Testing and demonstrating innovative solutions to improve resilience to extreme heat, including addressing health impacts

1. GRANT PURPOSE AND TARGET

Core Objective

The grant's core objective is to fund the testing and demonstration of innovative, systemic solutions that improve the resilience of European regions and cities to extreme heat, with a specific focus on protecting human health and well-being, particularly in the built environment.

Funding Organization

European Commission, under the Horizon Europe framework programme and the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change.

Target Recipients

This grant is open to any legal entity from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Proposals must be submitted by a consortium. The call is particularly aimed at projects involving:
* Regional and local authorities: These are considered the main end-users and should be actively involved as beneficiaries or demonstration sites.
* Research institutes and universities: To provide the R&D foundation for the solutions.
* Industry partners (including SMEs and large enterprises): To develop and scale the innovative solutions.
* Non-governmental organizations (NGOs): To support community engagement and address vulnerable groups.
* Civil protection agencies and public service providers: To implement and test emergency actions.

Sector Focus

SECTOR-SPECIFIC. The grant is focused on:
* Environment and Climate Action: Core theme of climate change adaptation.
* Healthcare: Explicit focus on reducing health impacts of extreme heat.
* Construction and Urban Planning: Solutions for improving the built environment, public spaces, and buildings.
* Public Services: Including emergency services, transport, and utilities.

Geographic Scope

The grant is open to applicants from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. A key requirement is that demonstration activities must take place in at least three different regional or local authorities, each located in a different Member State or Associated Country. Additionally, the project must involve at least three 'replicating' authorities from three different countries.

Key Filtering Criteria

• Project Scale: Large-scale demonstration projects with a fixed funding amount of €10 million per project.
• Technology Readiness Level (TRL): As an Innovation Action, projects are expected to be at a high TRL, focusing on demonstration in an operational environment (indicatively TRL 6-8).
• Consortium Requirement: A consortium is mandatory, involving partners from at least three different eligible countries, including demonstration and replication sites.

4. FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

Funding Range

• The grant provides a fixed contribution in the form of a lump sum.
• Contribution per project: €10,000,000.
• The total budget available for this topic is €30,000,000, with an expectation to fund 3 projects.

Co-financing

• The funding rate is not explicitly defined in the topic description, but as a Horizon Europe Innovation Action (IA), the standard funding rates apply:
  • Up to 70% of eligible costs for for-profit legal entities.
  • Up to 100% of eligible costs for non-profit legal entities, public bodies, research organisations, and higher education institutions.
• Participants must co-finance the remaining percentage of the project costs.

Eligible Costs

• Costs must be eligible under Horizon Europe rules and directly linked to the project's activities.
• As this is a lump sum grant, eligible costs are claimed based on the completion of work packages as defined in the Grant Agreement, rather than reporting individual cost items.
• Eligible costs can include personnel, subcontracting, purchase costs (travel, equipment), and other direct costs necessary to carry out the project.
• A detailed budget table must be submitted as part of the application, justifying the costs for each work package.

Ineligible Costs

• Standard Horizon Europe rules on ineligible costs apply.
• For example, recoverable Value Added Tax (VAT) is not an eligible cost.

Payment & Reporting

• Payments are tied to the lump sum model. The total grant amount is divided into several payments linked to the successful completion of work packages and their corresponding deliverables.
• The consortium will submit periodic reports demonstrating the progress and completion of work. Payments are disbursed after the European Commission approves these reports.

2. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Formal Criteria

• Consortium Composition: Proposals must be submitted by a consortium that meets the following conditions:
  • Demonstration Sites: The project must include at least three regional or local authorities where demonstration activities will take place. These authorities must be from at least three different EU Member States or Associated Countries.
  • Replication Sites: The consortium must also identify at least three 'replicating' regional or local authorities from three different Member States or Associated Countries. These authorities are expected to learn from the project and prepare to implement the solutions in their own territories.
• Eligible Countries: Applicants must be legal entities established in an EU Member State or a country associated with the Horizon Europe programme.
• Admissibility: Proposals must adhere to the page limits and layout described in the application form available on the submission system.

Organizational Status

• Any legal person, regardless of its place of establishment, or international organisation is eligible to participate, provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific topic.
• This includes, but is not limited to, universities, research organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), large corporations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and public bodies (such as municipalities and regional governments).

Technical Expertise

Proposals should demonstrate expertise in the following areas:
* Climate change adaptation and resilience.
* Public health and heat-related stress.
* Urban planning, building renovation, and design of public spaces.
* Nature-based solutions.
* Emergency management, disaster preparedness, and civil protection.
* Public transport and utilities (water, energy) management during heatwaves.
* Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH): The contribution of SSH disciplines and experts is a mandatory requirement to address social, institutional, and justice dimensions.
* Innovative financing for climate adaptation.

Exclusion Criteria

• Standard Horizon Europe exclusion criteria apply. This includes entities that are bankrupt, in breach of obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions, or found guilty of grave professional misconduct.
• Proposals that do not meet the mandatory consortium requirements (e.g., number and location of demonstration/replication sites) will be deemed ineligible.

5. APPLICATION PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Deadlines

• Submission Deadline: 29 October 2025, 17:00:00 Brussels time (CET, UTC+1).
• Planned Opening Date: 06 May 2025.
• Evaluation Period: Not specified in grant materials.
• Submission Process: This is a single-stage application process.

Required Documents

• Application Form (Part A): Contains administrative information about the applicants, completed directly in the submission system.
• Application Form (Part B): The main technical proposal, describing the project in detail (Excellence, Impact, Implementation). This is submitted as a PDF file and must respect specified page limits.
• Annexes, including:
  • A Detailed budget table is required due to the lump sum funding model.
  • Information on participants, such as any operational capacity self-assessment, may be required.

Application Process

• Proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
• Applicants must first register their organization(s) in the Participant Register to obtain a Participant Identification Code (PIC).
• The submission is a single-stage process.

Support

• Financial Support: A lump sum grant of €10,000,000.
• Non-Financial Support: Successful projects will gain access to the EU Mission on Adaptation's Community of Practice and networking activities supported by the Mission Implementation Platform (MIP4Adapt). This facilitates knowledge exchange and collaboration with other regions facing similar challenges.

Post-Award Obligations

• Implementation: Projects are expected to successfully implement the demonstration activities and deliver the promised solutions.
• Collaboration: Projects are required to actively collaborate with the Mission Implementation Platform. This includes participating in joint workshops, exchanging knowledge, contributing to monitoring frameworks, and engaging in joint communication activities. Resources for these activities must be allocated in the proposal.
• Reporting: Regular technical reporting on the progress and completion of work packages is required to trigger lump sum payments.

3. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals will be evaluated based on the standard award criteria for Horizon Europe Innovation Actions: Excellence, Impact, and Quality & Efficiency of the Implementation.

Scoring Factors

• Excellence (Threshold: 3/5): The clarity and pertinence of the project’s objectives; soundness of the proposed concept; credibility of the proposed methodology, including the integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and citizen engagement.
• Impact (Threshold: 3/5): The extent to which the project contributes to the expected outcomes of the call; the scalability and replicability of the proposed solutions; quality of the measures to exploit and disseminate project results, including communication activities; and the project's potential to improve the adaptive capacity of European regions and reduce health impacts from extreme heat.
• Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation (Threshold: 3/5): Coherence and effectiveness of the work plan; appropriateness of the management structures and procedures; complementarity of the consortium members and commitment of regional/local authorities; appropriateness of the allocation of tasks and resources (especially in the context of a lump sum grant).
• Overall Threshold: A total score of 10/15 is required.

Innovation & Impact

• Innovation: Proposals must test and demonstrate innovative and systemic solutions to reduce and manage heat stress in public and private spaces. This includes improving building design, redesigning public spaces, and implementing nature-based solutions.
• Health Impact: A primary goal is to protect citizens, especially vulnerable groups (defined by socio-economic factors, gender, age, disability, health), from the health impacts of extreme heat.
• Economic Impact: Projects should explore and evaluate innovative funding schemes to ensure the long-term implementation of the proposed solutions beyond the project's lifetime.
• Replication and Scalability: The proposal must include a clear plan for how the lessons learned in the 'demonstration regions' will be reapplied in the 'replicating regions'.

Project Quality

• Methodology: Projects must adopt a participatory approach, involving local communities and citizens in the design and implementation of solutions.
• Feasibility: The work plan must be robust and detailed, demonstrating a clear path to achieving the project's objectives within the proposed timeline and budget. For lump sum grants, the work packages and deliverables must be precisely defined.
• Consortium: The consortium should demonstrate a strong partnership between research institutions, industry, public authorities, and citizens. The active involvement and commitment of the participating regional/local authorities is crucial.

Strategic Fit

• The project must align with the objectives of the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, the European Green Deal, and the EU Adaptation Strategy.
• Proposals must detail how they will establish operational links and collaborate with the Mission Implementation Platform (MIP4Adapt) and other relevant knowledge platforms like Climate-ADAPT.
• Synergies with other EU and national funding programmes (e.g., LIFE, European Regional Development Fund) should be explored and described.

Cross-cutting Themes

• Social Inclusion & Equity: Proposals must consider how extreme heat disproportionately affects vulnerable populations and ensure solutions are equitable.
• Citizen & Societal Engagement: Active engagement of citizens and local communities in the co-design and implementation of solutions is a core requirement.
• New European Bauhaus (NEB): Synergies with the NEB initiative are encouraged, linking sustainability with aesthetics, inclusion, and affordability.
• Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH): The integration of SSH is mandatory to address institutional bottlenecks, governance challenges, and justice dimensions of the solutions.

6. COMPLIANCE AND SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

Regulatory Compliance

• Projects must comply with all applicable EU, international, and national laws. This includes ethical principles and data protection regulations (GDPR).
• When implementing nature-based solutions, alignment with relevant legislation such as the Nature Restoration Law should be considered.

IP Policy

• Standard Horizon Europe Intellectual Property (IP) rules apply, as outlined in the Model Grant Agreement.
• Beneficiaries will own the IP they generate during the project.
• Consortium partners must be granted access rights to the background and results needed to carry out their project tasks and for exploitation purposes.

Unique Aspects

• Lump Sum Funding: This is a key feature. It simplifies financial reporting but requires a highly detailed and reliable work plan and budget breakdown at the proposal stage. The project's success is measured by the completion of work packages, not by declared costs.
• Mission-Oriented Approach: The project is deeply integrated into the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change. This requires a commitment to active participation in the Mission's platforms, networking, and monitoring activities, with dedicated resources planned for this purpose.
• Demonstration and Replication Structure: The mandatory structure of having 3 demonstration sites and 3 'replicating' sites is a specific design feature intended to maximize the project's impact and scalability.
• Mandatory SSH Integration: The requirement to include Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) expertise is explicit and central to addressing the societal aspects of climate adaptation.

Industry-Specific Rules

• There are no industry-specific rules mentioned beyond general compliance with applicable laws and standards for the sectors involved (e.g., construction, public health).