Factory processes and automation for de- and re-manufacturing (RIA) (Made in Europe partnership)

Topic code: HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-03

General information

• Programme: Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
• Call: INDUSTRY (HORIZON-CL4-2027-01)
• Type of action: HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
• Type of MGA: HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]
• Status: Forthcoming
• Deadline model: Single-stage
• Planned opening date: 22 September 2026
• Deadline date: 02 February 2027 17:00:00 Brussels time

Topic description

Expected Outcome

• A viable industrial ecosystem for circularity in manufacturing industries emerges, enhancing both circularity and resilience;
• De-manufacturing technologies and practices become available, making decisive contributions to a European remanufacturing industry and market;
• Functions of products are retained, reused, upgraded or adapted through de-manufacturing and re-manufacturing; and
• Skills, standards and safety measures relevant to remanufacturing are developed.

Scope

Proposals should focus on developing de-manufacturing and re-manufacturing technologies at the factory level, addressing at least three of the following:

• Technologies to efficiently analyse part condition and support predictive maintenance, including for re-manufactured parts or components of lower value, e.g. by combining multimodal sensor data, AI and human inputs;
• AI and robotic-assisted technologies, e.g. innovative end-effectors, to de-manufacture products and components, including handling, sorting and extended logistics;
• Model-based systems, to allow de-manufacturing and re-manufacturing operators to use CAD data and digital twins related to the original parts (and contribute to the development of a digital ecosystem);
• Solutions allowing local (on-site) repair or re-manufacturing of high-added value components (applied to e.g. wind turbines, aircraft and vessels); and
• Solutions to plan the sequence of operations based on the characteristics of the incoming products to be re-manufactured.

Proposals should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination. Depending on the approaches to be pursued, these should consider the best solutions to enhance adoption, for example coupling manufacturing with de-/re- manufacturing plants, product and component value, risk mitigation for variable de-/re-manufacturing flows.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership Made in Europe.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 4-5 and achieve TRL 6 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

Topic updates

03 September 2026 In view of the HORIZON WP update to be adopted and published on the portal on 05/10/2026, please note that the opening date for HORIZON-CL4-2027-01 will be postponed to 13/10/2026.

Topic destination

This Destination brings together the research and innovation for a globally competitive European industry through the twin green and digital transition, and the availability, development, use, reuse and disposal of chemicals, advanced materials and critical raw materials.

The Competitiveness Compass announces initiatives that should be served directly by industry-linked activities in Cluster 4, through new, focused R&I activities, but also through the activities supported up to now:

• Clean Industrial Deal adopted in February 2025;
• Critical Raw Materials Act;
• Advanced Materials Communication and future Advanced Materials Act planned for 2026;
• Future Circular Economy Act planned for 2026;
• Steel and Metals Action Plan adopted in March 2025;
• European Chemicals Industry Action Plan adopted in July 2025;
• Industrial action plan for the European automotive sector adopted in March 2025; and
• Strategy on research and technology infrastructures, with regard to technology infrastructures and the valorisation of knowledge.

In order to better translate these policy priorities into actions, to integrate the latest inputs from the partnerships, and to achieve synergies, this Work Programme part adopts a more integrated approach. The headings used under the two industry-focused destinations in previous work programmes, reflecting different partnerships and industrial sectors, are replaced by new headings making strongly interconnected contributions to the corresponding expected impacts in the Strategic Plan 2025-27, on green and digital transition and on autonomy in raw and advanced materials.

The new approach takes into account R&I investments under previous work programmes and intends to introduce more synergies with other pillars (notably the European Innovation Council under Pillar III) as well as with Cluster 5. Topics in this Work Programme increasingly combine the priorities of different partnerships to enable synergies, e.g. with the Investment fund, while continuing to address the particularities of each partnership. The development of new and cross-cutting technologies will help transform existing value chains and create new ones.

In addition to this Work Programme part, Cluster 4 participates in a horizontal Clean Industrial Deal Call, aiming to increase the competitiveness and decarbonisation of industry. The initiative will allow Horizon Europe beneficiaries to feed the EU deployment pipeline with R&I solutions close to market uptake and deployment, whilst also supporting the development by 2035 of a new batch of industry-led demonstrators designed for higher market readiness.

In addition to decarbonisation, manufacturing and energy-intensive industries need to embrace the circular economy as a key pillar in the design of their value chains. This will be fundamental to their resource efficiency (in terms of materials, energy and water). Particularly important in this context is the upcycling of secondary raw materials and waste; de- and re-manufacturing; and the development of sustainable and resource-efficient industrial processes.

This Work Programme continues to promote across the calls the application of Safe and Sustainable by Design approach incorporating early and parallel considerations of innovation design choices on impacts on health, environment, climate and other sustainability parameters as a way of achieving stated policy objectives and fostering quick market uptake.

Where projects are asked to contribute to the development of safe and sustainable products, projects should take into account safety concerns for consumers as well as the organisational health and safety aspects for industrial workers.

Finally, to support start-ups and scale-ups, this Work Programme includes support for technology infrastructures and valorisation of knowledge.

Business cases and exploitation strategies for industrialisation

This section applies only to those topics in this Destination, for which proposals should demonstrate the expected outcomes by including a business case and exploitation strategy for industrialisation.

A business case and a credible initial exploitation strategy are essential components in the ultimate success of an industry-based project, as well as its prospects to attract further investments for deployment. They will both be decisive factors under the impact criterion, and proposers are encouraged to use the extended page limit to present a carefully considered business case and exploitation strategy, backed by the management of the companies involved.

The business case should demonstrate the expected impact of the proposal in terms of enhanced market opportunities for the participants and deployment in the EU, in the short to medium term. It should describe the targeted market(s); estimated market size in the EU and globally; user and customer needs; and demonstrate that the solutions will match the market and user needs in a cost-effective manner; and describe the expected market position and competitive advantage.

The exploitation strategy should identify obstacles, requirements and necessary actions involved in reaching higher TRLs (Technology Readiness Levels), for example: securing the required investments, including through possible synergies with other programmes; accessing the required skills; matching value chains; enhancing product robustness; securing industrial integrators; and user acceptance.

For TRLs 6 and 7, a credible strategy to achieve future full-scale deployment in the EU is expected, indicating the intentions of the industrial partners after the end of the project.

Where relevant, in the context of skills, it is recommended to develop training material to endow workers with the right skillset in order to support the uptake and deployment of new innovative products, services, and processes developed in the different projects. This material should be tested and be scalable, and can potentially be up-scaled through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). This will help the European labour force to close the skill gaps in the relevant sectors and occupational groups and improve employment and social levels across the EU and associated countries.

Where projects are asked to contribute to the development of safe and sustainable products, projects should take into account safety concerns for consumers and the organisational health and safety aspects for industrial workers.

For topics in this destination, consortia (if selected for funding) will be called upon to cooperate with the relevant parts of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), in order to inform the next stages of EU technology and innovation policies.

• INnovation Centre for Industrial Transformation and Emissions (INCITE)
• The Energy and Industry Geography Lab: EIGL

Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes.

Topic conditions and documents

General conditions

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout

   • In order to include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination, the page limit in part B of the General Annexes is exceptionally extended by 3 pages.
   • Admissibility conditions are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
   • Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries

   • described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
   • 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. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other Eligible Conditions

   • described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

   • described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds

• are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes

• are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement

• described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

1. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
   • The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5.
   • 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) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].
   • described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific conditions

• described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA)

• Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is 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
  • Operating Grants MGA
  • Framework Partnership Agreement FPA
• Call-specific instructions
  • Detailed budget table (HE LS)
  • Information on financial support to third parties (HE)
  • Information on clinical studies (HE)
  • Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"

Additional documents

• HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
• HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 7. Digital, Industry and Space
• HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 14. Horizontal Activities
• 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
• Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Budget overview