Engineering for the Built Environment (EBE)

The Long Range BAA is ONR's omnibus front door and the single most useful entry point for researchers who want Navy funding but are not responding to a named topic. It solicits Long-Range Science and Technology projects aimed at enhancing Navy and Marine Corps operations across science and engineering disciplines, and it is jointly issued with ONR Global and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory - which matters because ONRG opens the door to non-U.S. performers and MCWL brings a distinct expeditionary problem set. For AI proposers the alignment is strong: ONR's 2026 Science and Technology Strategy names AI and autonomy as the organisation's top research focus, spanning machine learning, adversarial AI, intelligent agents, autonomous systems, and modelling and simulation. The strategy is built around a FEED at Speed framework and ties every research programme to a transition path, so proposals that articulate how a capability reaches the fleet are advantaged over those that stop at publication. ONR has additionally launched a strategic initiative to use AI to conduct basic and applied research rather than only to research AI for naval use cases, which opens space for AI-for-science proposals inside a defence portfolio. Eligibility is deliberately wide - all responsible sources from academia, industry and the research community worldwide may submit, and both small and large businesses compete, with the applicable SBA size standard at 1,000 employees. ONR does not publish per-award amounts. Submissions go through the ONR Submission Portal; FedConnect is no longer accepted as of Amendment 0004. The response deadline has been extended to 30 September 2026; the primary contact is Matthew Murray.

ATE is the largest federal program aimed squarely at educating technicians for high-technology fields, and the FY2026 competition is the practical vehicle for community colleges building artificial intelligence technician pathways. The solicitation is explicit that emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum information sciences are expected to be supported as industry defines its needs for skilled technical workers, which means an AI technician program - data annotation and pipeline work, model deployment and MLOps support, AI-enabled maintenance and inspection, prompt and agent operations - is squarely fundable rather than a stretch. The defining structural requirement, and the one that most often derails outside applicants, is that faculty from two-year institutions of higher education must hold significant leadership roles on all projects. A university or nonprofit can participate, but the community college has to lead in substance, not on paper. The second requirement is a genuine industry partnership: ATE exists to align curriculum with employer demand, and proposals without documented employer commitments to advisory boards, work-based learning placements or hiring do not compete. Four tracks accommodate very different scales, from Track 1 small-scale projects at up to USD 475,000 through Track 4 ATE Centers at up to USD 7,500,000 over five years, and the program encourages proposals from Minority Serving Institutions and work that supports recruitment, retention and completion of diverse talent in associate-degree technician programs. The FY2026 full proposal deadline is 1 October 2026 by 5:00 PM submitter local time, with the deadline recurring on the first Thursday in October annually thereafter.

Introducing circular economy models in the construction sector, from buildings to city scale is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Measurable increase in the number of tools and solutions at district or city level that are supporting the application of circular economy models by public and private stakeholders active in the construction sector; Measurable reduction of material use and an increase of reuse and recycling in the construction sector as a result of the introduction of new and replicable business models; Measurable reduction in the energy and other resources use and the whole life-cycle GHG emissions of buildings [1] and building stock (residential and non-residential) by introducing circular economy activities at building, district and city level. Scope: Applying circularity principles in the construction sector at building, district and city level can reduce the whole life-cycle GHG emissions and support more efficient resource use of the building stock, and help deliver climate-neutral, smart and circular cities, and a more sustainable built environment. To achieve this, there is a need for tools, solutions and associated business models with market potential that facilitate the adoption of inclusive circular construction economy models, as well as a more efficient use of buildings, ultimately reducing the need to extract raw materials. Proposals are expected to address all of the following: Develop and demonstrate tools and solutions at district or city level to support the introduction of circularity principles in the construction sector, and quantify their impacts (for example: urban mining; reuse and recycling of construction products and materials and other resources, use of secondary biobased materials; building’s innovative, accessible and adaptive design, renovation, and repurposing of buildings in line with waste prevention and circular economy principles). Develop and demonstrate solutions for the diagnosis and performance characterisation of used construction products and demolition waste, in terms of their condition and potential reuse, and to create inventories of reclaimed products and materials, as well as appropriate business models including marketplace tools with components and material banks. Develop and demonstrate whole life-cycle GHG emissions inventories of buildings to support decision-making and public actions in line with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast. Contribute to reducing regulatory barriers and developing standards, where relevant. Ensure the integration of different value chains, active involvement of all relevant construction sector stakeholders, policy-makers and the people impacted by the solutions developed, including SMEs, building owners, local authorities and civil society. Demonstrate the proposed tools and solutions in at least three cities, each from a different Member State or Associated Country, including with a view to showcase potential for large scale cross-border re-use of construction materials and products. The cities must participate as beneficiaries. At least one of the three cities must be one of the 112 cities participating in the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. Given its focus on circularity, this topic contributes to the implementation of the Cities Mission, the New European Bauhaus (NEB), the European Partnership on 'People-centric Sustainable Built Environment' (B4P), and the EU Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI). Projects are encouraged to engage in clustering activities with other relevant Horizon Europe projects that share a common theme and address similar issues, and/or are connected to the aforementioned initiatives. This approach aims to promote synergies and complementarities. To this end, proposals should include a dedicated task, allocate appropriate resources, and develop a plan for collaboration with relevant projects, partners, and initiatives. Moreover, proposals are expected to ensure that their dissemination and Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Climate, Energy and Mobility Keywords: Architecture, smart buildings, smart cities, urban engineering, Building design, Circular economy, Civil engineering, Low/nearly zero &-energy positive buildings, circular economy, climate change mitigation, construction sector, decarbonisation, urban planning