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

Increasing the circularity of bio-based sector: upcycling and recycling for higher value and environmental benefits

HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-09 — 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 6 million per project

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TopicHORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-09
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 6 million per project · 2 projects expected · EUR 12 million in total
TRL at the endTRL 6–7
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 of the following expected outcomes:”

  1. EO1 European industry’s competitiveness, decarbonisation, and strategic autonomy are enhanced through the development and deployment of safe, sustainable, circular and bio-based value chains.
  2. EO2 improved climate change adaptation and mitigation and overall environmental sustainability, as well as higher resource efficiency, through application of biotechnologies and industrial symbiosis, and recovery of biological materials, water and energy.

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 EO2), 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.

  • “Proposals should address the following activities:. develop and deploy/scale-up safe and sustainable, circular and bio-based materials, products, processes and value chains, e.g. including but not limited to the construction, packaging, pulp and paper, textile sectors, or other bio-based consumer products, using upcycled and recycled resources incorporating secondary raw materials with minimal quality loss, aiming at best environmental…”
  • “Proposals are encouraged to build on the knowledge and results of completed and ongoing EU-funded projects.”
  • “Cooperation between all proposals funded under this topic should also be foreseen, as a specific task, with an allocation of resources, for synergies.”
  • “This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and involvement of SSH experts in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.”
  • “International cooperation is encouraged.”

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 6–7 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 topic asks for social sciences and humanities (SSH) expertise. Evaluators look for SSH partners with a real role in the methodology, not a token task.
  • International cooperation is part of the scope. Explain what the non-EU partners add and how the cooperation is organised.
  • The topic expects cooperation with other projects or initiatives. Reserve effort and budget for it in the work plan.
  • Policy or regulation is in scope. Name the policy owners you will reach and what you will give them.
  • 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

The projects under this topic are relevant to the EU policies related to the Commission communication on: Building the future with nature: Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU, the Life Sciences Strategy, the EU Biotech Act, Clean Industrial Deal and the SME Strategy. It also contributes to the Start-ups and Scale-ups strategy. Synergies with activities under the Circular Bio-based Europe (CBE) Joint Undertaking and New European Bauhaus are strongly encouraged, while taking care to avoid overlaps. Proposals should address the following activities: develop and deploy/scale-up safe and sustainable, circular and bio-based materials, products, processes and value chains, e.g. including but not limited to the construction, packaging, pulp and paper, textile sectors, or other bio-based consumer products, using upcycled and recycled resources incorporating secondary raw materials with minimal quality loss, aiming at best environmental performance, while increasing the uptake of recycled materials and preventing waste through repair, refurbishment, and reuse, and paying attention to environmental and health risks and trade-offs due to treated or impregnated bio-based materials, where relevant. Bioenergy/biofuels sector is not in scope, but synergies with this sector can be considered while respecting the cascading biomass valorisation principle and aiming at the industrial symbiosis; develop innovative new, or upgraded existing, circular solutions to tackle complex bio-waste streams and create markets for bio-waste materials by transforming them into valuable secondary resources, while fostering urban/rural/coastal industrial symbiosis, providing data and digital tools and promoting a more efficient use of bio-based resources; develop a ‘digital marketplace’, ensuring convergence with the digital technology, tools and applications, to enhance accessibility and traceability of bio-based resources, promoting efficient and sustainable resource management; provide recommendations for the development of bio-based product value chains, based on the identified and analysed needs of stakeholders in terms of national and European regulations and standards, financial incentives, professional trainings, etc. While the main focus of this topic is not the gaseous carbon conversion (see parallel topic HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-08: Biotechnology application for CCU), this technology can be considered as part of the whole value chain approach to increase environmental and economic impact, e.g. as part of the cascading biomass conversion, taking care to avoid overlaps and seek synergies. Synergy and cooperation with the parallel topics HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-02: Enhancing ecodesign and circularity of construction products and HORIZON-MISS-2027-03-OCEAN-02: Circularity of seafood supply chain are strongly encouraged. Proposals are encouraged to build on the knowledge and results of completed and ongoing EU-funded projects. Cooperation between all proposals funded under this topic should also be foreseen, as a specific task, with an allocation of resources, for synergies. This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and involvement of SSH experts in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. This can cover the educational aspect, to facilitate knowledge promotion within different target groups (e.g. students, industry, society). International cooperation is encouraged.

Technology readiness, as published

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL. Such as the topics HORIZON-JU-CBE-2025-IAFlag-03: Circular-by-design fibre-based packaging with improved properties, HORIZON-JU-CBE-2025-IAFlag-01:Urban-industrial symbiosis for bio-waste valorisation, etc.

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.