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The European Commission is inviting proposals for its Horizon Europe Programme to support the activities of the SET Plan Key Action area on Renewable Fuels and Bioenergy.

Scope

• Proposals should address the following SET Plan sector: renewable fuels & bioenergy.

• They should take into consideration the coordination needs of the sector and the emerging policy priorities for their implementation, as well as the coordination with other initiatives/projects, to avoid overlaps.

• Proposals will support the update and the execution/realisation of the Implementation Plan launched in 2018 by the Implementation Working Group (IWG) in renewable fuels and bioenergy, taking into account the DNSH (do-not-significant-harm-principle). This IWG needs to update the targets included in its implementation plan to comply with the new policy framework of the European Green Deal and the Fit For 55 implementing legislative package, and in particular the targets of the Renewable Energy Directive, the REFuelEU Aviation and the FuelEU Maritime for 2030 and 2050, as well as the targets of the ETS for transport and buildings. Other EU policies and legislation such as the REPowerEU Plan, the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Clean Energy Transition Partnership and the European Research Area in the field of Energy should be also addressed.

• Proposals should count on the participation of research organisations and/or companies (industry) committed in principle to execute all or some of the SET Plan related R&I activities specified in the Implementation Plan. In this sense, proposals shall detail, to the extent possible, the financial contributions from public and private funding sources at national level needed for the execution of the R&I activities and explain which processes or mechanisms will be put in place to execute and monitor the R&I activities. They should generate and provide input to national and EU policy initiatives, like the National Energy and Climate Plans, the Recovery and Resilience Plans, the Cohesion policy and the Regional Development policy funds, the support to REPowerEU funds, the Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform, the Net-Zero Europe Platform, and possible emerging initiatives of Common European Interest in the sector, taking into account biodiversity.

• Proposals shall support the monitoring of the renewable fuels and bioenergy sector development, collecting and analysing data of projects in the area, industrial scale plants, industry’s perspectives and SET Plan countries’ policies and strategic plans, such as the National Energy and Climate Plans and the Recovery and Resilience Plans, as well as the information on financing sources and instruments. They should create databases and information tools for project developers. They should assist the IWG renewable fuels and bioenergy to its annual report to the SET Plan through SETIS Information System on the progress of the execution of the implementation plan.

• Furthermore, proposals should develop a dissemination and exploitation strategy and implement dissemination and networking activities with other existing ETIPs and IWGs (e.g. joint workshops, thematic conferences, webinar series, regular exchanges, etc.).

• Proposals submitted under this topic are encouraged to include actions designed to facilitate cooperation, across Europe, with other projects and to ensure the accessibility and reusability of data produced during the project.

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:

  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and

  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (low value grant).

Expected Outcome

• Engagement of stakeholders is pivotal in the transition to a clean energy system and the achievement of the zero-emissions target.

  • Project results are expected to contribute to both of the following outcomes:

    • Consolidation of strong and sustainable networks in the technology area of renewable fuels & bioenergy covered through the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan and its integrated roadmap.

    • Cooperation among ETIPs or similar stakeholders fora, support to existing SET Plan Implementation Plan and advancement towards more interconnected activities, both in terms of contents and implementation mechanisms.

Eligible Activities

• Eligible activities are the ones described in the call conditions. Applications will only be considered eligible if their content corresponds, wholly or in part, to the topic description for which it is submitted.

• Projects must focus exclusively on civil applications and must not:

  • aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes;

  • intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable (except for research relating to cancer treatment of the gonads, which may be financed);

  • intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research, or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.

• Projects must, moreover, comply with EU policy interests and priorities (environment, social, security, industrial policy, etc.).

• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:

  • Research and innovation actions (RIA) — Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.

  • Innovation actions (IA) — Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.

  • Coordination and support actions (CSA) — Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’). Also eligible are bottom-up coordination actions which promote cooperation between legal entities from Member States and Associated Countries to strengthen the European Research Area, and which receive no EU co-funding for research activities.

  • Programme co-fund actions (CoFund) — A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies. Such a programme of activities may support: networking and coordination; research; innovation; pilot actions; innovation and market deployment; training and mobility; awareness raising and communication; and dissemination and exploitation. It may also provide any relevant financial support, such as grants, prizes and procurement, as well as Horizon Europe blended finance30 or a combination thereof. The actions may be implemented by the beneficiaries directly or by providing financial support to third parties.

  • Innovation and market deployment actions (IMDA) — Activities that embed an innovation action and other activities necessary to deploy an innovation on the market. This includes the scaling-up of companies and Horizon Europe blended finance.

  • Training and mobility actions (TMA) — Activities that aim to improve the skills, knowledge and career prospects of researchers, based on mobility between countries and, if relevant, between sectors or disciplines.

  • Pre-commercial procurement actions (PCP) — Activities that aim to help a transnational buyers’ group to strengthen the public procurement of research, development, validation and,  possibly, the first deployment of new solutions that can significantly improve quality and efficiency in areas of public interest, while opening market opportunities for industry and researchers active in Europe. Eligible activities include the preparation, management and follow-up, under the coordination of a lead procurer, of one joint PCP and additional activities to embed the PCP into a wider set of demand-side activities.

  • Public procurement of innovative solutions actions (PPI) — Activities that aim to strengthen the ability of a transnational buyers’ group to deploy innovative solutions early by overcoming the fragmentation of demand for such solutions and sharing the risks and costs of acting as early adopters, while opening market opportunities for industry. Eligible activities include preparing and implementing, under the coordination of a lead procurer, one joint or several coordinated PPI by the buyers’ group and additional activities to embed the PPI into a wider set of demand-side activities.

Eligibility

• Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.

• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries: 

  • The Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions:

    • Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

  • The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States: 

    • Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).

  • Countries associated to Horizon Europe;

    • Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo , Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom

  • The following low- and middle-income countries:

    • Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic), Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt (Arab Republic), El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic), Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea (Democratic People's Republic), Kyrgyz Republic, Lao (People’s Democratic Republic), Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia (Federated States), Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine , Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic), Vietnam, Yemen Republic, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

• Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

Post Date: September 24, 2024