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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

The core objective of this grant is to enable a fast and reliable transition to innovative technology pathways for carbon-neutral iron and steel making by tackling fundamental problems and boundary conditions with a system-level approach. This includes addressing diverse input materials and their varying quality, process challenges, and the resulting iron/steel output quality. - Target recipients: Academia, industry (including SMEs), and research organizations. - Grant type: SECTOR-SPECIFIC (focused on iron and steel industry). - Geographic scope: EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. - Key filtering criteria: Focus on carbon-neutral iron and steel, system-level approach, collaborative consortia. - Grant frequency: Part of the recurring Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025.

Financial Structure

Minimum grant amount per project: 14000000.0 EUR.
Maximum grant amount per project: 14000000.0 EUR.
Total budget for the topic: 28000000.0 EUR, supporting 2 expected grants.
Currency: EUR.
Funding rate: Not explicitly stated for this topic, but for Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs), eligible costs for non-profit entities are typically covered up to 100%, and for for-profit entities up to 70%.
Co-financing requirements: Will depend on the specific funding rate applied to the legal entity type as per Horizon Europe General Annexes.
Eligible and ineligible costs, payment schedules, financial reporting requirements, and audit requirements are described in Annex G and Annex C of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Eligibility Requirements

Organization Type and Status

Eligible entities: Universities, other higher education institutions, public and private research organizations, and businesses of all sizes (including start-ups, SMEs, spin-offs, and scale-ups).
Consortium requirement: A collaborative approach between academia, industry (including SMEs), and research organizations is required.

Geographic Location

Legal entities must be established in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country.
Exclusion: Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in Innovation Actions (IA) in any capacity; while this specific call is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA), applicants should consult Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes for comprehensive details on country eligibility for RIAs.

Legal and Financial Capacity

Applicants must meet the financial and operational capacity criteria as detailed in Annex C of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Applicants must not be subject to any exclusion criteria.

Application Process

Application deadline: 2025-09-23 00:00:00+00.
Planned opening date: 2025-05-22.
Submission model: Single-stage.
Application form: Proposals must use Part B of the Application Form, which is specific to this call and available in the Submission System. A standard application form for Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) is used.
Submission platform: Applications must be submitted through the Funding & Tenders Portal online submission system.
Evaluation and Grant Agreement Timeline: An indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Supporting Materials and Guidance

Comprehensive guidance is available through the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk, and ETSI Research Helpdesk.
Partner Search functionality is available on the Funding & Tenders Portal to help find suitable collaborators.

Implementation and Reporting

Projects should foresee a dedicated work package for clustering activities and cross-project co-operation.
General reporting obligations and monitoring and evaluation requirements for Horizon Europe grants are outlined in the General Annexes.

Evaluation Criteria

General Criteria

Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are detailed in Annex D of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Impact Criterion

Business Case and Exploitation Strategy: A robust business case and a credible initial exploitation strategy for industrialisation are essential and will be decisive factors.
Demonstrate expected impact: enhanced market opportunities, deployment within the EU (short-to-medium term).
Describe: targeted market(s), estimated market size (EU and global), user/customer needs, cost-effectiveness, market alignment, competitive advantage.
Identify obstacles, requirements, and necessary actions for reaching higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), such as securing investments, required skills, value chain matching, product robustness, industrial integrators, and user acceptance.
For TRLs 6 and 7: Provide a credible strategy for future full-scale deployment in the EU, including intentions of industrial partners post-project.
Skills Development: A strategy for skills development targeting innovative solutions must be presented, engaging social partners where relevant.
Knowledge Capitalisation: Projects are encouraged to consider voluntary contributions of data, indicators, and knowledge to relevant Joint Research Centre (JRC) platforms (e.g., INCITE, EIGL).

Technical Excellence and Scope

Validate innovative carbon-neutral iron and steel making solutions within a system-level approach.
Address high-risk factors at macroscopic and microscopic levels.
Solve system-level issues within at least two low-CO2 production routes.
Define solutions and concepts for possible modifications or material substitutions in innovative low-CO2 installations.
Improve low-CO2 steel production reliability to target high-quality products, clarifying effects of material/process variables and impact of diverse input materials on residue characteristics.
Provide an impact analysis covering materials, energy balance, viability, and byproducts.
De-risk and extend operational windows of low CO2 technologies.
Target heterogeneity of reductants and feedstock, considering their sustainability and purity requirements.
Achieve high-quality steel products with increased tolerance for contaminants by adapting microstructure and controlling application-specific properties.
Analyze and characterize low-carbon production processes combining direct reduced iron (DRI) with primary and secondary sources to close material cycles.
Couple analysis with plant design optimization and risk mitigation.
Define pre-processing needs of iron-containing materials for low environmental impact.
Utilize analytical research infrastructures, ensuring data supports simulations/modelling and adheres to FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability).
Consider effects of solutions on regional/country-level conditions (energy, water, cross-sectoral scenarios).
Use tools like Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) or Life Cycle Costing (LCC) for benchmarking carbon neutrality.
Aim to leverage European pilot plants to correlate real-world processes with laboratory research.
Multidisciplinary research activities must address at least one of the following:
Introduce/develop sensors for high-temperature environments, using fast digital techniques and enhanced models with Machine Learning (ML)/Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Use input from heat recovery research.
Develop concepts for on-site hydrogen production techniques at very low cost.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory and Ethical Compliance

Applicants must adhere to general conditions including admissibility, eligible countries, financial and operational capacity, and exclusion criteria as described in Annex A, B, C, D, F, and G of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Data generated must comply with FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability).
Ethical standards: While the integration of the gender dimension in research content is not mandatory for this specific topic, overall ethical guidelines of Horizon Europe must be followed.

Intellectual Property and Collaboration

Intellectual property policies and the legal and financial setup of grants are governed by Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposals should consider and integrate the principles from Commission Recommendation 2024/774 on a Code of Practice on industry-academia co-creation for knowledge valorisation, particularly regarding the management of intellectual assets.
Mandatory clustering activities are required with other projects funded under this topic. This includes consultations, joint activities on cross-cutting issues, sharing of non-IP-bound results, and participation in joint meetings and communication events.
Potential clustering activities are encouraged with a project funded under the topic HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-DIGITAL-61.

Strategic and Industry-Specific Considerations

This topic implements the European co-programmed Clean Steel Partnership.
Proposals must include a business case and exploitation strategy for industrialisation, even if covering more than one process route (justification for selection required).
A strategy for skills development to support innovative solutions should be presented.
Projects are encouraged to contribute data, indicators, and knowledge to relevant Joint Research Centre (JRC) platforms such as the INnovation Centre for Industrial Transformation and Emissions (INCITE) and The Energy and Industry Geography Lab (EIGL).
The solutions developed should consider regional or country-level conditions, including cross-sectoral scenarios (e.g., energy availability, water use and recovery).
Emphasis on addressing fundamental problems and high-risk factors at both macroscopic and microscopic levels within the iron and steel making process.

Grant Details