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Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to some of the following outcomes:Better process understanding of past climate changes at different time scales, their variability and interactions with ecosystems, leading to improved Earth system models;Future climate change scenarios produced in light of past changes in the Earth system, in particular warm climates/high sea-level situations, and abrupt transitions;Identification of thresholds in Earth system components and better characterisation of driving mechanisms and feedbacks that may be responsible for non-linear behaviours, including indicators of abrupt changes, and early warning signals within palaeoclimate records;Synthesis of climate variations that can serve as fundamental basis for IPCC assessments and benchmarks for model inter-comparisons. Scope:Palaeoclimatic (including geological, biological and ice-core) re...

Scope:This topic aims to promote the adoption of ERA policies and practices delivering innovative approaches for enhancing science-society links and promoting scientific literacy. Proposals should contribute to the impact “Increasing trust in science and alignment of R&I with society’s needs, expectations and values”, thereby enhancing the democratic character and impact of science in the ERA.Applicants should select and clearly identify one area being addressed, choosing from the two areas outlined below. Both areas are designed to contribute towards the implementation of the ERA Structural Policy “Enhancing Trust in Science through Citizen Participation, Engagement and Science Communication”. Proposals should develop the activities outlined for the selected area and propose additional activities that contribute to achieving the expected outcomes.Project activities should reach large co...

Expected Outcome:Proposals will deliver on the impact of “Improved research careers and mobility, based on the European framework for research careers, fostering knowledge flows and career interoperability across sectors and countries”[1], contributing to the ERA Structural Policy “Making research careers more attractive and sustainable, and support mobility”. Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:Creation of talent ecosystems, as integrated networks where cross-sectoral public and private organisations have established close and coordinated cooperation, fostering among others the employability, skills, career development, mobility, career interoperability, and well-being of researchers and other R&I staff;Implementation of organisational changes by participating organisations to mainstream the principles of the European framework for research careers and o...

Expected Outcome:The successful proposal will deliver on the impact “Increased alignment of research with society’s needs, expectations and values”. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Strengthened capacity, networks and involvement of the participating cities in science communication and citizen engagement in science;More informed, evidence-based policymaking and increased public engagement through inclusive and participatory discussions and debates on science and R&I policy;Improved attractiveness of diverse careers in R&I for younger generations. Scope:This topic supports a small group of cities in organising and hosting a joint 1-year programme “Science comes to town 2029”. The programme should have a robust concept and brand focusing on connecting citizens and science while involving all relevant stakeholders (e.g., researchers, resea...

Expected Outcome:Proposals will deliver on the impact “A more open, equitable and inclusive research and innovation ecosystem”, contributing to the ERA Structural Policy “Enabling open science via sharing and re-use of data, including through the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)”. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Increased number of EU research performing organisations (RPOs) with well-developed policies on open access publications, which include clause(s) for rights retention;Higher share of research publications in open access across the EU and Associated Countries, especially in low-performing countries with respect to open access;Increase of access to and preservation of scientific information through institutional infrastructures, such as repositories. Scope:While the EU is making progress on its open access objectives, recent re...

Expected Outcome:Proposals will deliver on the impact of ‘A more strategic, coherent, and evidence-based approach towards cooperation with China in the area of science, technology, and innovation (STI)’. It contributes toward the ERA Structural Policy “Implementing the Global Approach to R&I cooperation”, while taking into account the ERA Action on “Enhancing research security”.Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:Improved understanding and monitoring of China's STI system to support the development of strategic foresight and evidence-based policies, and further bolster the EU’s ecosystem for independent knowledge on contemporary China;Innovative interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies are made available to R&I practitioners and policymakers, allowing for improved assessment of critical technology areas where China has achieved or is expected...

Expected Outcome:Demand-side driven validation of open orchestration platforms across the telco-cloud edge continuum unlocking notably the transformative value of AI for European businesses, driving business growth in multiple industries strategic for Europe.Enabling the path towards sustainability and competitiveness of key vertical sectors in the EU, exploiting the innovative features of 3C/ telco-edge-cloud, including network features such as API (Application Program Interface) aggregation, slicing, automation, latency, security, ISAC (Integrated Sensing and Communication), reconfigurability, to significantly improve quality of service, resilience, sustainability and other performance parameters of digital communications.The demand pilots will have a clear sector relevance, with one pilot addressing the future of smart mobility including the automotive sector.A vibrant ecosystem aroun...

Expected Outcome:Pilots for new technologies and a demonstration site which contribute to energy-efficient and sustainable AI data processing in data centres, reinforcing EU strategic autonomy and climate goals. Project results are expected to contribute to one or more of the following outcomes (see more details in scope):Demonstrated innovations that substantially improve heat removal from high-power AI chips (e.g. direct on-chip cooling, advanced thermal interface materials, multi-scale thermal management), enabling higher performance without thermal throttling. This should lead to lower cooling energy needs and higher reliability for dense AI workloads.Prototypes of novel backup power systems (such as graphene-enhanced batteries) that operate with minimal cooling requirements, improving data centre resilience and enabling better use of renewable power.New methods and frameworks that o...

Expected Outcome:Proposals are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:Increasing the participation and influence of European experts in digital standardisation to promote EU values and strategic interests, contributing to strengthen EU competitiveness in the digital field.Improvement of the skills of European experts, especially from SMEs, R&I institutions, Open-Source community, academia and societal stakeholders, to successfully contribute and lead in the development of digital standards.Development and update of standardisation landscapes and gap analyses of key digital technologies as outlined in the Rolling Plan for ICT Standardisation.Provision of foresight analyses regarding standardisation in new emerging technologies to identify short and medium-term digital standardisation needs to support EU policies and anticipate appropriate participation by EU stakeholders.More aw...

Expected Outcome:The co-programmed European Partnership for Virtual Worlds will help to develop and promote a thriving industrial and end-user ecosystem in the EU, covering all the aspects of the virtual worlds value chain. It will also actively engage with industrial and societal sectors to provide access to a broad range of resources, including funding, expertise and technology.Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes: Review and, if necessary, update the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for Virtual Worlds in Europe, for useful, open, interoperable, inclusive, sustainable and trustworthy virtual worlds systems and applications, ensuring these reflect EU values and principles.Strengthening of the European Virtual Worlds Partnership by providing continuous support.Reinforcement of the competitive ecosystem, with European companies playi...

Expected Outcome: European leadership in foresight activities on future enabling technologies and their transformational potential in industrial, societal and environmental terms.Increased collaboration between academia, industry players and other relevant stakeholders in iterative and multidisciplinary approaches for co-creating the enabling technologies of the future.Alignment with national or regional initiatives creating an expanding innovation ecosystem, anchored in local contexts across Europe, for selected emerging technologies.Accelerating the pick-up of novel advanced technology by industry and society. Scope:Proposals should establish a forum for emerging interdisciplinary areas and new technological visions.Proposals should enable and support a broad range of participants (across disciplines in science and engineering, RTOs, industry sectors, stakeholders) to meet, mutually in...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to one of the following outcomes:Faster uptake of tailored and enhanced AI solutions at innovation hubs in low- and middle-income countries by training and optimising them with local data and applied research.Easier large-scale deployment of local AI solutions in low and middle-income countries by increasing the efficiency of system demonstration in relevant, operational environments.Strengthened local innovation ecosystems that foster sustainable socio-economic impact by addressing key societal challenges in areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, and environmental sustainability. Scope:System prototype, testing, validation, and demonstration in operational environment aligned to EU initiatives, such as the International Digital Strategy for the EU[1] and the AI Continent Action Plan[2], to strengthen local AI ecosyst...

Expected Outcome:The Apply AI Strategy[1] proposes a comprehensive set of measures to notably harness the transformative potential of AI. It lays down targeted measures to boost AI use in key strategic sectors of the EU economy including healthcare, mobility and manufacturing for example. With challenges designed to spark breakthroughs in such strategic sectors, the current topic will directly support key activities of the Apply AI Strategy.Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Significant technological progress and innovation in Apply AI Strategy's prioritised sectors driven by challenge-oriented, AI-powered solutions.Increase competitiveness and visibility of the relevant AI community within key application domains, and promote collaborative approaches for AI development in these domains, fostering the ecosystem.Increase adoption of AI tec...

Expected Outcome:The Apply AI Strategy[1] also seeks to bolster EU capabilities and achieve excellence in AI to support the development of European frontier models. As part of the Frontier AI Initiative, which brings together Europe’s leading actors in the field, this topic will support the development of sovereign frontier AI ensuring safety by design. This topic directly contributes to the Apply AI Strategy. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Strengthened European capabilities in the development of frontier AI models.Improved computational efficiency of frontier AI models, resulting in reduced computational costs.Enhanced safety of advanced AI systems based on frontier AI models through the development and implementation of safe-by-design principles and/or AI agents acting as safety evaluators. Scope:To advance developments of frontier...

Expected Outcome:The Apply AI Strategy emphasises acceleration pipelines to ensure a smooth transition from research to deployment of AI-powered robotics. Projects under this topic will deliver common frameworks and reusable building blocks that can serve multiple sectors and use cases, reinforcing Europe’s ability to bring AI-driven robotics to scale.Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Wider and faster deployment of robotics, bridging the gap between technology providers and end-users.Development and implementation of modular and interoperable integration frameworks and solutions, including standardized protocols for data, training and safety testing, evaluation and validation of robotic solutions in key use casesImproved competitiveness of European industries, notably SMEs via the development of advanced robotics systems, intelligent pla...

Expected Outcome:Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:Innovative and advanced XR hardware, advanced headsets, screens, wearables and haptic components, sensors and actuators, advanced chips for a deeper and closer-to-reality immersion, stimulating all human senses. Scope:In the recent years, hardware for Virtual Worlds made major breakthroughs, democratising headsets, sensors, actuators or haptic equipment. To keep this momentum and advancing further, new generation of XR equipment, wearable solutions and haptic components, as well as non-invasive brain computer interfaces for handsfree interaction, hardware or technologies will put the users at the very centre of virtual experiences, for even greater and realistic immersion, aiming at blurring the lines between the real and digital environments. To ensure this next generation of engaging and lifelike immersion,...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to developing new approaches, tools and techniques that overcome the obstacles of today's centralised AI compute techniques: limits in the availability of energy and AI compute capacity in centralised standalone environments, limited availability of types of AI chips, data quality and security and latency in AI data processing. The ultimate objective is to help overcome EU’s AI compute capacity bottlenecks by offering alternative decentralised and sustainable AI compute models that enable exploitation of diverse hardware processing architectures and scaling approaches.Scope:This topic focusses on technologies and techniques that enable AI data processing to leverage distributed compute resources across the cloud and edge computing continuum throughout the whole AI model lifecycle from data collection, training, fine-tuning, and...

Expected Outcome:Advanced integrated photonic devices and circuits with enhanced functionality and performance enabling wider application across multiple sectors including digital, automotive, industrial, health and securityReinforced competitiveness of EU photonics actors by demonstrating advancements in representative system configurations and validating real-world applicabilitySignificantly improved performance of electro-optic systems in applications such as communication, computing, sensing, medical diagnostics, data processing, AI supporting the introduction of photonic elements into such systemsLow power consumption sensors with increased performance in application domains Scope:R&I should enhance the functionality, efficiency, and integration of photonic devices and circuits with a focus extended system performance. Action should address at least two of the following aspects.Enha...

Expected Outcome:The REPowerEU plan and the EU Solar Energy Strategy introduced targets for the deployment of solar PV amounting to 600 GWac by 2030. Complying with these targets will be crucial for the European Union to reach its climate targets and free itself from import dependency on fossil fuels and the costs this imposes on Europe’s competitiveness in terms of high energy prices. The Solar Strategy also introduces a target, which has been enshrined into the Net-Zero Industry Act, to re-consolidate the European solar manufacturing sector and scale up European manufacturing capacity across the entire value chain to at least 40% of the EU’s annual deployment needs, or 30 GW of annual capacity by 2030. Innovation is particularly important in the solar PV sector, which is characterised by a short technology cycle, where new technologies become mainstream in only a few years. Novel techn...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Strengthening of the joint EU-AU Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Collaborative Partnership efforts, with emphasis on improving the visibility of EU Science Diplomacy actions in Africa and supporting Global Gateway Strategy priorities.Acceleration of the achievements of the African countries’ targets of the Paris Agreement.Increase the roll-out of local or regional renewable energy system solutions for electricity, heat and fuel needs and contribute to a fair trade between Africa and Europe.Create new sustainable silks and jobs linked to local or regional renewable energy system value chains and enhance economic growth in local or regional African communities.Increase the readiness, reliability, performance and affordability of local or regional renewable energy system solutions in...

Expected Outcome:Renewable heating can be directly used to efficiently decarbonise industrial processes. Concentrated solar thermal technologies offer a great potential to supply renewable heat for industry for temperatures between 150°C - 400°C. Nevertheless, efforts are still required to demonstrate these technologies for a variety of industrial processes.Proposals are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:Showcase the capacity of concentrated solar thermal systems to largely meet the heat demand of industrial processes and to achieve a yearly solar fraction of at least 50%.Increase competitiveness of concentrated solar thermal for industrial applications. This is to be proven by an economically feasible business case; by reducing the Levelised Cost of Heating (LCoH); and by valorising and promoting the competitive advantages of the technology such as heat storage, flexi...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:Advanced, secure frugal (energy-, resource-, data- and cost-efficient, sustainable) AI tools for real-time grid operations (including protection), market operations (if relevant) and consumer empowerment in distributed energy systems.A demonstrated AI development environment integrated with the upgraded digital spine of the energy system and energy-saving consumer applications.Scaled-up capabilities for learning at edge nodes and federated systems using agent-based architectures.A governance framework and operating model for the Gen(AI)-powered digital spine. Scope:Building up on previous actions in Horizon Europe (e.g. the digital spine of the energy system in cluster 5 as well as cloud and edge continuum and AI data processing activities in cluster 4) and Digital Europe (Common Reference...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcome:Stakeholders involved in the CO2 infrastructure network are in a position to implement the upcoming legislative framework for CO2 infrastructure. Scope:The project is expected to assist stakeholders involved in the CO2 infrastructure network in implementing the upcoming legislative framework for CO2 infrastructure.Issues to address include market and cost structure, cross-border integration, interoperability and planning, technical harmonisation and investment incentives for new infrastructure, third-party access, along-chain liability, competent regulatory authorities, tariff regulation, ownership and contractual models, baseline of the state of play of current legislation on various aspects of the value chain.As part of the deliverables, the project is expected to review and report on the current state...

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:Advance in the realisation of the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan Action of Renewable fuels and Bioenergy (for the fuels part) is supported, overcoming fragmentation by mobilizing resources and establishing across EU interregional value chains of renewable fuel technologies and by better alignment of public and private R&I priorities and of funding mechanisms.All sector stakeholders benefit from establishment of renewable fuels value chains at EU, national, regional, and local level overcoming fragmentation across Europe.Different stakeholders (e.g., EU, SET Plan countries, regions, communities, etc) benefit from their engagement in the co-creation of a very flexible R&I Programme in renewable fuels.Researchers, industry, and public authorities have access to increased knowledge a...

Expected Outcome:Proposals are expected to contribute to all following points:Improving cost and recovery efficiency of existing scaled recycling technologiesDemonstrated technological solutions capable of efficiently recycling diverse feedstocks, including production scrap, and mixed lithium-ion battery chemistriesImproved European competitiveness by reducing EU dependence on imported raw materials through improved recycling processesDemonstrable compliance with the targets and requirements set by the EU Batteries Regulation, including recycling efficiency and material recovery rates. Scope:Proposals under this topic are expected to specifically address innovation actions that enhance the adaptability, flexibility, and operational efficiency of existing battery recycling processes.Projects are expected to explicitly target improvements for processing mixed input streams, particularly pr...