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HORIZON EUROPE TOPIC · Cluster 6 · Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Improving biomass flows for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy

HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-07 — the expected outcomes as checkable statements, what evaluators look for in this topic, and the conditions that shape the proposal.

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ForthcomingIA · lump sumDeadline 22 September 2027around EUR 7 million per project

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TopicHORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-07
StatusForthcoming
CallHORIZON-CL6-2027-01 — Call 01 - single stage (2027)
DestinationCircular economy and biobased sectors (2026-27)
Type of actionInnovation Actions · lump sum
Opening20 April 2027
Deadline22 September 2027
Budgetaround EUR 7 million per project · 2 projects expected · EUR 14 million in total
TRL at the endTRL 6–8
Part B page limit45 pages (standard application form; check your call)
TemplateWork Programme 2026–2027 application form

Expected outcomes

Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes. The topic says: “Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:”

  1. EO1 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.
  2. EO2 increased environmental, social and economic value added from the various uses of biomass, including bio-waste, e.g. food losses and food waste.
  3. EO3 reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and (air, water and soil) pollution, due to avoiding landfilling and incineration of bio-waste.
  4. EO4 demonstrated environmental, social and economic and social benefits for the municipalities involved in the collection and provision of bio-waste.

Expected impacts named in the destination

The wider, long-term effects the destination seeks. Your outcomes feed them; they are not project deliverables.

  1. EI1 Improved climate change adaptation and mitigation through the transition to a more sustainable and circular economy and bioeconomy, underpinned by biotechnologies and sustainable industrial solutions, such as carbon capture and utilisation and recovery of materials, water and energy.
  2. EI2 Industrial competitiveness, sustainability and strategic autonomy are improved through the development of safe, sustainable, circular and/or bio-based value chains. This is done by promoting the efficient and circular use of secondary materials and water, fostering the multi-functionality of forests, and ensuring the sustainable supply of critical resources from land and sea.
  3. EI3 Living conditions for individuals and communities are improved through innovative, affordable and sustainable safe and sustainable by design products and services based on circular and/or bio-based solutions while demonstrating a reduction of environmental and climate pressures.
  4. EI4 Advanced societal transformation based on a systemic approach, as well as people’s involvement and integration of social sciences and humanities for fair, safe, sustainable and circular value chains, sustainable consumption patterns, environmental justice, gender equality and social inclusion.

What evaluators will look for in this topic

Expected outcomes

  • Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes.
  • For each outcome (EO1 to EO4), name who will use or adopt your results (a specific group, not “industry” or “society”), how they get them, and the indicator that shows the change, with baseline, target and date.
  • Use the topic's own words for each outcome, so the evaluator can tick it off.

What the scope asks for

Evaluators check the proposal against these sentences of the scope. Answer each one visibly, in the call's own words.

  • “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.”
  • “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.”
  • “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…”
  • “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…”
  • “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.”

Conditions that shape the proposal

  • Part B, sections 1–3: 45 pages (standard application form). Text beyond the limit is not read; tables and figures count.
  • Lump sum: the budget is fixed per work package and paid when each work package is completed. Every work package needs activities and deliverables an evaluator can verify, and the effort must match the money.
  • TRL: the topic expects TRL 6–8 by the end of the project. State where you start and the evidence for it.
  • Innovation action: evaluators expect a plausible path to commercialisation and named first users or customers.

Impact pathway and traps

  • The scope expects pilots or demonstration. Name the sites, the partners who run them and what is measured there.
  • Standardisation is mentioned. Name the committees or bodies and the partner who engages with them.
  • The Joint Research Centre may take part. Decide whether its involvement helps, and say so if you include it.
  • Open science or data practices are named. Make the data management plan concrete: which data, which repository, when.
  • Market uptake is part of the scope. Evaluators look for a credible route to market with named first adopters.
  • Keep outputs, outcomes and impacts apart: what you deliver, what changes when others use it, and the long-term effect.
  • For each destination impact you claim, show which of your outcomes feeds it. Destination impacts are long-term effects, not project deliverables.
  • Name the barriers outside the project (regulation, markets, user behaviour) that could block uptake, and what you will do if they do.
  • Section 2.3 (the summary canvas) is optional on this call; the old split into scientific, economic and societal impact is no longer required.
The scope, as published

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, as published

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

Other topics in HORIZON-CL6-2027-01

Source and attribution

Topic text from the official topic page on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, retrieved 19 October 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU (CC BY 4.0). Changes: the expected outcomes and impacts are split into numbered statements, long passages are shortened, and the evaluator checklist is GrantWise's own commentary. Your call and the Work Programme always win; check them before you submit. GrantWise is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the European Commission.