Deadline: 28 January 2027

• Type: Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action Lump Sum

• Total topic budget: €32 million

• Expected EU contribution: approximately €2,500,000 million per project

• Expected awards: 13 projects

• Funding rate: normally 100% for eligible RIA costs

Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• Research and Innovation (R&I) solutions funded under Horizon Europe Pillar II are further advanced along the innovation pathway towards uptake and deployment in the EU and/or Associated Countries, including their translation into high value products, services, processes or business models, strengthening the capacity of European public and private organisations to use innovative solutions.

• End users[1] and market actors actively co-develop and validate highly innovative solutions in real-world settings, ensuring demand-side needs are integrated, helping to de-risk the innovation journey.

• The EU and Associated Countries benefit from accelerated commercialisation, adoption and deployment of Horizon Europe results, thereby reinforcing societal benefits, sustainable competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy of the Union.

#HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-02-05 #REMEDIES #PlasticPollution #microplastics

HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-02-05

Projects funded under Horizon Europe’s Pillar II generate a wealth of high potential innovative results. Even though such results are many times successfully translated into used solutions, there is a need to increase the efficiency of the R&I investments and foster more uptake of promising results into innovative solutions. If more results[2] were converted into innovative products, processes, services, practices, business models or other novel solutions, they would strongly contribute to European societal benefit, sustainable competitiveness, prosperity, clean transformation, wellbeing or strategic autonomy. This topic aims at supporting actions that bring solutions generated by Pillar II closer to production and adoption by testing and validating them in real world settings, taking into consideration societal needs, cultural diversity and responsible innovation.

Consortia do not necessarily have to include beneficiaries from the previous grant(s) but must own or have access to the knowledge assets, including intellectual property, where relevant, as stipulated in the specific conditions of this topic. Applicants should justify the proposed composition of the consortium and how it brings the necessary expertise and results ownership. Proposals may also build on complementary background results from closely related EU actions or national/regional projects contributing to the same innovation pathway, provided that these complementary results strengthen the market-readiness and deployment potential of the main result of the Horizon Europe project.

Applicants should evidence that the proposed activities start beyond the laboratory or research environment and should focus on prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication under real-world conditions.

Proposals should focus on innovation activities that cover the later stages of development, including the use of research and technology infrastructures[3] where relevant, should cover more than one of the following activities:

• Validation and Testing activities: This could include refining or piloting of prototypes through iterative testing, ensuring they meet the required regulatory or other standards before moving forward; testing to gain approval from potential users, or trial in real-world settings, including to understand user preferences and/or optimise outcomes; stress testing for technical feasibility to ensure the robustness of solutions at scale.

• Commercialisation aspects: This could include activities around regulatory compliance standardisation or certification, development of business or pricing strategies and planning for market entry.

• Scaling and Operations: This could include activities around large scale validation such as interoperability and/or standardising processes for quality assurance and control; preparations for supply chains and operational readiness; planning for ramping up manufacturing or delivery.

• Stakeholder, User and Market Readiness: This could include activities that involve engaging users/customers through co-creation and iterative feedback mechanisms to refine products and strategies, and to ensure that the proposed solutions are aligned with industrial and/or societal needs, concerns and expectations.

• Deployment and Investment Bridging: This could include partnering activities to expands market reach and securing the required investment commitment for the next phase by EU or national deployment programmes or investment funds.

Pre-Application consortium manager:

Sandra Lund, email: info@balticlivinglab.org SUBJECT: MEAPP