💰 Funding Details

Funding Overview

Key Facts

- Call Identifier: HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-COMMUNITIES-02

- Type of Action: *HORIZON-RIA* (Research & Innovation Action) – Lump-Sum model

- Destination: *Resilient, inclusive, healthy and green rural, coastal and urban communities*

- Opening Date: 06 May 2025

- Deadline: 16 September 2025 – 17:00 Brussels time

- Maximum EU Contribution per Project (indicative): €50 million

- TRL Target: Typically TRL 2-5 (research to early prototyping)

Expected Outcomes

1. Data-driven insight into rural real-estate & rental markets and their social impacts.

2. Actionable strategies that widen access to affordable, quality and social housing in rural areas.

3. Replicable, climate-smart blueprints for nearly-zero-emission houses and whole villages of the future.

Mandatory Scope Elements

- Comprehensive quantitative & qualitative market analysis (short- & long-term rentals).

- Creation or enrichment of open datasets on rural building stock, incl. abandoned assets.

- Assessment of affordability & social equity (gender, age, ethnicity, disability).

- Policy recommendations on regulation, finance & market incentives.

- Participatory co-design of future housing/village concepts, integrating NEB principles, circularity and climate adaptation/mitigation.

- Multi-Actor Approach (MAA): farmers, SMEs, municipalities, citizens, financiers, architects, NGOs and SSH experts must all co-create.

> Tip: Link your proposal to deliverables of the EU Rural Observatory and cite relevant Horizon Europe & NEB projects to show continuity.

📊 Evaluation Criteria

How Your Proposal Will Be Scored

| Criterion | Weight | Key Expectations |

|-----------|--------|------------------|

| Excellence | 1/3 | • Clear, credible objectives addressing *all* mandatory scope elements

• Robust, interdisciplinary methodology (market analytics + participatory design)

• Integration of SSH & gender throughout |

| Impact | 1/3 | • Convincing pathway to the three expected outcomes

• Quantified KPIs (e.g. ≥20 % increase in rural affordable housing stock by 2035)

• Alignment with LTVRA, Green Deal & European Pillar of Social Rights |

| Quality of Implementation | 1/3 | • Coherent work plan, realistic resources, strong coordination

• Demonstrated capacity of partners & sound risk management

• Effective multi-actor governance structure |

A minimum overall threshold of 10/15 and 3.5/5 per criterion usually applies. Address ethics, data management, open science and climate mainstreaming to avoid penalties.

📝 Application Strategy

Winning Application Strategy

1. Build a Mission-Driven Consortium

- Combine academic excellence (housing, climate science, SSH) with market players (rural developers, banks, prop-tech, energy retrofitting SMEs).

- Ensure partners from at least three Member/Associated States, ideally representing *contrasting rural archetypes* (e.g. depopulating, gentrifying, touristic).

- Involve end-users early: rural municipalities, community cooperatives, citizen panels.

2. Embed the Multi-Actor Approach

- Allocate budget for co-creation labs in each demo region.

- Use living labs to pilot renovation prototypes and village masterplans.

3. Integrate SSH & Gender Dimensions

- Appoint a dedicated SSH work-package leader and a Gender/Equality Officer.

- Use participatory methods (e.g. photovoice, deliberative polling) to capture diverse rural voices.

4. Leverage Existing Assets

- Reference datasets from EU Rural Observatory, ESS ERIC, Copernicus land monitoring.

- Align visuals & narratives with New European Bauhaus values: *beautiful, sustainable, together*.

5. Craft a Coherent Impact Pathway

1. Short-term: improved data & policy briefs.

2. Mid-term: pilot refurbishments & new builds validated for scalability.

3. Long-term: uptake by at least 10 your country municipalities and replication across the EU.

6. Address Lump-Sum Specifics

- Provide a work-package-level cost breakdown with clear deliverables & milestones.

- Include a risk-adjusted buffer (≈10 %) as changes cannot trigger extra payments post-award.

💡 Success Factors

Tri-Archetype Demo Regions

Select **three contrasting rural contexts** (depopulating, touristic, gentrifying) to validate transferability and impress evaluators with representativeness.

Data Commons Approach

Create an **open GIS-based atlas** of rural housing stock, abandoned assets and affordability indices—directly addressing the call’s data-gap concern.

Circular Bio-Based Materials

Showcase **local, circular construction materials** (e.g. hempcrete, timber from agro-forestry) to align with Green Deal and NEB aesthetics.

Blended Finance Blueprint

Prototype a **loan-guarantee or revolving fund** model in cooperation with rural banks to tackle the affordability barrier—highly valued under Impact.

Integrated Digital Twins

Deploy **digital twin models** of pilot villages to simulate energy flows, mobility and climate risks—boosting Excellence through innovation.

Policy Sandbox with your country Authorities

Set up a **regulatory sandbox** in partnership with ministries and rural municipalities, enabling rapid testing of zoning or rental regulations.

❌ Common Mistakes to Avoid

Ignoring Rental Market Nuances

Treating short-term tourism rentals and long-term residential rentals as a single market. Evaluators expect **segmented analysis** with distinct policy levers for each.

Tokenistic Stakeholder Involvement

Listing stakeholders without budgeted activities (workshops, living labs). Under the **Multi-Actor Approach** this is non-compliant and will lower your implementation score.

Underestimating Lump-Sum Rigor

Failing to link each deliverable to a payment milestone. Remember: **no partial payments**—if a deliverable slips, the whole work package is unpaid.

Neglecting Social Inclusion Metrics

Proposals often mention vulnerable groups but omit **measurable indicators** (e.g. % of refurbished units accessible to people with disabilities).

Overly Local Impact Vision

Designing pilots that cannot scale beyond one region. The call expects **EU-wide replicability** and knowledge sharing via open platforms.

Missing NEB Synergy

Forgetting to reference or partner with **New European Bauhaus** initiatives, losing easy points under *Impact* for complementarity.

Exploring and improving access to housing in rural areas and developing the houses and villages of the future

Quick Facts for Spain Applicants

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