National Delegate and National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe Cluster 4 - Industry
Enterprise Ireland
CLUSTER 4 - INDUSTRY
The Cluster 4 work programme (Digital, Industry and Space) is to fund competitive and trusted research and innovation technologies for the European industry in key areas, such as discrete and continuous manufacturing and engineering, digitalisation of the construction sector and energy intensive industries.
The work programme for 2023_24 for ‘Industry’ is now closed and work with the European Commission is on the way to prepare a single work programme for 2025. Some of the orientation areas for 2025 can be found below. If you are interested in any of the potential areas please get in touch with us.
Destination 1 – Climate neutral, circular and digitised production
- Manufacturing Industry:
1) High-performance and flexible manufacturing for smart value chains: Flexible and resource-efficient manufacturing to increase productivity and connectivity. Flexibility of manufacturing processes, including time-to-market of products through industrialised factory automation, lean manufacturing and manufacturing-as-a-service, based on robust and trustworthy digital technologies.
2) Human capabilities for human-centric manufacturing.
3) Other ideas for potential topics: Scalable and productive re-manufacturing technologies for the next level of circularity in manufacturing. High value-added and net-zero products. Integration of innovative and secondary materials
- A New Way to Build, accelerating disruptive change in construction:
1) Enhanced on-site logistics and operations in a dynamic environment; tools to reduce errors in design and execution.
2) Human-centric technologies for rapid, safe, circular and resource-efficient assembly and disassembly.
3) Enhanced tools and platforms to exploit data of construction products, construction works, and construction & demolition waste
- Energy Intensive Industry Processes:
Novel technologies for the climate neutrality of energy intensive industries e.g. energy efficiency, electrification and use of alternative energy carriers. Circular economy and H4C/industrial symbiosis. Realising human-centric, sustainable and resilient Energy Intensive Industries. Industry 5.0 paradigm.
- Clean Steel:
Address diversity in feedstocks, processes, and reductants on final product. Identify the best reductant mix in steelmaking and understand the impact on process and products, while achieving reduction of stoichiometric CO2 production.
Destination 2 – Increased Autonomy in key strategic value chains for resilient industry
Activities under this Destination in 2025 focus on:
- Raw materials for EU strategic autonomy and successful transition to a climate-neutral and circular economy under the new Critical Raw Materials Act (europa.eu): exploration, mining, processing, recycling
- Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) Chemicals and Materials:
1) PFAS (‘forever chemicals’) alternatives – linked to regulatory decisions TBC.
2) SSbD assessment of complex chemicals: Tools and methods to make SSbD assessments operational for mixtures, polymers, composites.
3) Enhancing the sustainability part in SSbD: tools and methods for LCA: Models to overcome data gaps: simulate scenarios and predict data during R&I.
4) Reference systems for comparing SSbD substances: Established harmonised reference systems for comparing SSbD assessments.
- Strategic Innovation Markets Driven by Advanced Materials:
1) Digitalisation of the R&D processes for AdMat: Materials Passports.
2) New Partnership in Cluster 4 – ‘Adv Mat 4 EU’: The research priorities will follow the Green Deal policy on the Twin Transition. Specific Priority Areas could be Energy, Mobility, Construction and Electronics applications. TBC.
3) 2D Materials (linked to the Graphene flagship).
- Separate new partnership on Textiles: sustainable and circular production.
OTHER NEWS
- Number of Submissions for the 2024 call:
o TWIN TRANSITION CALLS:
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-03: 85 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-05: 72 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-32: 11 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-34: 9 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-35: 7 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-38: 6 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-41: 35 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-44: 16 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-46: 29 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-01: 37 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-12: 70 proposals
o RESILIENCE CALLS
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-35: 41 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-36: 91 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-01: 20 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-04: 17 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-08: 5 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-10: 4 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-11: 13 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-24: 12 proposals
§ HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-41: 41 proposals
- 3 New Partnerships are on the way under the CL4 ‘Industry’ part. Textiles (Co-Programmed), Raw Materials (Co-Funded) and Advanced Materials 4 EU (Co-Programmed). That will make a total of 6 Partnerships in the area of CL4 ‘Industry’ (existing ones Made in Europe , Process 4 Planet and EURAMET).
o The new Partnership on Advanced Materials is supported by the EU Technology Platforms EMIRI, EUMAT, Manufuture and SUSCHEM. In 2023, the new Private side AMI2030 presented the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. More details can be found here: Advanced Materials 2030 Initiative. The Raw Materials Act calls for a Coordinated Plan for Europe in Advanced Materials (please refer to Communication 'A secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials in support of the twin transition' here). The EU plans a Communication on Advanced Materials in Q1 2024 with further details and specific focused themes.
o The new Partnership on Textiles is supported by the EU Technology Platform EURATEX.
o The new Partnership on Raw Materials builds up on the work carried out by the Horizon 2020 ERANET ERA-MIN.
BROKERAGE AND INFORMATION EVENTS
- Save the Date 3-5th June in Namur (Belgium: Industrial Technologies 2024 (Conference - INDTech)).
- Save the Date 7-8th May – Horizon Europe ‘Made in Europe’ Partnership days. Brussels.
- Save the Date 24-25th September – European Manufacturing Conference. Brussels.