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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Core objective: To boost the transformation towards climate-neutral cities, the net-zero economy, and open strategic autonomy through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP).
Explicit identification of target recipient type and size: Public procurers, specifically local authorities (cities).
MUST state if grant is 'SECTOR-SPECIFIC' or 'SECTOR-AGNOSTIC': SECTOR-SPECIFIC
Geographic scope and any location requirements: European Union Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Projects must include at least three cities from the 112 selected for the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, with the lead procurer from this list.
Key filtering criteria for initial grant screening: Applicant must be a consortium of public procurers (local authorities) focusing on climate-neutral city transformation via innovative procurement of R&D.
Grant frequency and program context: Part of the Work Programme 2025 of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission within Horizon Europe, a specific topic within a broader, recurring mission framework.

Financial Structure

Budget Range for the call: Total budget of EUR 37,000,000 for the 2025 budget year.
Funding per Grant:
Minimum grant amount: EUR 7,000,000.
Maximum grant amount: EUR 12,000,000.
Eligible Costs: Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) costs are eligible.
Financial Support to Third Parties:
Beneficiaries (the public procurers) may provide financial support to third parties (final end-users) to encourage adoption of the solutions developed.
This support must be provided in the form of grants.
Maximum amount to be granted to each third party: EUR 200,000.
Selection of third parties will be based on an external review by independent experts.
Currency: EUR.
Funding Rate: Not explicitly specified in the provided documentation.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type and Legal Status

Eligible: Public procurers, specifically local authorities (cities).
Required: Consortium of procurers with similar needs.
Excluded: Developers, industry, or research organizations are not direct grant recipients; they can respond to tenders launched by funded procurers.

Geographic Location

Required: Organizations established in European Union Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.
Project Scope: Must include at least three cities from the 112 selected for the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.
Lead Procurer: The lead procurer in the consortium must be one of the 112 selected cities.

Collaboration Requirements

Required: Formal collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform (HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03) through a Memorandum of Understanding (to be concluded post-project start).
Required: Active cooperation with an additional group of 'follower cities' in procurement preparation and follow-up.

Application Process

Application Timeline

Planned Opening Date: 2025-05-06.
Submission Deadline: 2026-01-20 00:00:00+00.
Submission Procedure: Single-stage.

Required Documentation and Materials

Application Form: Use the specific 'Standard application form (HE PCP)' available in the Submission System.
Work Plan: Proposal's work plan must include appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform.

Submission Process

Platform: Applications must be submitted via the Electronic Submission Service on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Post-Award Requirements and Implementation

Collaboration Formalization: Formalize collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform through a Memorandum of Understanding as soon as possible after the project's start date.
Market Consultation: Public procurers are required to organize an open market consultation before launching the procurement.
Call Promotion: Promote the call for tenders widely across Europe to potentially interested suppliers.
Deployment Commitment: Procurers should declare in the proposal their interest to pursue deployment of solutions resulting from the PCP if successful. This can include:
Procuring successful solution(s) as part of the PCP (must foresee budget).
Launching a separate follow-up procurement after the PCP (must include a deliverable preparing this).
Adopting successful solutions without procurement (e.g., open source).
Foreseeing financial or regulatory incentives for others to adopt solutions (e.g., using financial support to third parties).
Solution Validation: If procuring or adopting solutions, foresee sufficient time during the project to deploy and validate that the solutions function well after installation.
Liaising: Plan for liaising with other relevant Horizon-funded projects, partnerships, and initiatives (e.g., CCAM Partnership, 2ZERO Partnership, Built4People Partnership, Circular Cities and Regions, CIVITAS) to avoid overlaps.
Reporting: Projects must present expected greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030 and 2050, compared to a baseline established at the beginning of the project. The Mission Platform will support impact monitoring using common methodology and indicators.

Evaluation Criteria

Contribution to Cities Mission Objectives

Credible Pathway: Proposals must set out a credible pathway to contributing to the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.
Overarching Strategy: Contribution of the action to an overarching strategy aiming at climate-neutrality for cities.
Holistic Approach: The action's place within a holistic and cross-sectoral approach to climate neutrality.
Diversity: Diversity in terms of geographical location and size of cities involved.

Expected Outcomes and Impact

Increased Capacity: Greater capacity among European cities (especially Mission cities) to implement their Climate City Contracts (CCCs) and achieve climate-neutrality.
Solution Uptake: Accelerated uptake of innovative systemic solutions and clean technologies in key areas (e.g., energy, mobility, construction, industry, spatial planning, environment, digitization, data handling).
Citizen Engagement: Engagement of citizens in developed technologies and actions to ensure acceptance, adherence, and adoption, with attention to vulnerable groups.
Data and Digital Technologies: Increased use of data and digital technologies to enhance decision-making, improve service efficiency, and reduce emissions through open standards.
Collaborative Governance: Embrace innovative and inclusive cross-sectoral collaborative governance models.
Market Strengthening: Identification and pooling of demands across sectors to provide scalability and predictability for industry and investors, strengthening European industry and SME competitiveness.
GHG Emission Reduction: Expected greenhouse gas emission reduction in participating cities by 2030 and 2050 compared to a baseline established at the project's start.

Innovation and Solution Deployment

Market Stimulation: Public procurers must stimulate demand-side competitive development of market-ready innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate neutrality and strengthening EU open strategic autonomy.
Breakthrough Innovation: Encourage development and provide a first customer reference for piloting, installation, and validation of breakthrough innovations.
Supply Chain Resilience: Drive innovation and increase supply chain resilience by opening opportunities for innovative companies (especially SMEs and Startups) established in the EU/Associated Countries to access the public procurement market.

Sustainability and Policy Alignment

Project Sustainability: Demonstrate sustainability of the action beyond the project's life.
Policy Reinforcement: Cooperation with policymakers to reinforce national policy frameworks and mobilize additional national budgets for PCP and innovation procurement.
Deployment Commitment: Procurers' declared interest to pursue deployment of solutions resulting from the PCP (e.g., through follow-up procurement, direct adoption of open-source solutions, or incentives for third parties).

Ambition and Scale

Higher Budget Ambition: Projects targeting the higher end of the budget range should demonstrate a greater degree of ambition in terms of innovation level and/or deployment scope.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory and Grant-Specific Compliance

PCP/PPI Conditions: The specific conditions for actions with Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) and Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) procurements, as detailed in Section H of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes, apply to grants under this topic.
Place of Performance: General Annex H conditions may require the majority of procured R&D activities and later commercialisation/production of developed solutions to take place in EU Member States and Associated Countries.
Limited Participation: General Annex H may allow limiting participation in the PCP procurement to economic operators established in EU Member States and Associated Countries if sufficient operators exist.

Collaboration and Engagement Requirements

Mission Platform Integration: Mandatory and essential collaboration with the 'Climate-Neutral Smart Cities' Mission Platform. Provisions for activities and resources enforcing this collaboration must be included in the work plan.
Demand-Supply Dialogue: Continuous dialogue between the demand (procurers) and supply (solution developers) sides is required, including effective involvement of end-users (e.g., city teams, regional structures, citizens).
Follower Cities: Encouraged to actively cooperate with an additional group of 'follower cities' for broader uptake and replication.

Strategic Alignment and Impact

Policy Alignment: The action must align with and contribute to numerous EU and international policies, including the European Green Deal, UN Agenda 2030, Urban Agenda for the EU, New Leipzig Charter, Fit for 55 strategy, EU Industrial Strategy, Green Deal Industrial Plan, Net-Zero Industry Act, EU Zero Pollution Action Plan, Circular Economy Action Plan, Smart and Sustainable Mobility Strategy, Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, Europe’s Digital Decade, EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change, Regional Innovation Valleys, and the LIFE Programme.
Cross-Cutting Themes: Proposals should demonstrate how they incorporate principles of the Cities Mission, including contributing to an overarching climate-neutrality strategy, adopting a holistic and cross-sectoral approach, and considering geographical and city size diversity.

Intellectual Property

While not explicitly detailed in the provided text, Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) typically involves specific intellectual property policies where public procurers own or license IP rights generated from the R&D for public benefit, while allowing suppliers to retain ownership of background IP and commercialize the results on the market.

Grant Details