Innovative advanced materials and new production processes – reducing dependencies on Critical and Strategic Raw Materials (IA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU and Processes4Planet 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:

• Reducing dependencies of critical and strategic raw materials through partial or total substitution by safe and sustainable innovative advanced materials and/or via more efficient use of critical and strategic raw materials in production processes;
• Speeding up the innovation cycle within value chain(s) important for European industry;
• Enhancing competitiveness of the industries and operational costs, while making supply chains more secure;
• New or improved production processes, innovative advanced materials and products that are safer and more sustainable, supporting a clean and autonomous economy; and
• Demonstrating how the safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) chemicals and materials framework can guide innovation.

Scope:

The focus of this topic is on alternatives for the substitution or more efficient use of critical and strategic raw materials^[1]. The design and development of innovative advanced materials (IAMs) and processes should lead to an innovation cycle covering the (re)design of materials and production processes, and the integration of IAMs into products.

Proposals should develop IAMs or process technologies to replace or reduce the use of critical and strategic raw materials in strategic areas and sectors such as energy, mobility, construction, electronics, medical devices or chemical industries.

Proposals should address one or several of the following approaches:

• Design, development and production with targets on performance, safety and sustainability of IAMs substituting or making a more efficient use of critical and strategic raw materials.
• Innovative industrial processes for the reduction of the use of critical and strategic raw materials focussed on optimizing process safety, sustainability, flexibility, scalability, cost-efficiency.
• Co-development strategies for IAMs and industrial processes. These strategies should demonstrate the value of co-development through specific use cases while maintaining broad relevance across various materials and process types.

Proposals should demonstrate clear use case(s), market and potential to grow. The substitution barriers for the selected applications should be identified and a driving mechanism for a maximal substitution in the targeted value chains proposed.

The scope includes necessary adaptations of related processes and technologies to ensure alignment with and integration in industrial manufacturing in order to facilitate the uptake of the developed solutions. If relevant, challenges for the adaption of existing production lines should be identified and solutions proposed.

Proposals should demonstrate that SSbD framework^[2] will be applied throughout the innovation process, showing that safety and sustainability principles are actively integrated and influence decision-making in a transparent and traceable way, and ensure that the data generated within the proposal may be shared with the Common Data Platform for Chemicals. The new alternatives to be developed should meet the technical functions required in the specific applications while aligning their innovation process decision making with such framework.

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

Proposals are encouraged to cooperate with relevant projects. Where relevant, proposals should actively contribute to and cooperate with the EU Innovation and Substitution Hub(s)^[3]. Proposals should allocate the necessary resources to the proposed activities

This topic implements the co-programmed European partnerships Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU (IAM4EU) and Processes4Planet.

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[1] https://rmis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eu-critical-raw-materials; as well as Annex I and II of the

[2] 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

[3] European Chemicals Industry Action Plan - European Commission