💰 Funding Details

Funding Description

Core Facts

* Programme: Horizon Europe – Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE-JU)

* Call Identifier: HORIZON-JU-CBE-2025-IAFlag-02

* Action Type: Innovation Action – *Flagship* (large-scale demo, TRL 8)

* Indicative EU Contribution per Grant: €172,137,258

* Funding Rate: Up to 60 % of eligible costs for for-profit partners, 100 % for non-profit entities (as per Horizon Europe rules for IAs).

* Stage: Single-stage submission

* Opening Date: 03 Apr 2025

Deadline: 18 Sep 2025, 17:00 Brussels time

Strategic Purpose

This flagship call underpins the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and Zero-Pollution Action Plan. It seeks to build a full-scale biorefinery that converts sustainable biomass into bio-based drop-in or smart drop-in platform chemicals, decreasing fossil dependence and reinforcing EU strategic autonomy.

Budget Logic

1. Scale-up CAPEX: Large demonstration assets, utilities integration, logistics & storage.

2. OPEX for validation: Feedstock sourcing, continuous 24/7 operation, product quality certification.

3. Downstream application (≥ TRL 6): Formulation, compounding, pilot product lines (e.g. bio-PET, bio-propylene glycol).

4. SSbD & Regulatory: Comprehensive Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design studies, REACH dossiers, LCA/TEA.

5. Market Uptake & Replicability: Business modelling, offtake agreements, regional socio-economic assessment.

> Tip: Allocate ~5 % of the budget to robust project management, data management, communication & exploitation, as reviewers expect strong coordination for a flagship of this size.

📊 Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria (CBE-JU IAFlag)

| Criterion | Weight | Threshold |

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

| Excellence | 1/3 | 4/5 |

| Impact | 1/3 | 4/5 (weighted 1.5×) |

| Quality & Efficiency of Implementation | 1/3 | 3/5 |

Key Points Reviewers Look For

Excellence

* Clear TRL progression to 8 for the biorefinery and ≥ 6 for end products.

* Sound, innovative conversion route with low E-factor and process safety design.

* Robust methodology for SSbD application.

Impact

* Quantified contribution to EU strategic autonomy (import substitution in kt / yr).

* Concrete market uptake plan backed by end-user commitments.

* Credible KPIs on GHG savings, water use, job creation.

Implementation

* Governance that can manage €170 M+.

– Steering committee, industrial advisory board, MAA forum.

* Demonstrated operational capacity (previous plants, balance-sheet strength).

* Detailed risk matrix (feedstock variability, permitting, scale-up risks) with mitigation.

📝 Application Strategy

Application Strategy

1. Build a Complementary Consortium

* Industrial anchor: At least one chemical major able to invest in and operate the flagship biorefinery.

* Feedstock owners: Farmers’ cooperatives, forestry players, waste-management SMEs from your country ensuring year-round sustainable supply.

* Technology providers: Pre-treatment, fermentation/catalysis, separation specialists.

* Downstream B2B end-users: Packaging, automotive, coatings, or cosmetics companies to validate products (≥ TRL 6).

* Knowledge partners: Universities and RTOs for SSbD, LCA, socio-economic impact.

2. Align With CBE-JU Specifics

* Multi-Actor Approach (MAA): Map and involve actors across the full value chain; demonstrate co-creation workshops.

* Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD): Dedicate a WP to apply EC’s SSbD framework and deliver quantified thresholds and data-gap analyses.

* Cascading Use & E-factor Minimisation: Showcase valorisation of side-streams (e.g. lignin to bio-aromatics).

3. Craft a Convincing Impact Story

* Quantify fossil displacement (t CO₂-eq/yr) and jobs created in rural areas of your country.

* Provide business plan and bankability assessment (CAPEX, IRR, payback) to prove post-grant viability.

* Present letters of intent for feedstock supply and product offtake.

4. Proposal Engineering

1. Use the 04/04/2025 version of Part B template.

2. Strictly respect page limits (max 70 pp for IAFlag).

3. Insert a regulatory roadmap (REACH, CLP, product standards).

4. Include table cross-mapping with previous H2020/HE projects (AFTERBIOCHEM, URBIOFIN, etc.) to show complementarity.

5. Leverage your country's Assets

* Highlight your country bio-based industrial clusters and port infrastructure for export.

* Stress access to your country research infrastructures for pilot trials and testing.

💡 Success Factors

End-to-End Value-Chain Integration

Demonstrate seamless linkage from **feedstock → platform chemical → market product**, with contractual ties at each interface.

Bankable Business Model

Provide IRR, NPV, sensitivity to feedstock price and CO₂ price, showing investors the **economic viability post-grant**.

Robust Risk & Contingency Planning

Allocate a **realistic contingency budget (5–10 %)**, include alternate feedstock scenarios and fallback technologies.

Regional Socio-Economic Impact

Quantify **jobs, training programmes, and rural development** in less-favoured regions of your country, aligning with CBE-JU KPIs.

Complementarity Mapping

Create a matrix showing how your project **builds on but does not overlap** prior EU-funded projects; include MoUs for knowledge exchange.

Early Engagement With Financing Instruments

Engage EIB, InvestEU or your country's green funds during proposal drafting to demonstrate **leveraging of additional capital**.

❌ Common Mistakes to Avoid

Ignoring Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) Depth

Submitting a generic LCA without **quantitative SSbD thresholds**, data-gap mapping or improvement loops fails to meet the explicit requirement to *advance* the SSbD framework.

TRL Mismatch Between Plant and Products

Proposing TRL 8 for the plant but leaving downstream products at TRL 4–5. The call demands **final products at ≥ TRL 6**, proven in relevant industrial settings.

Underestimating Permitting and REACH Timelines

Permitting for a >€100 M chemical facility can exceed 24 months. Not presenting a detailed **regulatory roadmap** alarms evaluators about feasibility.

Lack of Concrete Offtake Commitments

Reviewers expect letters of intent or draft contracts from B2B customers. A vague *“market interest”* statement weakens the Impact score.

Poor Feedstock Security Analysis

Failing to evidence long-term **sustainable biomass supply** (price, quality, logistics) — especially critical when importing outside your country.

Duplicating Previous Projects

Proposals that replicate processes already funded under AFTERBIOCHEM or URBIOFIN without clear novelty or scale-up delta risk exclusion for *lack of additionality*.

Bio-based drop-ins/smart drop-in platform chemicals, via cost-effective, sustainable and resource-efficient conversion of biomass

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