Efficient energy input from renewable sources and energy management in the process industries (IA) (Processes4Planet and Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU partnerships)

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:

• 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 variations
• Combination 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 lead to substantial CO2 emissions by the process industries. The reduction of the CO2 footprint can be achieved by several measures, e.g. electrification or use of other renewable sources of energy, lowering of the energy demand, increasing energy efficiency, and energy integration. This topic aims to lead to significant steps in reducing the CO2 footprint by technological innovations, at least by 20%.

A key problem in the use of renewable energy sources is their fluctuation over time. Projects should take this into account and develop solutions that aim for energy efficiency and include novel storage technologies of relevance to the process industries. Pure demand-side management by production schedules adapted to the supply of electricity from renewable sources is not within the scope of the call.

In situations where full electrification is not feasible or competitive in the foreseeable future, sustainable hybrid solutions play a crucial role. These solutions enhance flexibility, allowing industries to manage the variability in the availability of affordable renewable electricity, which is expected to fluctuate significantly in the medium term. E.g., preheating processes can utilize fossil-free energy sources such as solar heat, geothermal heat, heat pumps, resistive or induction heating, and electric boilers. This initial stage can be followed by further heating using fossil-based methods initially, and later transitioning to renewable-based combustion processes to achieve the required process temperatures.

To enhance resilience, the capture, storage, and management of energy flows should be tailored to the needs of the process industry. This may include research and innovation in safe and sustainable innovative advanced materials for (latent or sensible) energy storage, e.g. phase change materials and heat storage via chemical energy carriers beyond E-fuels.

Proposals under this topic should address several of the following:

• Advancements in the use of energy from renewable sources in production processes with improved energy efficiency.
• Integrated energy systems with novel storage elements to enable a smooth operation of the plants despite variations in the availability of energy from renewable sources.
• Solutions for low/medium temperature (100 - 500 °C) energy inputs in energy intensive industries including hybrid solutions and a progressive reduction of the use of fossil carriers of energy.
• Solutions for high temperature (> 500 °C) energy inputs in energy intensive industries, including high temperature electricity driven processes, and high temperature energy storage.
• Application of high-performance insulation materials and new innovative advanced materials that can improve heat capture, storage, and retrieval, particularly for scalable high-temperature applications. Such materials should minimize the use of critical raw material, enabling effective recycling.

Projects should include demonstrations at pilot scale, preferably in real industrial environments, to validate the proposed technologies and processes under real-world industrial conditions

Proposals related to innovative advanced materials development should address the most relevant gaps to focus on in the frame from materials design to technology deployment and ensure adequate feedback loops between different steps to drive forward innovative solutions which can be easily deployed. Scalability and requirements from application/industry need to be considered early on in the innovation process.

The inclusion of a GHG avoidance methodology^[1] is recommended and should provide detailed descriptions of baselines and projected emissions reduction.

Proposals should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination, underlining how the proposal will serve the purpose to boost industrial decarbonisation technologies supply chain in Europe. As project output an elaborated exploitation plan should be developed, including preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation and deployment (feasibility study, business plan and financial model) indicating possible private and public funding sources (e.g. Innovation Fund, InvestEU and cohesion policy funds). Societal- and environmental impact as well as implications for the workplace (including skills and organisational change) should be outlined.

This topic implements the co-programmed European partnerships Processes4Planet and Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU.

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[1] That could follow Innovation Fund methodology: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/innovfund/wp-call/2021/call-annex_c_innovfund-lsc-2021_en.pdf