The call is relevant for cities and regions that are looking to develop and deploy new curricula and knowledge exchange practices relevant to bio-based systems. Proposals should develop and validate curricula, related to skills’ development for the sustainable biobased systems and increased circularity and deploy of EU-wide actions supporting the acquisition of new skills, as relevant for the sustainable and circular bio-based systems.

All stakeholders of the bio-based industries ecosystem including public authorities can apply for CBE JU funding. CBE JU calls for project proposals are open to any legal entity, be it private or public, for-profit or not-for-profit organisation, including:

• Large companies
• Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs)
• Research and technology organisations (RTOs)
• Universities
• Associations

The scope of this topic covers higher education, vocational training, as well as post-graduate and executive courses, as relevant for training students and reskilling and upskilling adult professionals, as needed for the emerging circular bio-based economy. Proposals should establish a network of industry and universities/RTOs, mobilise the network to co-create a set of curricula for education, training and retraining/reskilling/upskilling of students and professionals in the field of circular bio-based systems and test the implementation of the developed curricula with pilot groups of students and professionals.

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 1 million. It is estimated that a contribution of EUR 1 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts

Cities and regions can apply for funding through the following steps. Cities and regions have to select the relevant call and draft a proposal with the required details. With the CBE JU networking platform, cities and regions can find partners to build a consortium. The proposal can be submitted using the Funding and tender opportunities portal using an EU login. All the members of the consortium must have a 9-digit Participant Identification Code (PIC) to apply for funding. Draft your project proposal in the submission service section of your topic page. This link becomes available when the call opens. Fill in all the required information and submit the proposal before the call deadline.

Call launch: 3 April 2025

Call deadline: 18 September 2025 17:00 CET