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Improving biomass flows for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy

Horizon Europe · Grant topic

HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-07

Summary

A Polish company can use this call for R&D.

Funds improvements in biomass collection, processing and use for public and private stakeholders, including municipal bio-waste valorisation.

Who can apply
Companies can lead: SME, large company, startup, research org, university, public body, municipality.
Amount
€7M per projectTotal budget €14,000,000
Deadline
22 Sept 2027 02:00 CESTin 333 days
Status
Forthcomingopens 20 Apr 2027
Open on the portalRegister to keep this call

Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source.

Description

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• 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.

Scope:

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.

Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

Who can apply, in detail
Applicant types
SME, Large company, Startup, Research org, University, Public body, Municipality
Purpose
Research and innovation
R&D relevance
2 of 3
Poland eligible
Yes
Country limit
—
Region
Any
Consortium
Unclear
Readiness level (TRL)
—
Topics
  • Biomass resource efficiency
  • Bio-waste valorisation
  • Circular bioeconomy
  • Biomass collection and processing

Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source. 23 Oct 2026

Conditions16

Typed facts extracted from the source documents by Scindu's grant-data review. Each value keeps its own conditions. Unknown means unstated, not zero or unlimited.

Applicant restriction
General Annex B also excludes public Chinese universities administered by or under the supervision of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) from any action under all parts of this Work Programme. This records a source-stated potential eligibility restriction; it does not adjudicate any applicant’s status.
Applicant restriction
General Annex B bars legal entities established in China from Innovation Actions and, unless a stated destination exception applies, from Research and Innovation Actions, including participation in any capacity for the listed IA/RIA restrictions. The exact CIRCBIO destination heading is not among the enumerated Cluster 6 RIA exceptions. Topic 08 separately states the control rule for this exact topic.
Applicant restriction
General Annex B excludes entities subject to EU restrictive measures from participation in any capacity and refers to special rules for entities covered by Commission Guidelines 2013/C 205/05 on Israeli entities and activities in territories occupied since June 1967. Eligibility under these rules depends on the entity and activity; this review does not make an applicant-specific determination.
Applicant restriction
General Annex B states that Hungarian public-interest trusts established under Act IX of 2021 and entities they maintain may apply and, if allowed by call conditions, participate as associated partners without EU funding; while the Council measures remain in force, they are not eligible in funded roles. This records the published rule and does not determine the status of a particular entity or current Council measures.
Applicant restriction
General Annex B states that entities established in Russia, Belarus or non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine are not eligible in any participation capacity, subject to justified case-by-case exceptions. It also states that entities established outside Russia but more than 50% directly or indirectly owned by a Russia-established entity are not eligible in any capacity. This is the published programme rule, not a determination about a particular applicant.
Applicant type
Unless a specific topic exception modifies it, the standard minimum is three independent legal-entity beneficiaries from three different countries: one Member State plus two others from different Member States or Associated Countries. Affiliated entities do not count toward that minimum.
Application restriction
2027-09-22, 17:00 Brussels local time (published call deadline; Commission may delay by up to two months)
Application restriction
2027-04-20 (planned opening date)
Application restriction
This is the Call 01 single-stage 2027 route. The separate -01-two-stage and -02-two-stage topics are distinct topic records, not alternate stages of this exact record.
Eligible project scope
Innovation Actions
Eligible project scope
Study and optimise business models for aggregation, pretreatment, standardisation and valorisation of underused biomass and biowaste; support actors with at least five biomass-supplier/user platforms, develop collection/logistics and digital traceability, and follow the multi-actor approach. Pay particular attention to underused regions including Central/Eastern Europe, Ukraine and EU candidate countries.
Other condition
The topic scope calls for developing new or strengthening existing biomass platforms, with at least five platforms.
Other condition
The Work Programme overview gives an indicative expected award count of 2 project(s) for this topic; it is a planning figure, not a guaranteed award count.
Other condition
The multi-actor approach should be followed, involving primary producers, industry representatives, regional/local authorities, and research institutions.
Technology readiness level at end, maximum
8 TRL

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project. This is an expected result target, not an applicant eligibility threshold.

Technology readiness level at end, minimum
6 TRL

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project. This is an expected result target, not an applicant eligibility threshold.

Amounts and costs9
Indicative budget
€14,000,000

Topic budget as stated in the portal's budget table. Lump-sum and per-project limits are in the call conditions.

Eligible cost
The project-based detailed lump-sum budget is an estimate per cost category, beneficiary/affiliated entity and work package. Its inputs must approximate actual costs, follow the programme’s actual-cost eligibility rules, the beneficiary’s normal practices, be reasonable/non-excessive, and be necessary and aligned to proposed activities. These estimates justify/fix the contribution; they are not actual-cost claims.
Eligible cost
SEDIA identifies the Horizon Lump Sum Grant model; the Lump Sum MGA pays a contribution for completed work packages according to the signed agreement, not reimbursement of each actual payroll or supplier invoice. Topic text explicitly invokes the Lump Sum Decision for those topics that state the legal/financial exception.
Eligible cost
Travel/subsistence, equipment and other goods/works/services are categories in the underlying Horizon cost model; the amount may be included in a lump-sum estimate only where the item would be eligible under actual-cost rules and is needed for the proposed activities. This packet does not assert that a specific purchase is authorized in the final budget.
Eligible cost
Subcontracting may be included in the detailed estimate only where necessary and otherwise eligible; the underlying Horizon MGA rules require usual purchasing practices, best value for money (or lowest price where appropriate), and no conflict of interest. Under the lump-sum model the contribution is not reimbursed invoice-by-invoice.
Eligible cost limit
25 percent of eligible direct costs for actual-cost MGA budget calculations; exclusions as stated in conditions

The general Horizon Europe MGA flat-rate base excludes eligible direct costs for subcontracting, financial support to third parties and unit costs or lump sums that include indirect costs. For a project-based lump sum, any indirect-cost amount is only part of the estimated Annex 2 breakdown if applicable; this is not a separate 25% payment on top of the lump sum. If the beneficiary receives an operating grant, the lump-sum guidance says indirect cost estimates are not eligible.

Funding intensity, maximumEligible Innovation Action legal entities other than non-profit legal entities; beneficiary grant rate, not personnel pay.
70 percent of eligible costs (general action-type maximum)

General Horizon Europe maximum for IA: 70% of eligible costs; non-profit legal entities may receive up to 100%. For lump-sum grants the funding rate is already applied in the methodology used to fix the amount; it is not an additional multiplier to apply to the indicative project contribution or topic allocation. Final grant parameters are fixed in the signed grant agreement. This typed 70% row applies to eligible entities other than non-profit legal entities; the separate 100% maximum row captures that exception.

Funding intensity, maximumNon-profit legal entities participating in this Innovation Action; beneficiary grant rate, not personnel pay.
100 percent of eligible costs (general action-type maximum)

Up to 100% for non-profit legal entities under General Annex G. For lump-sum funding, the rate is already applied through the methodology for fixing the amounts. This is not a guaranteed award or individual compensation rate.

Expected contribution per project
€7,000,000

Around this expected EU contribution per project. It is an estimate, not a minimum, maximum or binding cap; the Commission explicitly permits proposals requesting different amounts.

Topic allocation
€14,000,000

Topic-level indicative call allocation; not an amount per project or individual beneficiary. The Work Programme says the call budget is subject to availability of appropriations.

Personnel and services4

  • Other role

    Staff cost the grant can fund

    Natural persons under a direct contract other than an employment contract may be estimated only when assigned to the action, meeting employee-like working conditions, with the result belonging to the beneficiary unless otherwise agreed. The amount follows the underlying actual contract cost and may not differ significantly from similar employee tasks; no salary rate is published.

  • Other role

    Staff cost the grant can fund

    Costs for employees under an employment contract or equivalent appointing act, assigned to the action. For this lump-sum call this is a budget-estimate category subject to corresponding actual-cost eligibility rules, not an advertised role, required hire, headcount or salary-rate entitlement.

  • Other role

    Staff cost the grant can fund

    Seconded-person personnel-cost estimates require assignment to the action, employee-like working conditions, result ownership by the beneficiary unless otherwise agreed, and an amount tied to actual secondment cost that is not significantly different from comparable employee tasks. No job, headcount or pay rate is specified.

  • Other role

    Staff cost the grant can fund

    The action-related work of a beneficiary SME owner or natural-person beneficiary receiving no salary may be included under the personnel unit-cost method in Annex 2a where general eligibility conditions are met. It is not a payroll salary and this review does not assert a unit amount.

Source documents6
Call facts
Opens
20 Apr 2027
Deadline model
Single-stage
Programme
Horizon Europe · 2021 - 2027
Call
HORIZON-CL6-2027-01 · Call 01 - single stage (2027)
Types of action
HORIZON Innovation Actions
Keywords
  • bio-economies
  • bio-economy
  • bioeconomies
  • bioeconomy
  • biological
  • biomass
  • circular
  • flows
  • hub
  • materials
  • region
  • renewable
  • resource
  • resources
  • sustainability
  • sustainable
Source
ec.europa.eu
Checked
24 Oct 2026
Portal updated
7 Oct 2026
Review status
Partial review
Reviewed
23 Oct 2026

This is a summary of the source page, not the official text. Eligibility, conditions and the submission system are at the source.