HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-53-two-stage: Innovative AI methods and technologies for the process industries (RIA) (Processes4Planet and AI, Data and Robotics partnerships)

HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-53-two-stage: Innovative AI methods and technologies for the process industries (RIA) (Processes4Planet and AI, Data and Robotics partnerships) is sponsored by European Commission (Horizon Europe, Cluster 4). This Horizon Europe call focuses on innovative AI methods and technologies for the process industries, aligning with the Processes4Planet and AI, Data and Robotics partnerships.

HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-53-two-stage | TopicTree (by Ideal-ist) HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-53-two-stage Innovative AI methods and technologies for the process industries (RIA) (Processes4Planet and AI, Data and Robotics partnerships) ⚫ indicates current topic Node background color indicates the call topic status Double click on a topic to center information around it.

Node size is proportional to distance from the current topic The graph above was generated based on the following links HORIZON-CL4-INDUSTRY-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-39 Towards human-centric, sustainable and resilient energy-intensive industries (Processes4Planet and Clean Steel partnerships) (CSA) MOTIVATION Projects under HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-53-two-stage may should link to the initiative formed under HORIZON-CL4-2025-01-TWIN-TRANSITION-39.

Call text (as on F&T portal) Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes: To develop and demonstrate innovative AI-driven solutions in materials and process development to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the process industries by better products and process technologies and reducing the time to market To increase the competitiveness of materials production in Europe by AI-supported optimal operation of plants and value networks and early detection of problems and failures To improve the working conditions in the plants by using AI technologies, metaverse, and robots.

Drastically improved AI methods and technologies hold transformative potential for the process industries, enabling advancements in process design, operational efficiency, and faster innovation across the entire lifecycle of plants and products.

By using different AI approaches such as multimodal generative AI, foundation models, and agentic AI, the industry can move beyond conventional AI applications as e.g. predictive maintenance and quality control toward more intelligent, adaptive, and creative solutions. AI-based solutions can deliver value at every stage of the process lifecycle.

In design and engineering, they can enable new innovations and accelerate the development process. During operations, AI technologies can be employed to optimize processes, enhance reproducibility, adapt to changing conditions, and provide new forms of support for the workforce and enable autonomous operation. In value chains, AI can help to adapt faster and detect changing customer needs.

These capabilities support faster innovation and strengthen competitiveness in a rapidly evolving industrial landscape. However, realizing this potential requires careful consideration of risks related to reliability, security, and trust, ensuring that AI solutions are effective, safe, and responsible.

Proposals should produce dedicated innovative AI-based solutions for the process industry for one of the following scopes: More effective and faster development of new materials and processes Competitive and sustainable production, reducing the negative environmental impact of industry Reduction of risks for the health of the workforce and for the environment and making workplaces in the process industries more attractive.

In the projects, user acceptance and training of the users as well as integration into the OT/IT landscape of the companies should be taken into account, e.g. through active engagement in design, development and integration of systems and processes. This topic is linked to the Apply AI Strategy, therefore proposals should seek collaboration with relevant initiatives.

Proposals should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to Destination ‘Leadership in materials and production for Europe’. This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnerships Processes4Planet and AI, Data and Robotics. Activities are expected to start at TRL 4-5 and achieve TRL 6 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

CALL UPDATE: PROPOSAL NUMBERS Call HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-two-stage_stage 1 has closed on 17. 03. 2026.

322 proposals have been submitted. The breakdown per topic is: HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-51-two-stage: 191 HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-53-two-stage: 79 HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-MAT-PROD-21-two-stage: 52 Evaluation results are expected to be communicated around the 4th week of June 2026. The technical issue affecting the upload of part B to the proposal submission tool has now been resolved.

Please note that, due to a technical issue, it is currently not possible to upload part B to the proposal submission tool. Our IT service is actively working to resolve the issue shortly. We apologise for any temporary inconvenience caused.

The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-53-two-stage, HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-MAT-PROD-21-two-stage, HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-51-two-stage Found 6 annotations in info base Opening date: 2025-12-16 (6 months ago) Closing date: 2026-03-17 (3 months ago) Contribution: 4,000,000 - 6,000,000 This call topic has been appended 4 times by the EC with news.

call update: proposal numbersproposal nu... the technical issue affecting the upload... dear applicants, please note that, due t...

the submission session is now available... HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-two-stage Call topics are often grouped together in a call. Sometimes this is for a thematic reason, but often it is also for practical reasons.

There are 2 other topics in this call: HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-51-two-stage HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-MAT-PROD-21-two-stage Showing the latest information. Found 9 versions of this call topic in the F&T portal. Check the differences between the versions.

You must be logged in to add annotations Added 5 months ago by Alrun Hauke According to information provided at the Cluster 4 Info Days 2026, for OT and IT integration, it is acceptable to use a generic integration approach or to cover only the OT parts used in pilots. The topic does not force one approach.

The proposal should justify the added value of whichever integration level it chooses and explain why it makes sense for the targeted process-industry cases. Added 5 months ago by Alrun Hauke According to information provided at the Cluster 4 Info Days 2026, contributions to standardisation can support faster uptake, especially when developing new materials and processes.

Also, policy recommendations are generally welcome in R&I projects and can be included if they are relevant. Neither is strictly an expected outcome of this topic, however. Added 5 months ago by Alrun Hauke According to information provided at the Cluster 4 Info Days 2026, cyber-security is not a standalone mandatory research line in this topic.

But applicants should explain how their solution reduces operational risks and what the novelty is for the process-industry context, rather than assuming baseline integration security is sufficient without justification.

Added 5 months ago by Alrun Hauke According to information provided at the Cluster 4 Info Days 2026, partners from an unsuccessful stage 1 consortium can join another consortium that passed stage 1, provided the consortium stays consistent with the objectives that were evaluated at stage 1. Because stage 2 requires a more detailed implementation plan and a more accurate budget calculation, the budget may also be adjusted somewhat.

Added 5 months ago by Alrun Hauke This is a two-stage call topic. The first stage will be avaluated blindly, meaning your part B for the first stage may not contain any information on the identity of your consortium members. Watch the recording of the EC info session on how this works: https://www.

youtube. com/watch? v=sz2MWKDbFdE Call Document info: POLICY/INITIATIVE BACKGROUND Added 6 months ago by Monica Pretti - Processes4Planet Partnership: https://www.

aspire2050. eu/p4planet/about-p4planet. - Relative Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA): https://www.

aspire2050. eu/sites/default/files/users/user85/p4planet_07. 06.

2022. _final. pdf.

- Update of the above SRIA (March 2024): https://www. aspire2050. eu/sites/default/files/pressoffice/publication/p4planet_sria_update_final_version_march_2024.

pdf. - AI, Data and Robotics Partnership (ADRA): https://adr-association. eu/.

- Relative Strategic Research, Innovation, and Deployment Agenda (SRIDA): https://adr-association. eu/sites/default/files/2024-09/Adra%20Strategic%20Research%20Jul24_v2-2_0. pdf.

- Apply AI Strategy: https://digital-strategy. ec. europa.

eu/en/policies/apply-ai. This is just a very first implementation, better visualisation coming Horizon Europe Industry 2026 Brokerage Event This is the place to find partners for EU projects in industrial technologies and advanced manufacturing under Horizon Europe 2026 Cluster 4 Industry calls with deadlines 17 Mar 2026 (first stage of two-stage calls ) and 21 Apr 2026 ( single-stage calls ) .

Horizon Europe Cluster 4 Info Days 2026 During the Info Days, representatives of the European Commission will present the 2026 call topics in Horizon Europe Cluster 4 and answer questions from the audience. You do not need to register to attend this online event, simply follow the live stream on the day.

KETs Brokerage Event 2026 Do you want to tackle the challenges of Industry, Manufacturing & Production, Materials , Digital/AI/Robotics, Batteries and Hydrogen ? - Then use the unique opportunities of the KETs (Key Enabling Technologies) 2026 EU Brokerage Event on February 5, 2026 in Karlsruhe, Germany! Events are added by the ideal-ist NCP community and are hand-picked.

If you would like to suggest an event, please contact idealist@ffg. at . What phase of the topic timeline are we in?

This timeline contains some suggestions on what are realistic actions you should or could take at this moment. The timeline is based on the information provided by the call topic. 2025-10-16 - 8 months ago The call topics are published first in the Work Programme, which is available a while before the call opens.

By following up the Work Programme publications, you can get a headstart. 2025-12-13 - 6 months ago The call was first imported in TopicTree. 2025-12-16 - 6 months ago The call opened for submissions.

2026-03-17 - 3 months ago Deadline for submitting a project. Time to inform applicants 2026-08-17 - 1 month from now The maximum time to inform applicants (TTI) of the outcome of the evaluation is five months from the call closure date. 2026-11-17 - 4 months from now The maximum time to sign grant agreements (TTG) is three months from the date of informing applicants.

Project information comes from CORDIS (for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe) and will be sourced from F&T Portal (for Digital Europe projects) This call topic is part of: <p>This large ecosystem bubble includes all the call topics in the field of AI, data and robotics from H2020, Horizon Europe Cluster 4 and Digital Europe. A lot of these call topics are driven by co-programmed partnerships.

In H2020, these were the Big Data Value PPP (with the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://bdva. eu/">Big Data Value Association</a> as the private side) and the SPARC PPP (with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://eu-robotics.

net/">euRobotics</a> aisbl as the private side), in Horizon Europe and Digital Europe these two partnerships have been replaced by the co-programmed partnership for AI, Data and Robotics - with the AI, data and robotics association (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://adr-association. eu/">Adra</a>) as the private side.

<br>It is not necessary to be a member of these associations to apply for the call topics listed here, but knowing these associations and joining their events is helpful to get to know the ecosystem, find partners and understand the strategic aims behind individual call topics. </p> This section will come soon and contain the scraped information from the call document, such as the expected impact, scope, and other relevant sections.

In the meantime, you can find this information in the call text section or directly on the F&T portal.