EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-06

1. Single Market Access

• Tap into a unified market of 450 + million consumers and >23 million SMEs for technology & service roll-out.

• EU public procurement (≈14 % of EU GDP) increasingly requires low-carbon solutions—first-mover advantage for project participants.

• Common CE marking and the “New Legislative Framework” reduce certification effort; one conformity assessment = 27 Member States.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration Potential

• Build balanced consortia combining:

• Energy-intensive industries (steel, chemicals, ceramics, food) from at least 3 EU/Associated Countries.

• Renewable technology suppliers from high-RES penetration regions (ES, DE, SE, DK).

• Digital & cyber-security experts from Digital Europe Programme hubs.

• Transfer of best practices between climate zones (Nordic waste-heat recovery ↔ Mediterranean solar-heat integration).

• Access to ERICs and EU pilot lines (e.g., EERA, SPIRE PPP) for shared testing facilities.

3. Alignment with Core EU Policies

• European Green Deal & Fit-for-55: Directly addresses −55 % GHG target by 2030 and industrial decarbonisation pillar.

• REPowerEU: Substitutes imported fossil fuel with local RES, enhancing energy security.

• Industrial Strategy Update 2021: Supports “twin transition”—green + digital—via process flexibility & cyber-secure control.

• ETS Phase IV: Early compliance reduces future carbon-cost exposure (>€90 / tCO₂ today).

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• EU Electricity Market Design revision encourages on-site RES & storage; harmonised grid-code simplifies multi-country replication.

• State-Aid Guidelines for Climate & Environmental Protection (CEEAG) enable complementary national subsidies without breaching competition rules.

• Single IP framework (Unitary Patent, EU-wide trade secrets) streamlines protection & exploitation of project outcomes.

5. Access to the EU Innovation Ecosystem

• Synergies with 74 European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) for AI-enabled process control.

• Utilise European Institute of Technology (EIT) KICs—InnoEnergy, RawMaterials—for acceleration services and venture capital.

• Collaboration with 3 000+ Horizon “Lighthouse” projects (Processes4Planet, SunEUHeat) for knowledge reuse.

6. Funding & Financing Synergies

• Blend Horizon IA grant (60–70 % TRL 6-7) with:

• Innovation Fund large-scale calls (CAPEX grants up to €300 M for first-of-a-kind plants)

• LIFE Clean Energy Transition for market uptake actions

• InvestEU loan guarantees via EIB for scale-up deployment

• Smart Specialisation (S3) co-funding from regional ERDF for replication in industrial clusters.

7. Economies of Scale & Replicability

• Pre-project sector-wide survey mandated by call = foundation for EU-level standardisation of components (e.g., 20 MW electric boilers, heat-pump modules).

• Bulk procurement across plants lowers LCOH (Levelised Cost of Heat) by up to 15 % versus single-country approach.

• Potential to create European value chains for key tech (e-fuels, thermal batteries), reducing strategic dependencies.

8. Socio-Economic & Environmental Impact Across Europe

• Up to 25 Mt CO₂-eq avoided annually if replicated in top 50 energy-intensive sites.

• Creation/retention of high-skilled green jobs in less developed regions (Just Transition Mechanism alignment).

• Improved air quality: ↓NOₓ, SO₂ emissions—supports Ambient Air Quality Directive targets.

9. Digital & Cyber-Security Edge

• Compliance with EU Cyber-Resilience Act and NIS2 enables trust and easier cross-border data exchange.

• Participation in GAIA-X & Manufacturing-X ensures data sovereignty for industrial partners.

10. Strategic Value vs. National-Level Projects

• Pan-EU approach ensures technology is climate-zone agnostic, de-risking replication.

• Facilitates lobbying for harmonised standards (CEN/CENELEC) accelerating market entry.

• Access to EU-level communication channels (CORDIS, European Cluster Collaboration Platform) magnifies dissemination impact.

Key Takeaway: Leveraging the Horizon IA under Call HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-06 at EU scale maximises market reach, financing options, regulatory clarity and innovation capacity—considerably enhancing the probability of achieving a fossil-free, competitive European process industry by 2030-2040.