Accelerating the discovery and development of chemicals and innovative advanced materials through digitalisation and artificial intelligence (IA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU partnership)

This Destination brings together the research and innovation for a globally competitive European industry through the twin green and digital transition, and the availability, development, use, reuse and disposal of chemicals, advanced materials and critical raw materials.

The Competitiveness Compass announces initiatives that should be served directly by industry-linked activities in Cluster 4, through new, focused R&I activities, but also through the activities supported up to now:

• Clean Industrial Deal adopted in February 2025;
• Critical Raw Materials Act;
• Advanced Materials Communication and future Advanced Materials Act planned for 2026;
• Future Circular Economy Act planned for 2026;
• Steel and Metals Action Plan adopted in March 2025;
• European Chemicals Industry Action Plan adopted in July 2025;
• Industrial action plan for the European automotive sector adopted in March 2025; and
• Strategy on research and technology infrastructures, with regard to technology infrastructures and the valorisation of knowledge.

In order to better translate these policy priorities into actions, to integrate the latest inputs from the partnerships, and to achieve synergies, this Work Programme part adopts a more integrated approach. The headings used under the two industry-focused destinations in previous work programmes, reflecting different partnerships and industrial sectors, are replaced by new headings making strongly interconnected contributions to the corresponding expected impacts in the Strategic Plan 2025-27, on green and digital transition and on autonomy in raw and advanced materials.

The new approach takes into account R&I investments under previous work programmes and intends to introduce more synergies with other pillars (notably the European Innovation Council under Pillar III) as well as with Cluster 5. Topics in this Work Programme increasingly combine the priorities of different partnerships to enable synergies, e.g. with the Investment fund, while continuing to address the particularities of each partnership. The development of new and cross-cutting technologies will help transform existing value chains and create new ones.

In addition to this Work Programme part, Cluster 4 participates in a horizontal Clean Industrial Deal Call, aiming to increase the competitiveness and decarbonisation of industry. The initiative will allow Horizon Europe beneficiaries to feed the EU deployment pipeline with R&I solutions close to market uptake and deployment, whilst also supporting the development by 2035 of a new batch of industry-led demonstrators designed for higher market readiness.

In addition to decarbonisation, manufacturing and energy-intensive industries need to embrace the circular economy as a key pillar in the design of their value chains. This will be fundamental to their resource efficiency (in terms of materials, energy and water). Particularly important in this context is the upcycling of secondary raw materials and waste; de- and re-manufacturing; and the development of sustainable and resource-efficient industrial processes

This Work Programme continues to promote across the calls the application of Safe and Sustainable by Design approach incorporating early and parallel considerations of innovation design choices on impacts on health, environment, climate and other sustainability parameters as a way of achieving stated policy objectives and fostering quick market uptake.

Where projects are asked to contribute to the development of safe and sustainable products, projects should take into account safety concerns for consumers as well as the organisational health and safety aspects for industrial workers.

Finally, to support start-ups and scale-ups, this Work Programme includes support for technology infrastructures and valorisation of knowledge.

Business cases and exploitation strategies for industrialisation:

This section applies only to those topics in this Destination, for which proposals should demonstrate the expected outcomes by including a business case and exploitation strategy for industrialisation.

A business case and a credible initial exploitation strategy are essential components in the ultimate success of an industry-based project, as well as its prospects to attract further investments for deployment. They will both be decisive factors under the impact criterion, and proposers are encouraged to use the extended page limit to present a carefully considered business case and exploitation strategy, backed by the management of the companies involved.

The business case should demonstrate the expected impact of the proposal in terms of enhanced market opportunities for the participants and deployment in the EU, in the short to medium term. It should describe the targeted market(s); estimated market size in the EU and globally; user and customer needs; and demonstrate that the solutions will match the market and user needs in a cost-effective manner; and describe the expected market position and competitive advantage.

The exploitation strategy should identify obstacles, requirements and necessary actions involved in reaching higher TRLs (Technology Readiness Levels), for example: securing the required investments, including through possible synergies with other programmes; accessing the required skills; matching value chains; enhancing product robustness; securing industrial integrators; and user acceptance.

For TRLs 6 and 7, a credible strategy to achieve future full-scale deployment in the EU is expected, indicating the intentions of the industrial partners after the end of the project.

Where relevant, in the context of skills, it is recommended to develop training material to endow workers with the right skillset in order to support the uptake and deployment of new innovative products, services, and processes developed in the different projects. This material should be tested and be scalable, and can potentially be up-scaled through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). This will help the European labour force to close the skill gaps in the relevant sectors and occupational groups and improve employment and social levels across the EU and associated countries.

Where projects are asked to contribute to the development of safe and sustainable products, projects should take into account safety concerns for consumers and the organisational health and safety aspects for industrial workers.

For topics in this destination, consortia (if selected for funding) will be called upon to cooperate with the relevant parts of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), in order to inform the next stages of EU technology and innovation policies.

• INnovation Centre for Industrial Transformation and Emissions (INCITE) (https://innovation-centre-for-industrial-transformation.ec.europa.eu/).
• The Energy and Industry Geography Lab: EIGL (https://energy-industry-geolab.jrc.ec.europa.eu/).

Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes.

Expected Outcome:

• Accelerating the discovery and development process for innovative advanced materials and chemicals through digital tools developed in Europe;
• Innovation workflows which include design of experiment and/or design of simulation
• Supporting the operationalisation of the SSbD framework;
• Making a step change in the risk assessment of chemicals and advanced materials in Europe.

Scope:

Proposals should accelerate the pathway to market of new substances (chemicals or advanced materials) with superior or novel functionalities. This can be achieved with novel tools or proofs of concept using digital methods to accelerate development of new materials and demonstration of their properties. Where possible this should explore collaboration with other initiatives such as the Materials Commons for Europe or DIGIPASS, contributing data, modelling, digital tools applicable to the design, development, production, manufacturing, use and end of life phases, which connect to repeatable workflows. These workflows and tools may include the use of artificial intelligence as well as self-driving labs and their interconnection and design of experiment/design of simulation methods. They should also drive innovation in risk assessment, new test methods and support and facilitate the operationalisation and use of the SSbD framework^[1]. Projects should include demonstrators which help to validate the materials development in realistic conditions.

By doing so, new innovative advanced materials (IAMs) with superior or novel functionalities and alternatives to substances of concern should be developed more rapidly in Europe. In addition, digital feedback loops ranging from requirements and information from production processes and scale-up, to manufacturing and integration into products, should be developed to accelerate market uptake. Innovative digital tools to speed up risk assessment and thereby market access of chemicals and advanced materials may also be addressed.

Interoperable workflows based on shared standards and dedicated ontologies, in particular through collaboration with the Materials Commons for Europe, should help to reduce the cost of the digital transition for industry with respect to circularity and safe and sustainable by design, e.g. by reducing the risk for adopters and vendors, and through modular tools that can be extended to new application domains without a major redesign. Tools should foster workflows in that ensure high-quality, well-structured and documented primary FAIR data and FAIR digital tools and workflows, enabling the re-use and/or streamlining of large data sets, facilitating academic and industrial collaborations and integrating AI and other digital technologies. Synergies with the SSbD toolboxes can also be foreseen including the adaptation and validation^[2] of the test methods for advanced materials. Proposals could also facilitate the generation of relevant data and where relevant sharing of data with the Common Data Platform for Chemicals. Where relevant, proposals should actively contribute to and cooperate with the EU Innovation and Substitution Hub(s). Proposals should allocate the necessary resources to the proposed activities.

Proposals should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.

Proposals could consider the involvement of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), whose contribution could consist of added value to the operationalisation of the SSbD framework.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU (IAM4EU).

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[1] See documents defining the SSbD framework on: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/industrial-research-and-innovation/key-enabling-technologies/advanced-materials-and-chemicals_en

[2] In this context, validation refers to the requirement that test methods included in any SSbD toolbox must be sufficiently reliable and robust for innovators to use them.