Circular Bio-based Economy Joint Undertaking

Opening on April 4, 2025 the CBE JU will deploy €165 million to promote a competitive bioeconomy for a sustainable Europe.

The CBE JU is a EUR 2 billion public-private partnership between the European Union, represented by the European Commission, and the Bio-based Industries Consortium. It is established under Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme, for the period 2021-2031. This call budget amounts to €165 million.

 CBE JU supports research and innovation activities in the field of sustainable biobased solutions under the umbrella of Horizon Europe. 

Objectives and scope

CBE JU aims to foster the development, upscaling and deployment of new, disruptive and innovative technologies and processes to use all available sources of sustainable biomass to their full potential and turn it into sustainable and circular biobased products. Also in line with the expectations set in the new Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Communication and the Clean Industrial Deal and outlined in the EC political guidelines, by replacing non-renewable fossil resources with waste and sustainably sourced biomass to produce industrial and consumer goods, the bio-based industries will help Europe become the world’s first climate-neutral continent while increasing the sustainability and circularity of production and consumption systems and be part of a just economic transition. In this way, the bio-based industries greatly contribute to the competitiveness and sustainability of the EU Bioeconomy, and will play a key role in the upcoming EU Bioeconomy strategy update in 2025.

• Objective 1- Accelerate the innovation process and development of bio-based innovative solutions

-Increase cross-disciplinary research and innovation activities, reaping its benefits for the development and demonstration of sustainable bio-based solutions,

-Increase and integrate the research and innovation capacity of stakeholders across the EU to unlock bioeconomy potential even in regions with underdeveloped capacity,

-Increase the research and innovation capacity and development sustainable bio-based innovations, by ensuring that sustainability issues and environmental performance are integrated throughout the whole innovation chain,

• Objective 2- Accelerate market deployment of the existing mature and innovative biobased solution 

-Reinforce the integration of bio-based research and innovation in EU bio-based industries and increase the involvement of R&I actors, including feedstock providers, in the bio-based value chains.

-Reduce the risk for research and innovation investment in bio-based companies and projects.

• Objective 3- Ensure a high level of environmental performance of bio-based industrial systems 

- Ensure that circularity and environmental considerations, including contributions to climate neutrality and zero pollution objectives, are considered in the development and implementation of R&I bio- based projects and facilitate societal acceptance.

Types of actions

• Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) establish new knowledge or explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. These may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration, and validation on a small-scale prototype, in a laboratory or simulated environment,
• Innovation Actions (IAs) scale up activities from prototype to product validation and market replication. Flagships, an important and specific type of IAs, in particular deploy a first-of-its-kind innovation on the European market,
• Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs), among other, structure stakeholder communities, support technological visions and outreach, as well as disseminate and exploit research results.

Call topics and funding

• Innovation actions – flagship (IA-flagship)

- Urban-industrial symbiosis for bio-waste valorisation - €18 million

- Bio-based drop-ins/smart drop-in platform chemicals, via cost-effective, sustainable and resource-efficient conversion of biomass - €20 million

- Circular-by-design fibre-based packaging with improved properties - €18 million

- Retrofitting of (bio)refineries industrial plants towards higher-value bio-based products - €20 million

• Innovation actions (IA)

- Sustainable macroalgae systems for innovative, added-value applications: cultivation and optimised production systems - €14 million

- Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) bio-based solutions to replace hazardous conventional chemicals for textiles production - €13.5 million

- Scaling-up nutritional proteins from alternative sources - €14 million

- Cost-effective and robust continuous biotech bio-based processes - €14 million

- SSbD bio-based polymers/copolymers unlocking new market applications - €13.5 million

• Research and innovation actions (RIA)

- Valorisation of untapped forest biomass - €7 million

- Bio-based and biodegradable delivery systems for fertilising products to reduce microplastics pollution & promote soil health - €6 million

- Alternative biomanufacturing routes for natural and synthetic rubber - €6 million

• Coordination and support actions (CSA)

- Develop and deploy new curricula and knowledge exchange practices relevant to bio-based systems - €1 million

TRLs required

• Research & Innovation Actions (RIAs) are expected to be at the level of laboratory or simulated environments and expected to deliver mainly TRL 4-5 at the end of the projects;
• Innovation Actions (IAs) are demonstration activities in relevant and operational environments and expected to deliver TRL 6-8 at the end of the projects. In particular, Flagship projects will need to deliver TRL 8 at the end of the projects.
• The expected end TRL is specified in each RIA and IA topic.

Deadlines

The call will open on April 4, 2025 and will close on September 17, 2025.

Additional documents

Applicants are encouraged to read the full FAQ document about the CBE JU, and also check its Annual Work Programme.