Development of cell-free protein synthesis platforms for discovery and/or production of biologicals
Cluster 1 - Health (Single stage - 2027/1) · HORIZON-RIA · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds research projects that develop cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) technology to discover or manufacture protein and peptide-based drugs, such as antibodies, vaccines and enzymes, without using living cells. The goal is to make biologic drug development and manufacturing faster, cheaper, more flexible, and potentially decentralised, ultimately improving patient access to these medicines. Projects should tackle technical bottlenecks in CFPS platforms or use synthetic biology and AI-driven design combined with cell-free systems to discover and produce new therapeutic biomolecules.
biotechnology · pharmaceuticals · artificial intelligence · research excellence · deep tech · medical devices
Who wins this
Research-intensive consortia including biopharmaceutical companies, research organisations, and encouraged startups/SMEs working on cell-free synthetic biology platforms for biologics discovery or GMP-grade production.
Could you win this call?
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The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €6M–€8M
- Funding model
- Budget-based — reimbursement of actual eligible costs
- Submission
- Single-stage submission (full proposal at once)
- Type of action
- HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
- Partners
- Required. The call asks for a consortium — a group applying together, typically 3+ organisations from 3+ countries.
- Also required
- Proposals must address at least two of the specified CFPS-related elements (bottleneck resolution, synthetic biology-based biomolecule design/screening, or GMP-conform platform development); legal entities in the USA are eligible to receive Union funding; use of satellite-based earth observation data must utilize Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS if applicable; evaluation thresholds are 4/4/4 with a cumulative threshold of 12.
- Eligible countries (45)
- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, IL, TR, UA, RS, MK, ME, AL, BA, XK, GE, AM, MD, TN, NZ
Read the full conditions from the official call ›
General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions, proposal page limit and layout Admissibility conditions are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout are described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible Countries Eligible countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. 3. Other Eligibility Conditions In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding. If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. Other eligibility conditions are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes The thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence), 4 (Impact) and 4 (Implementation). The cumulative threshold will be 12. Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5. Legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme. Application and evaluation forms and additional documents: Application and
Who has won calls like this
Organisations that most often win this call family · 36 past winners