Improving biomass flows for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy

The Horizon Europe call titled "Improving biomass flows for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy" (HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-07) focuses on enhancing biomass utilization within a sustainable and circular bioeconomy framework. This initiative is categorized under Horizon Innovation Actions (IA) and employs a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant model. A total budget of €14 million is allocated for this call, with plans to award two grants of €7 million each. The call opens on April 20, 2027, and the application deadline is set for September 22, 2027.

Eligible applicants include diverse actors such as research institutions, universities, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), large corporations, non-profit organizations, and local authorities, emphasizing a multi-actor approach that involves primary producers and industry representatives. The geographic scope includes EU Member States, Associated Countries, and particularly focuses on underutilized biomass resources in Central and Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

The call targets sectors like bioeconomy, circular economy, and renewable resources, specifically addressing issues of waste management and valorization. Projects should aim for development, demonstration, and commercialization of innovative biomass solutions. Proposed activities should encompass business model optimization for biomass aggregation, engaging with local governments, establishing at least five biomass platforms across urban and rural settings, and utilizing digital solutions to enhance traceability and management within supply chains.

Funding type is structured as a lump sum grant, allowing project teams flexibility in managing finances without the constraints of traditional reimbursement methods. The application process is single-stage, requiring comprehensive proposals that demonstrate innovation, collaboration, and societal benefits, particularly in the context of sustainable biomass management.

The opportunity presents strategic significance for advancing the EU's bioeconomy, circular economy objectives, and overall sustainability goals, fostering partnerships that facilitate efficient resource utilization and environmental protection. Successful projects are expected to generate measurable benefits in terms of reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved waste management practices, and increased economic opportunities for communities involved in biomass production and valorization.

This is a Horizon Europe (HORIZON) call, specifically Call 01 single stage (2027) (HORIZON-CL6-2027-01). The topic is titled "Improving biomass flows for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy," specifically HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-07. It is a HORIZON Innovation Action (HORIZON-IA) with a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] type of Model Grant Agreement (MGA). The deadline model is single-stage, with a planned opening date of 20 April 2027 and a deadline date of 22 September 2027 at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcomes of the project are: enhanced capacity of private and public stakeholders to increase resource efficiency in collecting, processing and using primary and secondary biomass, ensuring that ecosystems and biodiversity are protected and restored, emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants reduced, and human needs for biomass satisfied in sufficient and fair way, including food security; increased environmental, social and economic value added from the various uses of biomass, including bio-waste, e.g. food losses and food waste; reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and (air, water and soil) pollution, due to avoiding landfilling and incineration of bio-waste; demonstrated environmental, social and economic and social benefits for the municipalities involved in the collection and provision of bio-waste.

The scope of the call is as follows: Successful proposals should contribute to the implementation of the new EU bioeconomy strategy and its action plan; and the Waste Framework Directive and the Landfill Directive, e.g. on bio-waste management. Project outcomes will contribute to the objectives of the recent initiatives on Circular Economy, Biotechnology, Competitiveness, the Clean Industrial Deal, the Vision for Agriculture and Food and Life Sciences. Bioeconomy provides solutions to various challenges. However, companies see themselves challenged to satisfy the growing demand for biomass in the future. There are solutions to increase the sustainable production, including to reduce pollutants, and adjust the demand, e.g. better valorise unused/under-exploited sustainable biomass resources (including unavoidable food waste and industrial residues), and degraded land, apply new breeding techniques and increase resource efficiency through circular design and circular business and consumption models. Bio-waste represents a vast underutilised biomass resource with substantial potential for valorisation. Private and public actors that aggregate biomass waste streams, pretreat them and standardise them for further valorisation are well placed to foster its improved use. In addition, they play an essential role to increase the transparency of biomass waste supply flows and to provide platforms to match supply and demand. By supporting these types of actors, Europe can increase its capacity to transform more bio-waste into valuable commodities and contribute to sustainable and circular bioeconomy objectives and solutions based on biological resources (including ecosystems).

Proposals should address all the following activities: study and optimise business models for the aggregation, pre-treatment, standardisation and primary valorisation of under-utilised biomass resources, including bio-waste from food losses and food waste and/or primary production/industrial biogenic residues. Engage with local governments to create compelling business cases and to showcase best practices that highlight the environmental, social and economic, benefits of bio-waste valorisation. In this context, the successful proposals should collaborate with local communities and stakeholders to ensure that biomass valorisation practices are socially acceptable and beneficial to communities, the environment and the economy; support local, regional, and national bioeconomy actors, and develop new or strengthen existing platforms (at least 5) by connecting biomass suppliers, and users, both in urban and rural settings; provide guidance and links to local, regional, or national biomass plans; and facilitate business decisions, especially for SMEs. Additionally, map and study various types of platforms, potentially also digital marketplaces, that match biomass supply and demand within local, regional, and EU contexts; identify barriers to and best available practices for the development of biomass platforms (e.g. end-of-waste criteria), and provide recommendations to address them, in national, regional and EU context; develop tools and innovative approaches to optimize bio-waste collection, processing and logistics, enhancing resource efficiency and ecosystem health, as well as reducing costs. Exploit the potential of digital solutions to improve the traceability and management of bio-waste streams. Advance innovative and competitive business solutions, developing and testing technological innovations for biomass aggregation, pretreatment, and standardisation, including from under-utilised biomass resources, and processing towards added-value products. Proposals should pay particular attention to areas where biomass is neither fully valorised nor utilised to its full potential, such as Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine and other EU candidate countries. Proposals are encouraged to work together with relevant initiatives including those of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy, Bioeconomy Monitoring System, the EU Food Systems Monitoring Dashboard), the Circular Biobased Europe Joint Undertaking, the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, the New European Bauhaus and BIOEAST Initiative; as well as considering the topic ‘HORIZON-CL6-2026-CIRCBIO-10: Understanding biomass flows in Europe’. When addressing the collection, pre-treatment and valorisation of food losses and waste, proposals should explore potential links with the work of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste. The multi-actor approach should be followed, involving concerned actors such as primary producers, industry representatives, regional/local authorities, research institutions.

The general conditions include: Admissibility Conditions (proposal page limit and layout described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes, and Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System), Eligible Countries (described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide), Other Eligible Conditions (described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes), Financial and operational capacity and exclusion (described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes), Evaluation and award criteria, scoring and thresholds (described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes), Submission and evaluation processes (described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual), Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement (described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes), and Legal and financial set-up of the grants (eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme and the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community, described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes).

Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA) information includes: Application form templates (available in the Submission System, Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)), Evaluation form templates (will be used with the necessary adaptations, Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)), Guidance (HE Programme Guide), Model Grant Agreements (MGA) (Lump Sum MGA), Call-specific instructions (Detailed budget table (HE LS), Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?").

Additional documents include: HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 9. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes, HE Programme Guide, HE Framework Programme 2021/695, HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions, and Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

The budget overview shows several topics, their budget in EUR for the year 2027, the type of action, stages, opening date, deadline, contributions, and indicative number of grants. The topics include various BIODIV, CIRCBIO, and ZEROPOLLUTION initiatives. For HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-07, the budget is 14,000,000 EUR, it is a HORIZON-IA, has a single stage, opens on 2027-04-20, closes on 2027-09-22, and has an indicative number of 2 grants around 7,000,000 EUR each.

Partner search announcements are available for those seeking partners to collaborate on this topic. LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants can publish partner requests after logging into the Portal.

The submission system is planned to be opened on the date stated on the topic header.

General FAQs and support are available, including 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, the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment, and a Partner Search function.

This Horizon Europe call focuses on improving biomass flows for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. It aims to enhance the capacity of stakeholders to efficiently collect, process, and utilize biomass, particularly bio-waste, to achieve environmental, social, and economic benefits. The call encourages proposals that optimize business models, support bioeconomy actors, identify barriers, and develop innovative tools for bio-waste management. The goal is to contribute to the EU's bioeconomy strategy, circular economy initiatives, and the reduction of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The call specifically targets areas where biomass is underutilized, such as Central and Eastern Europe and Ukraine, and promotes collaboration among various stakeholders, including local governments, industry, and research institutions. Funding will be provided as a lump sum, and the call emphasizes the importance of a multi-actor approach.

Eligible Applicant Types: The opportunity is open to a multi-actor approach, involving concerned actors such as primary producers, industry representatives, regional/local authorities, and research institutions. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Innovation Action (HORIZON-IA) with a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] model grant agreement (MGA). Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025).

Consortium Requirement: The multi-actor approach should be followed, involving concerned actors such as primary producers, industry representatives, regional/local authorities, research institutions.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The primary focus is on Europe, with particular attention to areas where biomass is neither fully valorised nor utilised to its full potential, such as Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine and other EU candidate countries. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Target Sector: The target sector is the bioeconomy, specifically focusing on improving biomass flows for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. This includes areas such as waste management, circular economy, biotechnology, agriculture, and food.

Mentioned Countries: Ukraine, Central and Eastern Europe, EU candidate countries.

Project Stage: The project stage is innovation actions, which involve demonstrating, piloting, and scaling up innovative solutions. The projects should develop and test technological innovations for biomass aggregation, pretreatment, and standardisation, including from under-utilised biomass resources, and processing towards added-value products.

Funding Amount: The budget for the topic HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-07 is EUR 14,000,000. The indicative number of grants is 2, suggesting an average contribution of around EUR 7,000,000 per grant. Other opportunities within the same call have different budgets and grant numbers.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants for each topic provides some insight into the potential success rate, which will depend on the number of applications received.

Co-funding Requirement: The need for co-funding is not explicitly stated, but applicants should review the detailed rules and conditions in the relevant annexes and programme guides to determine if co-funding is required.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-07, aims to improve biomass flows for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. It falls under the broader Horizon Europe Programme, specifically focusing on Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment. The call seeks to enhance the capacity of private and public stakeholders to increase resource efficiency in collecting, processing, and using primary and secondary biomass. The goal is to ensure ecosystems and biodiversity are protected and restored, greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions are reduced, and human needs for biomass are satisfied in a sufficient and fair manner, including food security.

The scope of the call includes optimising business models for biomass valorisation, supporting bioeconomy actors, developing biomass platforms, identifying barriers to biomass platform development, and developing innovative approaches to optimise bio-waste collection and processing. The call encourages proposals that pay particular attention to areas where biomass is underutilised, such as Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and other EU candidate countries.

Eligible applicants include primary producers, industry representatives, regional/local authorities, and research institutions, reflecting a multi-actor approach. The funding type is a HORIZON Innovation Action (IA) grant, with eligible costs taking the form of a lump sum. The application process is a single-stage open call, with a planned opening date of 20 April 2027 and a deadline of 22 September 2027. The total budget for this specific topic is EUR 14,000,000, with an expected two grants to be awarded, each averaging EUR 7,000,000.

In essence, this call is about fostering innovation in the bioeconomy sector by supporting projects that can demonstrate improved biomass flows, increased resource efficiency, and enhanced environmental and socio-economic benefits, particularly in regions where biomass valorisation is currently limited. It encourages collaboration among various stakeholders to create sustainable and circular bioeconomy solutions.