start-ups and businesses, the development of solutions, as well as the provision of education and training opportunities.
EFFICIENT AND COMPLIANT ACCESS TO AND USE OF DATA (IA) (AI, DATA AND ROBOTICS PARTNERSHIP)
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
Scope:
The scope of this topic is to support the deployment of secure, interoperable, and scalable data management systems, ensuring seamless cross-sector data integration, automation of key processes, and compliance with EU frameworks.
The actions should deliver high-quality, well-structured, secure and compliant data, tailored to evolving societal, industrial, research and public sector needs, underpinning key EU strategies, including the Data Union Strategy, the Apply AI Strategy, the Digital Justice Strategy, and the development of Common European Data Spaces, Data Labs and EuroHPC systems (including the AI Factories). The developed methods, technologies and tools should ensure that data is effectively shared between sectors, disciplines, and participating countries, and that the data is reliable, traceable, and fit for purpose.
The proposal should clearly state (in the abstract and in the introduction) which of the following two areas it addresses. A proposal can address both areas, but it should indicate one of them as the main focus of the proposal, as it will be evaluated accordingly under that area:
The actions under both areas should take into account the work of the Data Spaces Support Centre, particularly the blueprint for common European data spaces, and build synergies with related Union initiatives such as AI Factories, European Blockchain Services infrastructure, and the European Business Wallet, as well as with sector-specific Common European Data Spaces, and EU Digital Identity Wallet large scale pilots. Close collaboration with relevant European Partnerships, stakeholders, including industry, public administrations, and research organisations, will ensure that the systems meet the practical needs of data users while fostering innovation, competitiveness, and digital sovereignty within the Single Market.
Expected Outcome:
Proposals should demonstrate the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
Startups, scaleups and other innovative SMEs require access to state-of-the-art research and technology facilities, equipment and expertise to test, upscale, validate new products and technologies, shortening the time-to-market and increasing the chances for a successful commercialisation. Access mechanisms to Technology Infrastructures as well as access contracts and collaboration or service provision agreements are often complex, while the costs of using such infrastructures can significantly surpass the financial capacities of growing innovative companies.
The action will develop and test pilot multi-site access schemes for startups, scaleups and other innovative SMEs, involving a critical mass of Technology Infrastructures operators and users in priority areas (including but not limited to advanced materials, clean energy, or health and biotechnology). It should build on existing initiatives with already developed single access points to a comprehensive set of facilities and services in a selected technology area, like for example Open Innovation Test Beds or other integrated networks, that allow for a quick deployment of a common access scheme.
The action should include setting-up a pilot centrally managed and funded access programme, allowing companies quick access to the needed services, with simplified and standardised access conditions applicable across the EU, to be coordinated and in line with the work on the envisaged European Charter of access for industrial users to research and technology infrastructures. While the focus shall be the provision of access and support services to companies, the action can also include enhancing the accessibility and usability of technology infrastructure services to ensure that they meet the evolving needs of users.
The action should aim at significant broadening of the user base of the technology infrastructures to address the needs of startups and scaleups that do not have access to such facilities in their local ecosystems. To this end, proposals should include the development and implementation of activities to increase the visibility and promote and demonstrate the uptake of technology infrastructures services provided to users across the EU.
Furthermore, proposals should aim to enhance transnational and multisite collaboration among Technology Infrastructures fostering the building of technology infrastructures ecosystems, the sharing of experience, resources, and best practices in management, service offer, staff exchange and networking. Proposals may also benefit, especially for communication and dissemination activities, from sharing best practices and taking stock of what other relevant projects are developing in the field of Technology Infrastructures.
CIRCULAR INNOVATIVE ADVANCED MATERIALS: FACILITATING THE TRANSITION FROM DESIGN TO MARKETS (RIA) (INNOVATIVE ADVANCED MATERIALS FOR THE EU AND MADE IN EUROPE PARTNERSHIPS)
Expected Outcome:
Scope:
The focus of this topic is on enabling circularity and resilient supply networks through R&I in advanced materials, in particular recyclable polymers and composites, magnets and metal (alloys) for additive manufacturing, and on accelerating their pathway to market. Proposals should develop new innovative advanced materials (IAMs) with superior or novel functionalities designed for circularity. The scope includes necessary developments of related processes and technologies to ensure integration in industrial manufacturing facilitating uptake of the developed solutions. Proposals should also develop circular business models considering the cost of changes needed along the life cycle of these new materials to facilitate their uptake.
The scope covers the full innovation cycle from the design for circularity and functional integration (new materials designs), development and scaleup (including scalable recovery, recycling and valorisation at end of life), to demonstration of industrial uptake and integration into products. The transformative potential of the developed solutions is to be showcased by demonstrators and industrial use cases. Projects should also explore possibilities to transfer developed solutions to other applications or sectors.
The SSbD framework[1] should guide the innovation process towards safer and more sustainable chemicals and advanced materials. Where relevant data generated within the proposal may be shared with the Common Data Platform for Chemicals. The new alternatives to be developed should meet the technical functions required in the specific applications while aligning their innovation process decision making with such framework.
Best use of digital tools and FAIR data, including AI and data-driven approaches throughout the innovation process should support the circular transition for industry and circular product design. This includes sharing FAIR and interoperable data and tools across supply networks and value chains, to foster circularity, including data needed for materials and component development, production and circular product design. Proposals should adhere to the FAIR data principles and adopt wherever relevant, data standards and data sharing/access good practices.
The approach should foster collaboration among stakeholders along the innovation chain and industrial value networks to accelerate the development and adoption of new circular solutions.
Projects should build on, or seek collaboration with, existing projects in EU Member States and Associated Countries and develop synergies with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives, funding programmes and platforms, in particular with the Materials Commons for Europe.
Proposals should support strategic value chains in the fields of mobility and medical devices. The portfolio approach will be used to fund at least one proposal from each of these two areas. Proposers should declare in their proposal the main application area of their proposal (i.e. mobility or medical devices).
Proposals should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnerships Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU (IAM4EU) and Made in Europe (MiE).
Budget: 37 million eur
DIGITAL EDUCATION CONTENT: SUCCESS FACTORS IN DECISION MAKING AND USE BY TEACHERS, TRAINERS AND SCHOOL/INSTITUTION LEADERS
Scope:
European policy experimentations are transnational cooperation projects that involve developing, implementing and testing the relevance, effectiveness, potential impact and scalability of activities to address policy priorities in different countries. By combining strategic leadership, methodological soundness, and a strong European dimension, they enable mutual learning and support evidence-based policy at European level.
Themes and priorities (scope)
This topic invites project proposals that:
More information about this topic is available in the Call for proposals European policy experimentations (ERASMUS-EDU-2026-POL-EXP).
Budget: 2 million eur
ADULT EDUCATION: SUPPORT TO THE REGIONAL SKILLS PARTNERSHIPS IN THE PACT FOR SKILLS
Scope:
European policy experimentations are transnational cooperation projects that involve developing, implementing and testing the relevance, effectiveness, potential impact and scalability of activities to address policy priorities in different countries. By combining strategic leadership, methodological soundness, and a strong European dimension, they enable mutual learning and support evidence-based policy at European level.
Themes and priorities (scope)
This topic aims at supporting existing regional partnerships[1] (partnerships at the level of one region within a country or involving more than one region, within one or more countries) in the Pact for Skills to develop and implement concrete activities/commitments to train people of working age.
More information about this topic is available in the Call for proposals European policy experimentations (ERASMUS-EDU-2026-POL-EXP).
Budget: 5 million eur
SCALABLE AND HIGH-EFFICIENCY MATERIALS AND REACTORS FOR DIRECT SOLAR HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
Expected Outcome:
Facing a period of climate emergency and energy crisis, Europe needs to rethink the energy market with solutions based on renewable sources capable of directly generating renewable fuels. Hydrogen is a valuable energy carrier and an important feedstock for industry, but its production still relies almost exclusively on fossil fuels. The conversion of solar energy into chemicals such as hydrogen is expected to grow in importance as a sustainable energy resource. Especially, thermo-chemical cycles (TCC) or photoelectrochemical/photocatalytic (PEC/PC) water splitting using sunlight represent eco-friendly and promising technologies to produce hydrogen with the possibility to have standalone systems for delocalised production not necessarily connected to the power grid.
To date, thermochemical and photo-assisted solar-driven technologies are still in the proof-of-concept stage and face challenges in improving solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency to make solar-based hydrogen production competitive. Additionally, R&D in materials should aim to discover novel abundant and cost-effective catalysts and redox materials as well as more integrated process design promises in the respective fields. Development of TCC or PEC/PC reactors is essential along with overcoming challenges related to the efficiency, stability and scalability.
TCC processes use high-temperature solar heat to drive redox reactions that decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen through a series of chemical steps. These cycles typically involve metal oxides or non-metal oxides or other chemicals that undergo reversible oxidation and reduction, enabling the splitting of water. Although several materials and cycle configurations have demonstrated feasibility at kW scale, the technology remains at an early stage of development, with key challenges related to redox material stability, reaction kinetics, and efficient heat integration. Experimental systems have shown proof-of-concept operation under concentrated solar flux, but current solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies and long-term durability need significant improvement to meet industrial targets.
PEC/PC processes utilise light energy (in some cases in combination with electric energy) to drive chemical reactions, particularly for the production of hydrogen from water. This method is regarded as environmentally friendly and holds promise for generating hydrogen with standalone systems that do not require connection to the power grid. The conversion of solar energy into chemicals such as hydrogen is anticipated to grow in relevance as a sustainable energy resource. For instance, PEC water splitting systems are anticipated to play a significant role in renewable hydrogen production, with the goal of competing in the medium to long term with conventional systems that combine separate photovoltaic (PV) panels and electrolysis units. Innovative PEC technologies can support CAPEX and OPEX reduction efforts compared to electrolyser development and thereby can help boost the market competitiveness of renewable hydrogen.
The results are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:
The project will contribute to strengthen European leadership for the efficient hydrogen production and create new business models for hydrogen production based on TCC and PEC/PC technologies.
Project results are expected to contribute to the following objectives and KPIs of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA for both routes (TCC and PEC/PC) unless otherwise stated[1] :
For PEC/PC route, conventional systems that combine separate photovoltaic (PV) panels and electrolysis units are excluded from the scope of this topic.
Scope:
This topic seeks innovations in solar thermos-chemical cycles (TCC) and solar Photoelectrochemical/Photocatalytic (PEC/PC), with a strong emphasis on system-level integration (subcomponents: materials, devices, reactors, control systems, etc. into a fully functional, operable system), targeting demonstration at TRL 5, and aligning with EU climate neutrality and energy resilience goals. Proposals should focus on the direct conversion of solar energy into hydrogen, eliminating reliance on intermediate photovoltaic-to-electricity pathways.
Past and current projects supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership have established the current technological challenges to overcome for direct solar process generating hydrogen[6],[7],[8],[9]. Therefore, the success of all processes under consideration (TCC and PEC/PC) is strongly linked to the performance of the core components and their interaction. Especially high efficiencies and throughput are required to provide a clear economically competitive scaling and implementation perspective. Innovative solutions including the material, reactor and process level shall be revisited and developed to tackle these significant challenges. The main levers to overcome the efficiency challenges are seen in the following areas: application of advantageous active materials, structures and shapes with better material usage, improved photon and heat management, improved transport processes and heat recovery, as well as co-production of further products besides hydrogen (heat, electricity, other chemical products). A further key for a deployment of such a technology is a convincing pathway for the scaling of the technology. As such, proposals should provide and demonstrate a clear scale-up strategy for the receiver/reactors to substantiate the claim for competitive solutions at 250-500 kW scale for the TCC route and at minimum 10 kW for the PEC/PC route, while considering critical materials and other sustainability issues.
Proposals should make use of already available solar resource harvesting techniques that convincingly demonstrate the promise of commercial application. Possible integration with existing grids (transport, energy, materials) is very important to address the potential application of the proposed technology in future steps. In line with this, proposals can consider including hydrogen intermediate- and end-users or prosumers (on site generation/use as a chemical feedstock or fuel) to demonstrate successful business cases, making efficient use of existing infrastructure and technologies.[10],[11],[12],[13]
Proposals should aim to conduct extensive research and development on the core functional materials of the targeted processes, i.e. redox materials for TCC or light-absorbing and catalytic materials for PEC/PC, as well as innovative reactor and balance of system designs, to produce hydrogen directly from water using solar irradiation in non-concentrated, moderately or highly concentrated form.
Another relevant aspect to consider is the operation of the systems under transient solar irradiation conditions, which may require control strategies or thermal storage elements to ensure process stability and efficiency. Such transient conditions not only demand appropriate control strategies or thermal storage elements to ensure process stability and efficiency but also negatively impact on the lifetime of components, e.g. by accelerating materials degradation. Therefore, adapted suitable operational strategies are needed to deal with intermittency of solar radiation.
The topic should cover the following elements:
Proposals should cover the following elements addressing the described challenges in TCC and PEC/PC processes to advance the technology to achieve at least TRL 5: system performance, reactor development and material development, all supported by a solid business case. This should be validated by developing, building, and testing dedicated reactor units and peripherals to achieve the performance characteristics given in the section Expected Results.
The intended project should consider or even use results and experiences from relevant ongoing or past JU projects such as but not only HYDROSOL-Beyond[14], HySelect[8], FLOWPHOTOCHEM[16] and PH2OTOGEN[11].
Proposals may be developed in accordance with the results of relevant past and ongoing projects funded by the EU, including the HYDROSOL family[18] (HYDROSOL-beyond[14], HYDROSOL-II[20], HYDROSOL-Plant[12]), SOL2HY2[9], PECSYS[23], and PH2OTOGEN[11], among others (e.g. Sun-to-Liquid [25],and NanoPEC[26]) with the objective of ensuring complementarity and clear added value in comparison with the current state-of-the-art.
Budget: 105 million euro
ERASMUS FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS
PHORTIFY GRANTS FOR MENTORSHIP WORKSHOP ON CAREER GROWTH AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT – PILOT CALL
Participating partners:
ENERGY EFFICIENT URBAN AND SUB-URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT, COMPLEMENTED BY SHARED MOBILITY
Expected Outcome:
This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission by accelerating the transition towards climate neutrality in cities. To this end, project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
Further progress towards achieving the targets set by relevant EU strategies and policies such as the Zero Pollution Action Plan[1], the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy[2], the new EU Urban Mobility Framework[3], the Decarbonise Corporate Fleets Communication[4] and the Energy Efficiency Directive[5].
Scope:
Public transport is firmly at the centre of sustainable urban mobility policies at EU level and across Member States, in complementarity with active mobility and shared mobility services. However more needs to be done to make sure that urban and suburban public passenger transport, including coaches, and urban mobility service car fleets are energy efficient and attractive, contributing to climate neutrality targets as well as to cleaner and healthier urban and sub-urban environments.
In addition, an optimal integration of public transport with other/new shared mobility services can increase its uptake by offering services that are complementary, offering coherent solutions allowing interconnection between mass transit and “last-mile” solutions. Designing urban and sub-urban systems that are energy-efficient and attractive and are tailored for complementary mobility options requires different thinking: e.g. new approaches to integrated urban planning; changes to or upgrades of infrastructure and redistribution of public space; better use of data and technology solutions to enable effective multimodality, including leveraging AI solutions; targeted local policies to promote and integrate different mobility options, to increase connectivity especially in peri-urban, rural, and underserved areas throughout the city, extending beyond the city centre.
The objective of this topic is to explore and test solutions to increase energy-efficiency and attractiveness of urban and sub-urban public transport, urban mobility service car fleets, and other active and shared mobility solutions, in the pilot sites involved in the proposals, including by facilitating exchange of experiences and good practices and fostering learning at European level. The work should lead to an updated and comprehensive overview of the state of the art of the electrification of urban and sub-urban public transport systems, and urban mobility service car fleets and shared mobility solutions, including an assessment of gaps and shortcomings in existing systems.
The topic invites proposals from consortia including at least three cities from different Member States or Associated Countries along with at least three follower cities, ensuring a good geographical balance. Follower cities can be from the same Member State or Associated Country as the lead cities. At least one of the three lead cities must be one of the 112 cities selected for the EU Mission on Climate-neutral and Smart Cities. The consortium should bring together academia, responsible local authorities, public transport operators, urban mobility service car fleet providers, shared mobility service providers, and other relevant stakeholders. The goal is to collaboratively test and implement a mix of technological and non-technological innovations, along with policy-based measures, to enhance the energy efficiency and appeal of urban and suburban public transport in complementarity with urban mobility service car fleets and shared mobility solutions. An assessment of the overall ecological footprint, including impacts on air quality, of the tested solutions should also be carried out, taking into account the whole value chain and possible rebound effects.
From the lessons learnt through the testing of solutions, recommendations and guidance on optimal integration of energy efficient urban and suburban public transport with urban mobility service car fleets, active and shared mobility solutions should be provided for local authorities and public transport operators. Recommendations and measures could cover, e.g., newly emerging technologies and soft measures such as marketing, real-time information and awareness-raising campaigns and co-creation of user-oriented and environmentally sustainable solutions, with particular regard to the specific needs of diverse user groups. Proposals could test the establishment of new operating and business models. Proposals may also include take-up and replication actions, research activities, as well as tools to support local planning and policy making. To facilitate replication, upscaling and up-taking of the generated outcomes and to foster capacity building/upskilling of public authorities, local actors and communities, actions should engage in outreach, communication, dissemination and training activities.
This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.
Collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform is essential and should take place through the CIVITAS initiative[6]. Proposals should ensure that appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing clustering activities and cooperation with the Cities Mission Platform and the CIVITAS initiative are included in the work-plan[7]. Proposals should plan for an active collaboration amongst the projects selected under this topic – for dissemination, evaluation and coordination – facilitated by and within the CIVITAS initiative.
Budget: 20 million euro
INTRODUCING CIRCULAR ECONOMY MODELS IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR, FROM BUILDINGS TO CITY SCALE
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
Applying circularity principles in the construction sector at building, district and city level can reduce the whole life-cycle GHG emissions and support more efficient resource use of the building stock, and help deliver climate-neutral, smart and circular cities, and a more sustainable built environment. To achieve this, there is a need for tools, solutions and associated business models with market potential that facilitate the adoption of inclusive circular construction economy models, as well as a more efficient use of buildings, ultimately reducing the need to extract raw materials.
Proposals are expected to address all of the following:
Given its focus on circularity, this topic contributes to the implementation of the Cities Mission, the New European Bauhaus (NEB), the European Partnership on ‘People-centric Sustainable Built Environment’ (B4P), and the EU Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI).
Projects are encouraged to engage in clustering activities with other relevant Horizon Europe projects that share a common theme and address similar issues, and/or are connected to the aforementioned initiatives. This approach aims to promote synergies and complementarities. To this end, proposals should include a dedicated task, allocate appropriate resources, and develop a plan for collaboration with relevant projects, partners, and initiatives. Moreover, proposals are expected to ensure that their dissemination and exploitation strategies feature dedicated (and possibly joint) actions for promoting their results and lessons learned on relevant platforms, such as the Cities Mission Platform, the NEB hub for results and impact, B4P[2] and CCRI[3] websites, and through related channels. Such activities will facilitate knowledge exchange, encourage the replication and uptake of solutions, and maximise impact.
This action supports the follow-up to the July 2023 Communication on EU Missions assessment[4].
Budget: 47.5 million euro
TRANSITION TO LOW-TEMPERATURE HEATING SOLUTIONS IN MULTI-APARTMENT BUILDINGS
Expected Outcome:
The projects are expected to deliver on one of or combination of the following topic outcomes:
Scope:
Low-temperature district heating systems in urban areas offer higher potential for integration of renewable energy sources and waste heat, but their deployment is slowed down because the existing stock of inefficient buildings has been designed for high-temperature heat delivery systems. The topic supports the creation of the conditions necessary for the conversion of existing supply solutions – district heating, as well as individual heating ones – into low-temperature alternatives, along with reducing and optimising the heat load of buildings.
Efficient district heating systems are expected to meet increasingly stringent criteria in terms of the use of renewable energy, waste heat and/or co-generation in line with Article 26(1) of the Directive (EU) 2023/1791. To help district heating operators meet those criteria, there is a need to demonstrate solutions that support the transition to low-temperature district heating systems operating at supply temperatures at below 70°C.
There is currently a limited choice of established non-fossil fuel heating and hot water systems to replace fossil-fuel based heating systems in multi-apartment buildings. There is a need to demonstrate systems based on heat pumps solutions to replace both central and individual fossil fuel boilers in existing residential multi-apartment buildings.
Proposals are expected to address at least two of the following:
Projects are expected to demonstrate the proposed solutions in two different climate zones, at building, district and/or city level, and to assess the environmental, social and economic benefits of the proposed solutions for the local community and heating system operators while accounting for the regional economic and regulatory aspects. The system design must include advanced controls to allow exploiting the energy flexibility of individual heating systems in a collective way. Projects must present a concise state-of-the-art of existing relevant solutions, knowledge and tools from EU funded projects.
Projects are expected to contribute to the implementation of Climate City Contracts and/or Sustainable Energy Action Plans, Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans. Collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform is essential. The collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform must be formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding to be concluded as soon as possible after the project starting date. Under the guidance of the Cities Mission Platform, the selected projects will engage in clustering activities with other relevant projects supported under the Cities Mission to promote synergies and complementarities. Proposals should ensure that appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing clustering activities and cooperation with the Cities Mission Platform are included in the work-plan.
Budget: 6 million euro
FUSENET SUPPORT OF MASTER STUDENTS GOING ON AN INTERNSHIP ABROAD
The submission of applications is done via the dedicated FuseNet page. The submitted applications are evaluated by the FuseNet Executive Office. Decision to the student is communicated by email, within 2 weeks after complete submission of the application.
Only in case of doubt regarding eligibility, the FuseNet Executive Office consults the Academic Council of FuseNet (in written procedure). The decision of the Academic Council of FuseNet is final and binding and cannot be discussed or changed again.
This support package is meant to facilitate MSc students in fusion who want to go abroad for an internship, thereby stimulating quality of education through exchanges. The internship can take place at a fusion research centre or university involved in fusion research. This place is not limited to Europe. Students registered at universities that are a FuseNet member and/or are doing their internship at hosts that are a FuseNet member, and their home university is located in one of the EUROfusion member states can apply for financial support for their internship here.
The financial support consists of a fixed amount of travel support (depending on the travel distance) and accommodation/living support (depending on the internship duration). The application has to be submitted at least 2 weeks before and within 6 months of the start of the internship. Other sources of funding for the internship (scholarships or grants, compensation or salary from the host institute, funds from other EU support schemes, etc.) need to be specified. Funding can also be restricted in cases where funding has been received from FuseNet in the past (see the terms and conditions on the FuseNet webpage).
Budget: €100 000,00
FUSENET CALL FOR THE ORGANISATION OF MINI-WORKSHOPS IN FUSION
After viewing the terms and conditions, the FuseNet member institutions must submit their proposal to the FuseNet Executive Office. The submitted proposals will be evaluated by the FuseNet Board of Governors. The awarded institution will be notified via email of the decision.
The terms and conditions of the call are available at the FuseNet website:
As part of its activities, FuseNet supports the FuseNet member institutions with the organisation of mini-workshops. These are small-scale workshops that aim to connect young talents with experienced researchers. They have the set-up of masterclasses on a dedicated topic, include interaction between experts and students and are organised for either MSc or PhD students. Such events typically last 2–5 days. This call is for mini-workshops that are to be organised before the end of this year.
Budget: €10 000,00
FUSENET SUPPORT OF MASTER STUDENTS IN ATTENDING EDUCATIONAL EVENTS
The submission of applications is done via the FuseNet website. The submitted applications are evaluated by the FuseNet Executive Office. Decision to the student will be communicated by email, typically within 2 weeks after complete submission of the application.
Only in case of doubt regarding eligibility, the FuseNet Executive Office consults the Academic Council of FuseNet (in written procedure). The decision of the Academic Council of FuseNet is final and binding and cannot be discussed or changed again.
The application link and the terms and conditions can be found at the FuseNet website:
This support scheme is launched to support and facilitate Master students to take part in educational activities external to their own organization. It allows Master students to participate in fusion Master classes, summer schools, and other short-term events with a dominant educational character. All conferences are excluded from support except when the Master student has his/her own contribution at the event (see terms and conditions for details).
Students registered at universities that are a FuseNet member and/or are seeking to attend educational activities at hosts that are a FuseNet member, and both the home university and the educational event are located in one of the countries that are part of the EUROfusion member states, can apply here for financial support to take part in a fusion-related educational training activity.
The financial support consists of a fixed amount of travel support (depending on the travel distance) and subsistence support (depending on the duration). The (training) activity has to take place at a university group or research institute in one of the EUROfusion members states or at a FuseNet member institute. The application has to be submitted at least 2 weeks before the actual start of the educational event. The educational event has to start no later than 6 months after application.
Budget: € 25 000,00
