Powering Safe Communities Program

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) section 1459E to accelerate career pipelines in the water utilities sector and provide access to water utility workforce opportunities. This action advances the Administration’s priorities, including the goals of Make America Healthy Again, by focusing on building the nation’s water workforce which is critical to ensuring public health and environment protection. Consistent with the law, this action will help inform people about the role of water and wastewater utilities in their communities and increase the awareness of water utility career opportunities.The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support expanding career opportunities in the drinking water and wastewater utility sector and elevating public awareness about jobs in the water workforce. Eligible applicants under this funding opportunity are Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), nonprofit organizations, and public works departments and agencies. Eligible activities include apprenticeship and internship programs, education programs designed for elementary, secondary, and higher education students, regional industry collaborations, and training programs designed to support decentralized workforce. Efforts should aim for measurable results and clearly show tangible benefits for water systems and communities. The proposed activities support the Agency’s Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative’s Pillar 1: Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American. Examples include training individuals through an apprenticeship program and placing them into water sector jobs, training individuals for industry accreditation, and developing collaborations with community colleges, technical schools, utilities to address the water utility employment needs. Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OW-OWM-26-03. Assistance Listing: 66.445. Funding Instrument: CA. Category: ED. Award Amount: Up to $7.8M per award.

Geopolitical competition and socioeconomic resilience in CCAM: an innovation and policy roadmap for EU leadership (CCAM Partnership) is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes: Assessment of Europe’s CCAM position in global competition, identifying strategic vulnerabilities, dependencies and opportunities across business models, supply chains, critical components, technological capabilities, infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks, supported by advanced AI-driven analytics and innovation mapping tools. Stakeholder-driven, participatory future scenarios and strategic pathways that define Europe’s leading role in the evolving geopolitical, technological, and economic landscape of CCAM. These should be developed using advanced foresight methods ( e.g. qualitative scenarios, horizon scanning, technology roadmapping, etc.), complemented by iterative validation through a minimum of 3 dedicated Living Labs selected to represent diverse European regions, urbanisation levels, and governance capacities, ensuring a structured, robust, and anticipatory approach to long-term decision-making. A data-driven understanding of the socioeconomic effects of different CCAM deployment pathways, based on a quantified assessment across Member States and Associated Countries, economic sectors, and demographic groups, at national and cross-national levels, using innovative, integrated economic-transport modelling that captures dynamic interactions, systemic feedback loops, and long-term impacts. Socioeconomic effects may include, but are not limited to, employment and growth aspects, equity, and transport poverty. Robust governance models, policies and business strategies (including for SMEs and micro-enterprises) that strengthen Europe’s leadership, economic resilience, and market positioning in CCAM, developed through interdisciplinary methods combining policy analysis, institutional diagnostics, and scenario-based stress testing, to ensure robustness under diverse future geopolitical and economic conditions. These should identify viable business cases, recommend sectoral R&D priorities, and support innovation scaling for both public and private entities. Additionally, they should ensure long-term adaptability to geopolitical and market uncertainties, promote equitable growth, reduce external dependencies, and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities, all while promoting sustainable growth. Ensuring close coordination and synergies the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance (ECAVA), in particular the autonomous driving roadmap, announced by the European Automotive Action Plan. Scope: CCAM is a key area of global competition and one of the five pillars of the European Automotive Action Plan for the automotive sector, aimed at helping the industry regain its leadership in the shift towards smarter (AI-powered), cleaner, and more connected vehicles, However, CCAM deployment is shaped by evolving geopolitical dynamics, rapid technological advancements, and economic uncertainties. Europe must secure its leadership in CCAM and strengthen its socioeconomic resilience by continuously addressing vulnerabilities and identifying robust pathways for policy development and market deployment. This topic will assess the global geopolitical landscape of CCAM innovation, map future pathways, and develop evidence-based strategies for policymakers, businesses, and investors. The results will support robust, future-proof policies, business strategies, and investment frameworks, ensuring a resilient, inclusive, and competitive European CCAM ecosystem. Proposed actions are expected to address all of the following aspects: Conduct a comprehensive geopolitical and economic analysis of CCAM to map Europe’s strategic position in global competition. Identify vulnerabilities, dependencies and opportunities in business models, supply chains, critical raw materials, technological capabilities, digital and physical infrastructure, validation processes, safety benchmarks, and pricing strategies, supported by AI-driven analytics and innovatio Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Climate, Energy and Mobility, Industrial Competitiveness in Transport, Clean, Safe and Accessible Transport and Mobility, Smart Mobility

Integrated Production and Product Development for Next-Generation Lithium-based Batteries for Mobility (BATT4EU and Made in Europe Partnerships) is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: Proposals are expected to contribute to all following points: The projects must fulfil the performance targets, at the cell and system level, corresponding to the specific targeted application, to be specified in the proposal. Appropriate KPI must be defined for the energy density (volumetric and gravimetric), Power density and C-rate, number of cycles and cost defined under operational conditions. Boost EU competitiveness in next-generation battery technologies for mobility applications. Develop pilot manufacturing capability for next generation lithium-based batteries. Strengthen the EU battery value chain, including new manufacturing equipment, automation, and scalable production processes. Advance the understanding of next-generation battery interfaces at an industrial scale, ensuring manufacturability, durability, and cost-effectiveness. In the case of aviation, the battery requirements should be compatible at minimum with EASA CS.23 (level 4), CS.27 and preferably with CS.25 categories. Scope: This topic will support the scaling-up of next generation (i.e., beyond generation 3) lithium-based batteries (e.g., semi and all-solid state, generation5) from cell prototypes (TRL 4-5) to demonstration of scalable production and demonstration of cell integration into module/pack level. The projects will cover pilot production, process automation, system integration and demonstration, advanced cell design, and supply chain development to ensure that Europe remains at the forefront of battery innovation. The projects must address the needs of a single specific and strategically relevant transport mode, and the targeted mode must be clearly indicated in the proposal. The following transport modes are in scope: Automotive; Aviation; Rail; Waterborne. The projects are expected to cover all of the following production targets: Upscaling of components production Technologies: Optimisation and pilot-scale integration methods of anode and cathode materials compatible with next generation electrolytes Development of Cell Concepts, Manufacturing Equipment and Machinery Development of flexible and high-throughput processing methods for large-scale cell production (e.g., laser patterning, vacuum sintering, and advanced calendaring). Development of next-generation production machinery, tailored for next generation lithium-ion cell manufacturing (e.g., solid electrolyte deposition tools, high-precision stacking machines). Design and demonstration of module and packs into vehicles/relevant environment Develop module/pack design and relevant sensors and Battery Management Systems (BMS), optimised for supporting the system, for seamless cell-to-system integration, regulatory compliance, and specific end-user application requirements. Perform comprehensive validation, including performance, durability, and safety testing under realistic operational conditions, addressing thermal management, mechanical stress, vibration resistance, and electrical performance at relevant scales. The Commission initiative for Safe and Sustainable by Design [1] (SSbD) sets a framework for assessing the safety and sustainability of chemicals and materials which should be considered as a reference for project proposals. Whenever the expected exploitation of project results entails developing, creating, manufacturing and marketing a product or process, or in creating and providing a service, the plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results must include a strategy for such exploitation. The exploitation plans are expected to include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan) indicating the possible funding sources to be potentially used (in particular the Innovation Fund). Proposals could consider the involvement of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) [2] whose contribution could consist of performing experimental or desk-top research on battery performance or safety. Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Climate, Energy and Mobility, Energy Supply, Energy Storage