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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

The core objective of this grant is to support the retrofitting of existing (bio)refineries and industrial plants to produce higher-value bio-based products. This initiative aims to advance the EU's bioeconomy, circular economy, and industrial strategies.

Target Recipient: Entities with existing industrial facilities (biorefineries or fossil-based industrial plants on brownfield sites) that can be converted or upgraded.
Size: Not explicitly defined, but the significant funding amount suggests projects of substantial scale, likely involving medium to large enterprises.
SECTOR-SPECIFIC: This grant is highly focused on the bio-based sector, industrial biotechnology, and circular economy principles.
Geographic Scope: Europe, as per the Horizon Europe framework.
Key Filtering Criteria: Must involve the retrofitting of an existing industrial facility, not new (greenfield) construction. Projects must aim for higher-value bio-based products, excluding food/feed ingredients.
Grant Frequency: Part of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2025, indicating it is an annual program, though this specific topic might be a one-time call for the year.

Financial Structure

Funding Amount: One grant of €20,000,000 is expected for this specific topic.
Minimum Grant Amount: €20,000,000
Maximum Grant Amount: €20,000,000
Currency: EUR (Euro)
Eligible Costs: Costs related to retrofitting an existing industrial facility with innovative and sustainable biomass conversion processes, production of bio-based chemicals and/or materials, their conversion into end-products, cascading valorisation of residual streams, training programmes, and SSbD framework application.
Ineligible Costs: Costs associated with greenfield (new plant) implementation are explicitly out of scope.
Financial Set-up: Legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in Annex G of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Eligibility Requirements

General Requirements (refer to Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes)

Admissibility Conditions: Proposals must adhere to page limits and layout described in Annex A and E.
Eligible Countries: Organizations from countries described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes are eligible. This typically includes EU Member States and Associated Countries.
Other Eligible Conditions: As per Annex B.
Financial and Operational Capacity and Exclusion: Described in Annex C.

Specific Project Requirements

Facility Type: Must retrofit an existing industrial facility. This includes existing biorefineries or fossil-based industrial plants on brownfield sites. Greenfield (new construction) implementation is out of scope.
Technology Readiness Levels (TRL): Projects should demonstrate production of bio-based chemicals and/or materials reaching end TRL 8, and their further conversion into end-products reaching end TRL 6 or higher.
Product Scope: Focus on bio-based chemicals and/or materials. Food/feed ingredients are not in scope.
Value Chain Integration: Must establish the full value chain, including biomass supply and logistics, with appropriate involvement of biomass providers, fostering a local/regional ecosystem.
Multi-Actor Approach: Required, encompassing all segments of the value chain.
Workforce Development: Must design and test training programmes for upskilling/reskilling the workforce of the retrofitted biorefinery and related ecosystem.
Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD): Projects must include a task to apply the SSbD framework developed by the European Commission.
Complementarity: Proposals should ensure complementarities with past and ongoing R&I projects (e.g., Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe Cluster 6, BBI JU/CBE JU projects).

Application Process

Application Deadlines and Submission

Application Deadline: 2025-09-18 at 00:00:00 UTC.
Submission Method: Single-stage submission via the Funding & Tenders Portal's Electronic Submission Service.
Application Form: Applicants must use the latest version of the Application Form (Part B) template, updated as of 04/04/2025, available in the Submission System.

Evaluation and Grant Agreement Timeline

Indicative Timeline for Evaluation and Grant Agreement: Described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Required Documentation

Standard Application Form: As specified in Part B of the Application Form.
Supporting Materials: General conditions for admissibility, eligible countries, financial and operational capacity, and exclusion criteria are detailed in relevant Annexes of the Horizon Europe Work Programme.

Application Support and Resources

Online Manual: Comprehensive guide for proposal submission and grant management.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide: Provides detailed guidance on the structure, budget, and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ: Answers frequently asked questions on submission, evaluation, and grant management.
Research Enquiry Service: For general questions on European research and EU Research Framework Programmes.
National Contact Points (NCPs): Provide guidance and assistance for participation in Horizon Europe, available in EU and non-EU countries.
Enterprise Europe Network (EEN): Offers advice to businesses, particularly SMEs, including guidance on EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk: For technical issues related to the Funding & Tenders Portal (e.g., passwords, access rights, submission technicalities).
European IPR Helpdesk: Assists with intellectual property issues.
CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk: Advise on standardisation aspects in project proposals.
European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct: Outlines roles, responsibilities, and entitlements of researchers, employers, and funders.
Partner Search: A service to help find partner organizations for proposals.

Evaluation Criteria

General Evaluation (refer to Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes)

Award Criteria, Scoring and Thresholds: Described in Annex D.
Submission and Evaluation Processes: Described in Annex F.

Expected Outcomes and Impact Criteria (based on grant description)

Full-scale Biorefinery: Contribution to successful establishment of a full-scale biorefinery based on a retrofitted industrial plant, yielding higher-value bio-based products.
Business Model: Development and deployment of a competitive, replicable, regional/local business model encompassing all segments of the value chain.
Sustainability & Circularity: Demonstrated improvement in overall sustainability and circularity compared to the old configuration of the industrial site.
Socio-economic Impact: Increased value for society, particularly in terms of direct and indirect employment at local and regional levels, including maintaining jobs in plants at risk of closure/downsizing.

Quality of Implementation and Innovation Criteria

Innovative Conversion Processes: Use of innovative and sustainable biomass conversion process(es).
Cascading Valorisation: Addressing cascading valorisation of residual streams across the value chain.
Multi-Actor Engagement: Effectiveness of the multi-actor approach, ensuring appropriate involvement of biomass providers and fostering local/regional ecosystems.
Workforce Training: Quality and practicality of the designed training programme(s) for upskilling/reskilling the workforce.
SSbD Framework Application: Integration and contribution to the advancement of the Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) framework, including providing recommendations for criteria definition and improvements for assessment methodologies (e.g., identifying data gaps for safety, environmental, and socio-economic factors).

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory and Legal Compliance

Regulatory Compliance: Adherence to general conditions described in Annex B (Eligible Countries) and Annex C (Financial and operational capacity and exclusion) of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Legal and Financial Setup: Compliance with the legal and financial setup of grants as described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
EU Financial Regulation: Projects must comply with the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

Environmental and Ethical Standards

Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) Framework: Projects must apply this framework. Recommendations should be developed to advance its application, including defining thresholds, criteria, and identifying data gaps (safety, environmental, socio-economic factors).
Zero Pollution Ambition: Alignment with the EU's Zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment under the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the Zero Pollution Action Plan.

Intellectual Property and Data Protection

Intellectual Property: Policies are typically governed by the Model Grant Agreement (MGA) and supported by the European IPR Helpdesk.

Unique Aspects and Strategic Opportunities

Industrial Reconversion: This grant specifically targets the conversion of existing redundant, under-exploited, or obsolete industrial facilities into biorefineries, leveraging existing infrastructure.
Economic Benefits of Retrofitting: Acknowledges benefits such as easier permits, reduced CAPEX, shorter lead times, faster implementation, and lower risks compared to greenfield projects.
Workforce Development Focus: A mandatory component is designing and testing training programmes for workforce upskilling/reskilling, addressing challenges related to industrial conversion and maintaining jobs.
Multi-Actor Engagement: Strong emphasis on involving the full value chain, especially biomass providers, to foster local/regional ecosystems around the biorefinery.
Complementarity: Requirement to ensure synergy with past and ongoing R&I projects to build upon existing knowledge and avoid duplication.

Grant Details