Innovative, AI-based solutions for urban planning and management

The grant opportunity HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-02 is part of the European Union's Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, focusing on developing AI-driven urban planning solutions. The key features of this grant include:

Eligible applicants must be consortiums with partners from at least three different EU Member States or Associated Countries, which can include public-private partnerships, research institutes, local authorities, universities, and technology providers experienced in AI and urban systems. Funding is provided as a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, covering 100% of eligible costs, with the requirements to form a consortium involving multiple applicants.

The geographic eligibility covers all EU Member States and Associated Countries, along with certain non-EU nations that can secure participation in Horizon Europe projects. The target sectors for this initiative include urban planning, smart city technologies, climate mitigation, artificial intelligence, and digital twins, emphasizing the use of advanced technologies such as Geographic Information Systems, machine learning, and the Internet of Things.

While no specific countries are listed, eligibility extends to all EU and associated regions. Project stages fall under Innovation Actions, aiming for a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6 to 8 at completion. Each project can expect around €6 million in funding, with a total budget of €24 million set aside for four projects.

The application process is an open call with a single-stage submission due by September 4, 2025. The nature of support involves lump-sum funding, with no co-funding required. Success rates are not explicitly stated but generally fall within the range typical of Horizon Europe projects.

The addition of Digital Twin models and AI tools is a central theme, aiming to seamlessly integrate these innovations into urban management processes. Projects should enhance decision-making and public engagement, supporting climate neutrality goals in collaboration with established city frameworks and synergies with other initiatives.

In summary, this grant is designed to accelerate the adoption of innovative, AI-centric urban planning strategies to meet the EU’s climate objectives, requiring robust multi-city consortia dedicated to sustainable urban development. The call emphasizes collaboration, leveraging of advanced technologies, and active involvement from local authorities and stakeholders to create resilient urban environments.

This is a Horizon Europe call for proposals under the HORIZON-MISS-2025-04 call, specifically targeting the CIT-01 and CIT-02 topics, which focus on innovative, AI-based solutions for urban planning and management. The call aims to support the implementation of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission. The action type is HORIZON-IA (Innovation Actions), utilizing the HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] model grant agreement. The call is currently open for submission with a deadline of September 4, 2025, at 17:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcomes of successful projects include:

Development of Digital Twin models and associated AI-driven tools, tested and implemented in participating cities.
Guidelines for integrating these models and tools into urban planning and management processes, with synergies with the LDT-CitiVERSE-EDIC infrastructure.
Capacity building through software availability on platforms like AI on Demand, open source, and the EU LTD toolbox, along with peer learning opportunities.
Plans for exploiting project results, including market analysis for replicability and scalability of Digital Twin solutions.
A visualization component for the Digital Twin to promote participatory urban planning and communication among stakeholders, enabling citizen feedback.
Creation of multidisciplinary communities involving IT developers, urban planners, local authorities, and other actors to facilitate future AI-based application development and integration across various urban domains.

The scope of the call addresses the complexities of urban planning, which requires integrating data from various sources, including zoning laws, infrastructure, environmental factors, and socio-economic trends. The call recognizes the potential of AI applications and tools, such as machine learning, neural networks, Digital Twins, and IoT, to enhance decision-making, predict trends, optimize resource allocation, and promote citizen engagement.

Proposals should include a comprehensive review of existing AI tools for urban planning and demonstrate relevant skills in Digital Twin development. The Digital Twin models developed must meet specific requirements, including:

Integration within the urban planning process to support climate-neutral city visions.
Support for decision-making and prioritization of sustainable measures through visualization and prediction.
Incorporation of static urban characteristics and at least two of the following variables: urban functions, mobility modes, energy generation and consumption, weather forecasts and pollutant emissions, and socio-demographic trends.
Provision of different climate-neutrality scenarios and simulation of policy impacts.
Evaluation of potential use cases and replication in other cities.
Estimation of resources needed for implementing projected scenarios.

Projects should explore Digital Twins that incorporate real-time monitoring and response to enhance city resilience. Joint policy coordination and synergies are encouraged. The Digital Twin should cover a city-wide area, promoting complementarity among participating cities in terms of climate, typology, and geography.

Consortia must include at least three cities from different Member States or Associated Countries, with at least one being among the 112 cities selected for the EU Mission on Climate-neutral and Smart Cities. The consortia should involve local authorities, urban planners, IT developers, and other relevant actors.

A demonstrated contribution to Climate City Contracts, Sustainable Energy Action Plans, or Sustainable Mobility Plans is expected. Synergies with the Driving Urban Transitions partnership, the Urban Transitions Mission, and the Local Digital Twin Toolbox are encouraged. Proposals should build on results from previous Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects and explore support from the Digital Europe Programme and its EU Toolbox for Local Digital Twins. Synergies with Common European Data Spaces are also encouraged, with consideration of the SIMPL project for interoperability.

Proposals must demonstrate the robustness and reliability of AI systems, ensure data security, include data management plans for data quality and reuse, and describe the environmental footprint of AI tools. A cost-benefit analysis and risk mitigation actions are required if the environmental footprint is significant.

The call specifies admissibility conditions, including proposal page limits and layout as described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form. Eligible countries are listed in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries. Other eligibility conditions include restrictions for the protection of European communication networks and the mandatory use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS for projects using satellite data.

Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria are detailed in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. Evaluation and award criteria, submission and evaluation processes, and the indicative timeline are described in Annexes D and F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

Eligible costs will be reimbursed as a lump sum, as defined in the Decision of July 7, 2021. Grants awarded under this topic will be linked to action HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03, requiring collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding.

The call provides templates for application and evaluation forms, guidance documents such as the HE Programme Guide and Model Grant Agreements, and additional documents including the HE Main Work Programme and EU Financial Regulation.

The budget overview indicates that for HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-01, 17,000,000 EUR is allocated, with an indicative number of 2 grants and contributions around 8,500,000 EUR. For HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-02, 24,000,000 EUR is allocated, with an indicative number of 4 grants and contributions around 6,000,000 EUR.

Partner search announcements are available, and the Funding & Tenders Portal provides access to the Electronic Submission Service and draft proposals. Support resources include an Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points, Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, and CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks.

In summary, this call is about fostering the development and implementation of AI-driven Digital Twins for urban planning and management to support climate-neutral and smart cities. It seeks to integrate advanced technologies with urban planning practices, enhance decision-making, promote citizen engagement, and build capacity for sustainable urban development across Europe. The call requires strong consortia with city involvement and a clear focus on contributing to EU climate and sustainability goals.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are consortia that include at least three cities, each from a different Member State or Associated Country, participating as beneficiaries. The consortia should include local authorities, urban planners, IT developers, operators, service providers and other relevant actors. At least one of the three cities must be one of the 112 cities selected for the EU Mission on Climate-neutral and Smart Cities.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Innovation Action (HORIZON-IA) with eligible costs taking the form of a lump sum.

Consortium Requirement: A consortium of multiple applicants is required. The consortium must include at least three cities from different Member States or Associated Countries.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States and Associated 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 sectors are urban planning, urban management, artificial intelligence, ICT, climate, energy, environment, sustainability, smart cities, and digital twins. Specific technologies mentioned include Geographic Information Systems (GIS), machine learning (ML), neural networks (NNs), deep learning, autonomous systems, pattern recognition, simulation modelling, Digital Twins, and Internet of Things (IoT).

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are mentioned, but the eligibility extends to EU Member States and Associated Countries.

Project Stage: The project stage is innovation actions, which implies development, testing, calibration, and implementation of Digital Twin models.

Funding Amount: For HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-01, the budget is EUR 17,000,000 with an indicative grant amount of around EUR 8,500,000. For HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-02, the budget is EUR 24,000,000 with an indicative grant amount of around EUR 6,000,000.

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 single-stage.

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants for HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-01 is 2, and for HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-02 is 4. This information can be used to roughly estimate the success rate based on the number of expected proposals.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding requirements are not explicitly mentioned, but Horizon Europe actions typically fund a percentage of eligible costs, implying that some level of resources from the applicant or other parties may be necessary.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, part of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, aims to foster the development and implementation of innovative, AI-based Digital Twins for urban planning and management. The call seeks to integrate advanced technologies like machine learning, neural networks, and IoT to enhance decision-making, predict trends, optimize resource allocation, and engage citizens in creating more sustainable and resilient cities. Consortia must include at least three cities from different EU Member States or Associated Countries, with at least one being among the 112 cities selected for the EU Mission on Climate-neutral and Smart Cities. The projects should develop Digital Twin models that integrate within the urban planning process, support climate-neutrality goals, incorporate various urban features, and allow for scenario simulations. The funding is provided as a lump sum grant, and the call emphasizes collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform and synergies with other relevant initiatives and data spaces. The call has two topics: HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-01 with a budget of EUR 17 million and HORIZON-MISS-2025-04-CIT-02 with a budget of EUR 24 million, with indicative grant amounts of around EUR 8.5 million and EUR 6 million respectively. The call opens on May 6, 2025, and closes on September 4, 2025.