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Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to several of the following expected outcomes:better structured, integrated and strengthened European research infrastructure landscape;solid concepts and/or comprehensive plans for the integrated research infrastructures, to support decision making at national and European level, leading to increased sustainability, operational and financial efficiency;increased synergies between research infrastructures;increased capacity to address EU policy priorities and/or support EU industry;reinforced global competitiveness and attractiveness of the European Research Area. Scope:This topic targets the consolidation and improved functioning of the EU RI landscape through the support to the development of complementarities, synergies and/or integration between a set (two or more) of ESFRI Landmarks and/or other European Research Infrastruc...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:Better connection of research infrastructures across the European Research Area reinforcing and spreading excellence throughout the European Research Area;mitigating scattered national and regional research infrastructures and pockets of scientific excellence, and increasing the circulation of knowledge;wider, simplified, and more efficient access to the best research infrastructures available to researchers to conduct curiosity-driven excellent research, irrespective of location;breakthrough and leading-edge research enabled by advanced research infrastructure services made available to a wider user community;enhanced integration of a wider user community in the European research infrastructure ecosystem; enhanced capacities of a wider user community to address research challenges and EU p...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to several of the following expected outcomes:better structured and strengthened European research infrastructure landscape;new services available to a wider user community, including participants in other parts of Horizon Europe, allowing to better tackle scientific and societal challenges;increased capacity to address EU policy priorities and/or socio-economic challenges;reinforced global competitiveness of the European Research Area;reduction of environmental (including climate-related) impacts as well as optimisation of resource and energy consumption integrated through the full life cycle of research infrastructures;increased long-term sustainability of European research infrastructures. Scope:This topic targets the consolidation of the EU research infrastructures landscape through the support, together with the countries t...

Expected Outcome:A significant decarbonisation of processes (measured by the reduction of GHG emissions from the overall system) with broad applicability and economic viability.Facilitation of the transition from fossil-based energy inputs for: low/medium thermal energy demands by introducing renewable-based alternatives and heat upgrading. High-temperature processes, by innovative technologies for electrified and hybrid high-temperature processes, high temperature energy storage. Clean energy usage is given a boost through innovative advanced materials, system concepts and technologies for energy integration and energy storage, supporting resilience against energy supply variationsCombination of significant energy savings and integrated management of energy systems and production processes Scope:Most processes in the process industries require significant energy inputs which currently l...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Reinforcing EU strategic autonomy by reducing non-EU dependencies on critical space equipment and related technologies across their entire supply chain;Providing unrestricted access to critical space equipment and related technologies relevant for EU space missions;Developing or regaining capacity to operate independently in space by developing resilient critical space equipment and related technologies supply chains, relying on EU supply chains and/or trustable and reliable supply chains not affected by non-EU export restrictions;Enhancing competitiveness by developing products and capabilities reaching equivalent or superior performance level than those from outside the EU and compete at worldwide level;Opening new opportunities for manufacturers by reducing dependency on non-EU export...

Expected Outcome:Industrial jobs are transformed through AI-based human-machine interactions (and skills linked to them) which enhance flexibility, inclusion, well-being, up-skilling, career evolution and knowledge sharing;Increased competitiveness and sustainability of advanced manufacturing industries by means of knowledge formalization and adaptability of the machines to workers and markets based on different cultures. Scope:Innovative AI approaches are poised to revolutionise human-machine collaboration in factories by fostering an environment where technology and human expertise synergistically enhance each other. AI can enhance the value of the companies by capturing and formalising the knowledge which is dispersed and not explicit. This allows companies to really own the knowledge and use it to reduce the onboarding time of new employees and support personnel upskilling to adapt t...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:For supported postdoctoral fellowsIncreased set of research and transferable skills and competences, leading to improved employability and career prospects of MSCA postdoctoral fellows within academia and beyond;New mind-sets and approaches to R&I work forged through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary experience;Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact. For participating organisationsIncreased alignment of working conditions for researchers in accordance with the principles set out in the European Charter for Researchers;Enhanced quality and sustainability of research training and supervision;Increased global attractiveness, visibility and reputation of the...

Expected Outcome:This action builds on the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2027 action (HORIZON-MSCA-PF-2027). The target group are host organisations located in Widening countries.Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:For supported ERA Fellows:Increased set of research and transferable skills and competences, leading to improved employability and career prospects of fellows within academia and beyond;New mind-sets and approaches to R&I work forged through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary experience;Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public, that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact; For participating organisations in the Widening countries:Increased alignment of working conditions for researchers in accordance with the principles set out in the Europea...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to one or more of the following expected outcomes corresponding to the European Water Resilience Strategy objectives:the water cycle is restored;the economy is following a water-smart path and the EU water industry is competitive;water is clean and affordable for all. Scope:The European Commission adopted the European Water Resilience Strategy[1], which proposes actions to address the expected outcomes described in this Open Topic. With a view of contributing with breakthrough innovation to this strategy, proposals are expected to address creative or disruptive solutions to develop a set of means for its implementation. Adapted to the nature, scope and type of proposed activities, proposals should convincingly explain how they will plan and/or carry out demonstration, testing or validation of developed tools and solutions. Propo...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:improved understanding of key drivers of plant pest emergence, including the influence of climate change, ecosystem degradation and globalisation;cost-effective and environmentally friendly preventive and/or curative measures for managing the targeted plant pest(s) are identified, validated, and made available to farmers and forest owners for effective pest management;robust scientific support is delivered to strengthen decision-making processes. Scope:Effective plant health measures are essential for protecting agriculture and forestry, ensuring food security, preserving ecosystems and biodiversity, and enabling safe and sustainable trade. This action aims to strengthen plan health by addressing emerging plant pests[1], whether regulated or unregulated, introduced or native, that curren...

Expected Outcome:Activities under this topic respond directly to the goal of the Mission Soil to set up 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition to healthy soils by 2030 and support its specific objectives[1].Activities should also contribute to the Common Agricultural Policy and to meeting the European Green Deal ambitions and targets and more specifically those of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 and the proposal for a Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the Communication on Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU, as well as to the Sustainable Development Goals[2].Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:enhanced capacities for participatory, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary R&I to co-create, and co-implement economically viable soil hea...

Expected Outcome:Activities under this topic will help progress towards the objectives and targets of the Mission Soil and the EU Soil Strategy for 2030. Moreover, activities should also contribute to meeting the ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals[1]. Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:policymakers and other relevant stakeholders have improved access to knowledge and quantitative data on changes in soil degradation over the past centuries to millennia across different pedo-climatic regions, alongside projections for future soil health trends under different scenarios;policymakers, land managers and other relevant stakeholders have an advanced understanding of the long-term drivers (and the similarities and differences with short-term drivers) and long-term consequences of soil degradation processes including their role in the cli...

Expected Outcome:Activities under this topic will advance the objectives and targets of the Mission Soil and should contribute to achieving the targets of the EU Soil Strategy for 2030, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the proposal for a Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, the Life Science Strategy, the Communication on Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU, while also contributing to the objectives on improving soil management and environmental performance of the Vision for Agriculture and Food.Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:to advance, validate and bring up to market readiness level innovative, scalable, sustainable and cost-effective biotechnologies, particularly those leveraging soil microbiome, which enhance crop quality and productivity, while remediate soil pollution and...

Expected Outcome:Activities should support the objectives and targets of the Mission Soil and of the common agricultural policy (CAP), the European Green Deal ambitions and targets and more specifically those of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the EU Soil Strategy for 2030, the EU Climate action, the EU’s Action Plan on the Development of Organic Production and the proposal for a Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive. Activities should thereby contribute to meeting the objectives on improving soil management, environmental performance and competitiveness of the Vision for Agriculture and Food.Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:increased adoption of agroforestry at landscape level in the EU and Associated Countries;enhanced access and uptake of agroecological solutions and practical tools that boost soil health in agroforestry by fa...

Expected Outcome:Activities under this topic will help progress towards the objectives and targets of the Mission Soil and should contribute to meeting the relevant targets of the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 and the Zero Pollution Action Plan, as well as to the Sustainable Development Goals[1].Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:improved citizen awareness on the connection between soil pollution and human health and how to manage, adapt to, and mitigate risks;increased public access to FAIR[2] data and knowledge on soil pollution and the emergence of human diseases and other health outcomes;policymakers enforce the implementation of long-term, sustainable solutions that enhance soil health, restore the environment, and protect public health. Scope:Across the European Union, an estimated 2.8 million land sites are potentially contaminated. Expos...

Expected Outcome:Proposals are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:Strengthen the competitiveness, sustainability (including biodiversity) and resilience of an innovative clean tech solution by clearly demonstrating the capability to, significantly: increase its circular material use rate, based on a sound and realistic baseline; reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) delivered to end-users - including, where relevant, production, distribution, and storage costs, based on a sound and realistic baseline and considering different geographic scenarios; and contribute to Europe’s industrial leadership and competitiveness, in line with the objectives of Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA)[1] for the EU manufacturing capacity of net-zero technologies[2],[3]. Bring this innovative clean tech solution to full technological maturity and close to market-readiness with a view...

Expected Outcome:Proposals are expected to contribute to one or more of the following:Enhanced resilience against distributed cyber threats and adversarial attacks targeting interconnected systems, while preserving data privacy in highly dynamic and heterogeneous environments;Security solutions tailored to distributed computing systems including for example IoT and edge computing environments, integrating privacy-preserving mechanisms;Improved interoperability of security measures and cross-layer security, including the compatibility of privacy-enhancing technologies across different layers of the computing continuum and data spaces, and across providers in the multi-provider edge cloud continuum. Scope:This topic aims to advance security across the entire computing continuum, spanning IoT devices, edge computing, cloud infrastructures, AI computing environments, and data spaces. Proposa...

Expected Outcome:Proposals are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:Accelerate the use of innovative technologies to decarbonise industrial processes and bring to the market more cost-effective clean products to strengthen the competitiveness, sustainability (including biodiversity), and resilience of EU industries;Create new innovative first-of-a-kind operational demonstrators and/or optimise newly installed industrial decarbonisation solutions in Europe; andDemonstrate the market readiness of the envisaged future clean products and their innovative processes via a credible business plan and an exploitation strategy for industrialisation, including market-tested use cases. Scope:The Clean Industrial Deal aims to secure the EU as an attractive location for manufacturing, including for energy-intensive industries, and to promote clean tech and new circular busines...

Expected Outcome:Proposals are expected to contribute one or more of the following:Practical robust implementations of PQC schemes that can withstand implementation attacks including side-channel attacks, fault attacks and combined attacks, and design of automated tools for evaluating the security of PQC implementations. Comprehensive guidelines for implementing countermeasures against a wide range of attacks;Advances in understanding the quantum hardness of mathematical problem classes; new quantum algorithms and improvements in quantum programming and implementation; security validation methods; design of post-quantum schemes with improved security against quantum and AI-based attacks;Post-quantum schemes and protocols to support privacy-friendly applications and services, ncluding the secure and private use of electronic identities. Design of new digital signatures, key encapsulation...

Expected Outcome:Proposals are expected to contribute to one or more of the following:AI-driven solutions for real-time cyber threat detection;Advanced adaptive AI systems that evolve with dynamic cybersecurity challenges;Contribute to drastically reduce reaction time for the recovery of systems. Scope:Artificial Intelligence is increasingly utilised in cybersecurity for threat detection, incident response, and adaptive defence mechanisms. However, AI-driven systems themselves are susceptible to adversarial manipulation and bias. This topic aims to advance AI-based cybersecurity applications while ensuring that AI-driven solutions remain resilient, transparent, and compliant with regulatory frameworks such as the AI Act. In this context, the topic explores the role of all types of AI, including generative AI, in cybersecurity applications, including automated threat detection, adaptive c...

Expected Outcome:Proposals are expected to contribute to one or more of the following:New primitives beyond Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) for future hybrid classical-quantum and quantum networks either as quantum equivalents of classical primitives or as new primitives for new practical applications, also in the relativistic setting when relevant, or as new primitives and protocols with modular, realistic integration of solutions from different cryptographic approaches, with focus on beyond-QKD applications and with gradual release on trust in hardware;Analysis of the applicability and strength of the results compared to their best classical-only counterpart, critical analysis of the formal assumptions and of performance, security proofs;Investigation of fundamental aspects of quantum information processing tasks, their eventual limits; and/or the connection between quantum computing an...

Expected Outcome:Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:Demonstrated system-level long-duration energy storage (LDES) solutions, explicitly aimed at enhancing grid stability, resilience, and flexibility in Europe. Substantial reduction of Europe's dependence on critical raw materials through the use of abundant, low-cost, and sustainable materials.Contribute to strategic insights for a coherent EU-wide stationary storage deployment strategy, enhancing European energy autonomy and sustainability.Sufficient and reproducible operational data and insights to serve as reliable input towards detailed technoeconomic analyses. Scope:Proposals should focus on system-level demonstrations of innovative long-duration (> 8 hours) battery storage concepts that can effectively support utility-scale energy systems or industrial consumers in achieving energy security and ope...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Demonstration of measurable reductions in material flows, life cycle energy use and GHG emissions in building renovations that integrate circularity strategies to contribute to achieving net-zero whole life carbon buildings;More robust approach to current modelling frameworks to comprehensively reflect the complexity of circularity strategies in life cycle assessments at building scale. Scope:European buildings are increasingly adopting circularity strategies in renovations to reduce life cycle environmental impacts and improve resource efficiency in response to the requirements based on current frameworks, such as Level(s) and WLC models used by Member States based and EN 15978 standard. The complexity of these circularity strategies, such as material reuse and recycling, and addressing...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Improved resource efficiency compared to current practices;Improved accuracy (designed vs. as-built) of on-site renovation and construction works, compared to current best practices;Significant reduction in time spent by building professionals on site;Reduced GHG emissions at the construction site. Scope:The rate of deep renovation of buildings can be accelerated by modernising the construction sector and embracing the latest developments in robotics and automated systems. There is need for further development of techniques using innovative on-site robotic and other automated systems that make renovation and construction works more sustainable, less disruptive, faster as well as more accurate, cost effective and resource efficient, while delivering, at least, the same building elements’...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Improved open access to performance data, sharing of best-practices and useful knowledge and information for owners and operators of IT infrastructure, as well as the IT and building sectors;New designs of IT rooms in buildings or small edge data centres valorise waste heat through thermal management techniques, processes and tools. Scope:The growing energy needs of the ICT sector must be met while aligning with climate neutrality and sustainability goals. Small IT rooms or small data centres are an essential part of the twin green and digital transition. It is important to address the energy and resources consumption over the full ICT value chain. Solutions already exist, such as re-using waste heat from data centres, or moving towards circular models (longer lifetimes, reparability, re...