Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Call 2026

About the Call

The purpose of this Call is to support transnational research and/or innovation projects addressing urban challenges to help cities in their transition towards a more sustainable economy and functioning. The challenges are grouped into three themes called Transition Pathways: Positive Energy Districts (PED), the 15-Minute City (15mC) and Circular Urban Economies (CUE).

The projects selected within this Call will be funded directly by national/regional Funding Agencies from the following countries:

List can be found on the Call website

Each proposal must involve, at least, three partners from three countries of this list and eligible for funding by their respective national/regional Funding Agency. Two of those three countries must be eligible for EC Co-Fund (EU member states or Horizon Associated Countries). The added value of transnational collaboration should be clearly stated.

The Call is open to a wide range of scientific disciplines and welcomes interdisciplinary approaches. It intends to support a large range of activities, from research to innovation and implementation. It also asks to engage explicitly stakeholders (companies, public authorities, NGOs…) in the projects and to consider users’ needs in the identification of the project goals.

Information and Events

• Partnership website

• Call website

• Matchmaking

• DUT Call 2025 Info Day (online): 9 September 2026 10:00 – 13:00 CET

Call topics

The basis of the call topics description are the three Transition Pathways (TP): Positive Energy Districts (PED), 15-minute City (15mC), and Circular Urban Economies (CUE).

For each TP, several topics are defined. The context, issues and opportunities that define each topic are first presented first, in terms that aim to inspire research and innovation ideas, along with examples of expected results and outcomes that may be addressed either through the research-oriented approach or through the innovation-oriented approach.

Furthermore, since urban transition issues are intrinsically interconnected, it is possible to address several topics, either from the same or from different TPs, within the same proposal.

All projects should choose as their main TP the TP that is the closest to the subject they would like to address and may indicate the other TP involved if needed. Though the proposal will be evaluated within its principal main TP, crosscutting characteristics will also be taken into account in the assessment.

15-minute City Pathway (15mC)

• Cross-cutting topic: Adaptive reuse of existing urban structures and spaces

• Align ambitions for mobility transitions across sectors

• Nurture neighbourhood economies – activate innovation in local everyday offers

Circular Urban Economies Pathway (CUE)

• Cross-cutting topic: Adaptive reuse of existing urban structures and spaces

• Innovative maintenance of urban green and blue spaces

• Rethinking urban production for circular and resilient cities

Positive Energy Districts Pathway (PED)

• Cross-cutting topic: Adaptive reuse of existing urban structures and spaces

• PED solutions in private housing across different urban contexts

• Sustainable PEDs, flexibility in energy systems, and integrated technologies

Submission

A two-step application procedure will be used in this Joint Transnational Call. Pre-proposals and full proposals must be submitted electronically via the online submission system, using the templates provided. Additionally applications may need to be submitted on a national level.

Transnational eligibility rule 6: Language and mandatory forms. Pre-proposals/full-proposals must be prepared in English using the designated mandatory proposal form. Proposals written in other languages will be ineligible. The proposal form should be completely filled in. Pre-proposals and full-proposals must respect the total number of pages using a standard font size and normal page margins as indicated on the proposal form.

Transnational eligibility rule 7: Submission. Pre-proposals and full-proposals must be submitted on the UEFISCDI electronic submission system, UDiManager (www.uefiscdi-direct.ro), before each associated deadline:

• The Call for pre-proposals is will close on 17 November 2026, 13:00 (CET).

• In February 2027, applicants will be invited to enter the second stage of the procedure

• The Call for full-proposals will close on 15 April 2027, 13:00 (CEST).

• An online help document with guidelines for submission will be provided, detailing the procedures and duties of the Main Applicant and of other consortium partners.

• It is not possible to resubmit or revise the pre-proposal/full-proposal after the submission deadline, unless it pertains to corrections to technical-administrative details and is requested by the Call Secretariat.

Transnational eligibility rule 8: Only pre-proposals invited to submit a full-proposal will be eligible in the second stage of the selection procedure. If a Main Applicant decides to submit a full-proposal of a pre-proposal rejected at the end of the first stage, this full-proposal will be declared ineligible.

Transnational eligibility rule 9: No fundamental changes initiated by the applicants alone between the pre-proposal and the full-proposal will be accepted. Namely:

• the project objectives stated in the pre-proposal cannot be changed,

• the Main Applicant (and its PCP) must stay the same, except in case of force majeure,

• the consortium (co-applicants) should stay the same (with the exception of the Inclusion possibilities allowed explicitly by the Call Secretariat),

• only minor changes on the funding demand per Funding Agency can be allowed (except in the case adding Inclusion Procedure partners).

The Call Secretariat may allow such modifications in exceptional cases, if duly justified. Modifications requested by a Funding Agency do not count as changes between the pre-proposal and the full-proposal stages. By submitting a pre-proposal/full-proposal, applicants agree that it will be forwarded to all Funding Agencies which are receiving a request to provide funding for that proposal. Some Funding Agencies require submission of information on a national/regional level as well (see Annex A in the call text).

Evaluation

Criteria

Pre-proposals and full-proposals will be assessed according to specific evaluation criteria by using a common evaluation form. Some sub-criteria are specific to the R&I approach (ROA or IOA). Each consortium is responsible for choosing the approach that best fits the objectives and positioning of their proposal.

The criteria are described in detail in the DUT Call Text, along with the evaluation and selection process.

Eligibilty Checks

The DUT Call Secretariat will verify the eligibility of the pre-proposals/full-proposals according to the transnational eligibility criteria described in the Call Text. The participating Funding Agencies will perform a check for compliance according to their funding rules. Both transnational and Funding Agencies’ eligibility criteria must be met in order for a proposal to be declared eligible at either stage. In the case one ore more Co-applicant(s) is (are) not eligible, the proposal may still be eligible if and when the eligibility criteria are met by the proposal without this (these) partner(s). If a proposal is “eligible”, this does not mean that it will be awarded funding, only that the proposal will be admitted to the evaluation procedure.