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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

- - Core objective: To increase the security and sustainability of critical and strategic raw materials supply for EU industrial value chains by developing and demonstrating innovative and environmentally friendly extraction, processing, and refining technologies. - Target recipients: Multidisciplinary consortia of legal entities, including raw materials industry and downstream users, collaborating with partners from specific non-EU strategic partnership countries. - Must state if grant is: SECTOR-SPECIFIC (Raw Materials, Mining, Processing, Manufacturing, Materials Science) - Geographic scope: EU Member States, Associated Countries, OECD countries, African Union Member States, MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, Andean Community, and countries with specific EU strategic partnerships or trade agreements on raw materials. Project must focus on mineral resources of one selected Strategic Partnership country from defined groups. - Key filtering criteria: Focus on critical raw materials; demonstrable reduced environmental and social impact; mandatory collaboration with specific third countries; Innovation Action (higher Technology Readiness Levels). - Grant frequency: Part of the Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme, indicating a recurring program, but this specific topic may be a one-time call within it.

Financial Structure

Funding is provided under the 'HORIZON Innovation Actions' (IA) type.
Total budget for this specific topic (HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-MATERIALS-62): EUR 30,000,000.
Expected number of grants: 4.
Minimum grant amount per project: EUR 7,500,000.
Maximum grant amount per project: EUR 7,500,000.
Currency: EUR.
Funding rate: Not specified in the provided documents for this specific topic.
Financial and operational capacity requirements are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Organization Types

Legal entities must be established in one of the eligible countries listed below.
Applications must be submitted by multidisciplinary consortia.
Consortia must include raw materials industry from the targeted partner country and downstream users from the EU.

Geographic Location

Legal entities must be established in:
EU Member States
Associated Countries (as defined in Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes, not provided)
OECD countries
African Union Member States
MERCOSUR countries
CARIFORUM countries
Andean Community countries
Countries with which the EU has concluded strategic partnerships on raw materials.
Countries with which the EU has trade agreements (or association/economic partnership or equivalent agreements) containing raw materials cooperation provisions (i.e., Energy and Raw materials chapters).
Exclusion: Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in Innovation Actions.
Projects must demonstrate technology on mineral resources of one selected Strategic Partnership country from the following groups:
Group 1: Argentina, Chile
Group 2: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Rwanda, Zambia
Group 3: Kazakhstan, Serbia, Uzbekistan
Group 4: Australia, Greenland (this group can be extended if new strategic partnerships for raw materials are signed before the application deadline).
Proposals including legal entities not established in these specified eligible countries will be ineligible.

Project Scope

Proposals should develop and demonstrate extraction, processing, or refining technologies for primary critical raw materials (minerals and metals only).
The technologies must demonstrate measurable reduced environmental and social impact.
The relevance of all targeted minerals and metals must be justified, with priority given to EU critical raw materials.
Exclusion: Sea mining is not within the scope of this topic.

Technical Requirements

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation, or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS.

Other Conditions

Proposal page limits and layout are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Application Process

Application Timeline

Planned Opening Date for submission: 2025-05-22.
Application Deadline: 2025-09-23 00:00:00+00.
Submission Model: Single-stage.
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Application Procedure and Materials

Application forms specific to this call are available in the Submission System.
Required proposal page limits and layout are described in Annex A and E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Evaluation and award processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

Project Implementation and Reporting

Consortia should foresee a dedicated work package and/or task and earmark appropriate resources for clustering activities with other relevant selected projects. This includes cross-project cooperation, consultations, joint activities on cross-cutting issues, sharing of results, and participating in joint meetings and communication events.
Actions should facilitate the market uptake of developed solutions through industry- and user-driven multidisciplinary consortia.
The action should include an analysis of financial opportunities to ensure the market exploitation and replication of the circular business model behind the developed solutions (new processes, products, and/or services).

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation and award process will follow general Horizon Europe guidelines, with specific considerations for this topic: General Evaluation and Award

Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

Specific Award Criteria

To ensure a balanced portfolio across the four different country groups mentioned in the scope, grants will be awarded not only by ranking but also to at least the highest-ranked proposal within each group, provided that the applications attain all set thresholds.

Impact Criteria (Business Case and Exploitation Strategy)

A business case and a credible initial exploitation strategy for industrialisation are essential and will be decisive factors under the impact criterion.
The business case should demonstrate:
Expected impact in terms of enhanced market opportunities for participants.
Deployment potential in the EU in the short to medium term.
Identification of targeted markets.
Estimated market size in the EU and globally.
User and customer needs.
Demonstration that solutions will match market and user needs cost-effectively.
Expected market position and competitive advantage.
The exploitation strategy should identify:
Obstacles and requirements for reaching higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs).
Necessary actions, such as securing required investments (including through synergies with other programs), accessing required skills, matching value chains, enhancing product robustness, securing industrial integrators, and ensuring user acceptance.
For TRLs 6 and 7, a credible strategy for future full-scale deployment in the EU is expected, indicating the intentions of industrial partners after the project ends.
Where relevant, developing training material to equip workers with the necessary skill sets to support the uptake and deployment of new products/services/processes is recommended. This material should be tested and scalable, potentially up-scaled through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

Cross-Cutting Themes

The integration of the gender dimension (sex and/or gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement, but strongly encouraged if considered relevant for the specific proposal.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Actions are expected to contribute to the implementation of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252).
Projects are expected to promote the utilisation of UNFC (United Nations Framework Classification for Resources) and UNRMS (United Nations Resource Management System) in the raw materials sector.
Improved responsible supply of raw materials to Europe should be in line with the EU principles for sustainable raw materials.

Technical Compliance

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation, and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS.

Scope Limitations

Sea mining is not within the scope of this topic.

Strategic Alignment

Project outcomes should strengthen EU cooperation with countries where the EU has established Strategic Partnerships on Raw Materials.
Expected outcomes include improved diversification of EU sourcing of critical raw materials from third countries and increased supply security.

Environmental and Social Impact

Proposals must demonstrate, measure, and assess reduced environmental and social impact, including GHG and other air pollutant emissions, water, soils, and biodiversity impacts.

Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing

Consortia (if selected for funding) could consider voluntary contributions in terms of data, indicators, and knowledge to relevant Joint Research Centre (JRC) platforms (INCITE, EIGL) for capitalizing on developed knowledge and increasing policy relevance.

Standardisation

Proposals should consider standardisation aspects if relevant for facilitating market uptake.

Grant Details