Diversification of nutritional food ingredient sources for increased EU resilience and strategic autonomy
HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026 · HORIZON-JU-IA · TRL 6–8 · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds large-scale demonstration projects that turn alternative, non-crop sources like algae, fungi, microorganisms, or food industry waste into nutritional ingredients such as proteins, fats, fibres, or specialty carbohydrates. Projects must prove the production process works at near-commercial scale and show the ingredient can actually be used in a real food product that tastes good, is safe, and is accepted by consumers. The goal is to make Europe's food supply less dependent on traditional crops and more resilient and sustainable.
bioeconomy · food systems · sustainable materials · circular economy · agriculture agritech
Who wins this
A consortium including industrial partners with a biorefinery or bioprocessing pilot/demo plant, food producers, and consumer/end-user organisations, aiming to bring an alternative nutritional ingredient from pilot to near-commercial scale.
Could you win this call?
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The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €20M
- Funding model
- Budget-based — reimbursement of actual eligible costs
- Submission
- Single-stage submission (full proposal at once)
- Type of action
- HORIZON JU Innovation Actions
- Partners
- Required. The call asks for a consortium — a group applying together, typically 3+ organisations from 3+ countries.
- Also required
- Direct production of food from food crops, livestock, fisheries or aquaculture is excluded; only industrial-grade agricultural feedstock converted into food-grade ingredients is in scope, and the project must involve a multi-actor approach including consumers and address EU regulatory/safety assessment (EFSA).
- 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 described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible countries 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 described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes 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 described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in section 2.2.3 Calls for proposals in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2026
Who has won calls like this
Organisations that most often win this call family · 12 past winners