The call is relevant for cities and regions that are looking to integrate bio-fabricated materials in the built environment. Bio-fabricated materials open new avenues for reaching higher ambitions in terms of sustainability, especially if associated with high-technological solutions that can accelerate and simplify their manufacturing, retrofitting and renewal. However, their widespread integration faces several barriers, from technical and regulatory hurdles to high production costs, limited knowledge and expertise among construction professionals, and low acceptance by the construction ecosystem. Research is required to investigate new ways to address the main technical challenges of biofabricated materials.

Any type of organisation can apply for Horizon Europe funding as long as they have the operational and financial capacity to carry out the tasks that they propose. For most calls for proposals, you must apply as a team of at least 3 partner organisations from 3 different EU or associated countries. At least one of the 3 partners must be from an EU country. In addition to these 3 partners, organisations from other countries might be able to join your consortium.

More information in the Horizon Europe programme guide. Further details or exceptions are listed on the pages of the call topics in the Funding & tenders portal.

Proposals are expected to address all of the following:

• Develop and test at least two innovative sustainable bio-fabricated construction materials;
• For each material developed: Assess its properties, benefits, as well as design and construction applications, Study the feasibility for mass-scale production to increase production volumes and affordability, Analyse the environmental footprint of the bio-fabricated materials following a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to validate their contribution to the reduction of the whole life carbon emissions in the built environment; Analyse the social and economic impacts throughout the material’s whole life cycle, for example using social life-cycle assessment (SLCA) and life-cycle costing (LCC) approaches.

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 10.00 million. The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 5.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.

1. EC publishes calls for proposals on the funding and tenders portal
2. The call is open for an usual period of ca. 5 months where applicants can submit they proposal
3. Proposals can be single or two-stage application processes. A single stage application process requires the filling in of a structured proposal of max. 45 pages including objectives and innovation approach (excellence), tangible impacts that can be achieved through the project (impact) and the project planning and tasks (quality). If a two stage, the aforementioned would be the second stage application while the first is a simplified proposal of max 10 pages including only excellence and impact sections. These documents are to be uploaded to the portal in pdf format alongside filling in the respective parts of the portal with administrative information on the beneficiares, affiliated entities or others. All participants in a project need to possess a Partipant Identification Code (i.e. PIC number, a 9-digit number registered on ECAS). For more information, please see the work programme and the call documents.
4. Proposal submitted within the deadline will be evaluated by experts against evaluation criteria.
5. Winning proposals will be invited for signing a grant agreement with the EC.

Opening: 06 May 2025
 

Deadline: 12 Nov 2025