# Advanced sensor technologies and multimodal sensor integration for multiple application domains (IA) (Photonics Partnership)
EUACC page: https://www.euacc.ai/calls/HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01
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## Public content

**topic id:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01
**call id:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04
**title:** Advanced sensor technologies and multimodal sensor integration for multiple application domains (IA) (Photonics Partnership)
**programme:** Horizon Europe
**cluster:** CL4
**status:** closed
**deadline date:** 2025-10-02T00:00:00+00:00
**deadline model:** single-stage
**start date:** 2025-06-10T00:00:00+00:00
**url:** https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01
**description:** Expected Outcome:
Photonic sensor technologies enable precision and versatility in sensing across multiple domains. The integration into multimodal systems enhances data accuracy, speed and reliability. Advancements in photonic sensors and their multimodal integration aim to elevate diagnostics, monitoring, and sensing by improving efficiency, performance, and reliability while reducing size and manufacturing costs and power consumption.
The development of sensor technologies and multimodal integration is closely aligned with several key EU policies. These include achieving open strategic autonomy in digital and emerging enabling technologies, enhancing Europe's technological sovereignty, and supporting the twin transition to a digital and green economy by promoting energy-efficient, competitive, and resilient digital infrastructures.
The initiative also aims to advance the digital transformation by providing access to high-quality environmental data, supporting the development of technologies for privacy, compliance, and data integrity to empower decision-making and foster a fair data economy.
Lastly, it contributes to the green transition by leveraging photonic sensor technologies for environmental monitoring and sustainable practices. It aligns with the EU's objectives for a green and digital economy, enhancing system operations and promoting innovation in eco-friendly practices, thus strengthening Europe's technological leadership for societal and economic progress.
Projects are expected to contribute to at least three of the following outcomes to fully exploit the potential of photonics for a digital, green and healthy future in Europe:
• Increase the efficiency of developed photonic sensors, surpassing existing technologies in aspects such as energy consumption, data acquisition and processing speed, as well as measurement accuracy.
• Significantly reduce the size, weight, or footprint of the sensors and quantify advancements over current technologies.
• Improve both intrinsic and extrinsic performance metrics to boost measurement accuracy for at least three use-case scenarios.
• Extend the sensing and testing capabilities of photonic sensors by linking optical with non-optical measurement parameters (e.g. for acoustic sensing or electromagnetic sensing).
• Contribute to reducing manufacturing costs and increasing resource-efficiency, while also enhancing reliability and durability of the targeted sensor systems.
 They are additionally expected to:
• Help secure the open strategic autonomy for Europe by ensuring intellectual property and production means of key technologies are maintained within the EU, reducing dependencies and enhancing negotiation power in technological cooperation.
• Help maximise international competitiveness by increasing the uptake and translation of photonic technologies into new products and services, guided by key technology requirements.
 Scope:
The scope of this topic focuses on the advancement and application of photonic sensor technologies and their integration into multimodal systems. Proposals are expected to address the development of sensor technologies and their validation through trials in realistic use cases. This includes exploring multi-modal sensor capabilities, as well as employing sensor fusion and machine learning approaches for the analysis of sensor data. Techniques should address at least two different technology approaches, i.e. sensor modalities, of which at least one must be photonic from the following areas:
• 3D sensing and imaging such as LIDAR, optical coherence tomography (OCT), optical tomography, interferometry, photoacoustics, etc.
• Communication fiber sensing
• Chemical and gas sensing   
• Bio- and medical sensing and/or imaging  
• Particle sensing   
• Integrated photonic solutions
 In addition, the proposals could focus on developing and integrating algorithms designed to enhance the processing capabilities and decision-making accuracy of photonic sensors. These algorithms may help to optimize the interpretation of complex sensor data, enable real-time analytics, ambient intelligence and adaptive responses in dynamic environments.
Furthermore, projects should aim to provide significant improvements in one or more of the application domains listed below and to demonstrate these in at least three use case scenarios. Demonstrators would be expected to reach TRL 4-5 while the photonic techniques would be developed up to TRL 7.
This expectation underlines the call's objective to foster innovations that have a substantial and beneficial impact on society and various industry sectors:
• Healthcare (medical diagnostics, disinfection, treatment through improved imaging techniques and diagnostic accuracy).
• Transportation Safety (enhanced safety features in automotive and aerospace industries through better sensing capabilities).
• Industrial efficiency and sustainability (industrial processes such as manufacturing, quality control, increasing precision and automation through improved sensing technologies).
• Agricultural/Food Sector (precision agriculture, food safety, food waste reduction and supply chain management through improved sensing techniques for monitoring crop health, detecting contaminants, and optimizing production processes and raw material utilisation).
• Environmental Monitoring and sustainable energy (pollution monitoring, climate research, renewable energy infrastructure and natural disaster mitigation).
• Security, safety and resilience of people and critical infrastructure (face identification, long distance observation by day and night, (infra-)structural health monitoring, chemical and gas sensing, explosive detection)
• Protection and efficient operation of optical communications, risk management of data transport and processing including increased resilience to cyber security.
 Proposals submitted under this topic should include a business scenario and exploitation strategy.
Research must build on existing standards or contribute to standardisation. Where relevant, interoperability for data sharing should be addressed.
All projects should build on or seek collaboration with existing projects and develop synergies with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives, funding programmes and platforms, in particular the Digital Europe Programme (DEP).
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Activities are expected to start at TRL 3 and achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
**conditions:** General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
are 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
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 Eligible Conditions
Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.

Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. 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
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and award: 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
is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
 Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) 
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations 
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) 

Guidance
HE Programme Guide 
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
HE MGA 

Additional documents:
 HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 7. Digital, Industry and Space
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764 
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment 
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement 
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual 
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions 
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement
**action type:** HORIZON Innovation Actions
**budget:** 
  **budget Years Columns:** 
    - 2025
  **budget Topic Action Map:** 
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        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2025:** 25000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2025-10-02
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 5
        **max Contribution:** 6000000
        **min Contribution:** 4000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-06-10
    **110969:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DATA-02 - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2025:** 30000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2025-10-02
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 4
        **max Contribution:** 8000000
        **min Contribution:** 6000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-06-10
    **110970:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-05 - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2025:** 20000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2025-10-02
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 10000000
        **min Contribution:** 10000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-06-10
    **110971:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-07 - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2025:** 30000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2025-10-02
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 15000000
        **min Contribution:** 15000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-06-10
    **110972:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DATA-03 - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2025:** 15000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2025-10-02
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 3
        **max Contribution:** 6000000
        **min Contribution:** 4000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-06-10
    **110973:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-04 - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2025:** 7000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2025-10-02
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 4000000
        **min Contribution:** 3000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-06-10
    **110974:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-HUMAN-08 - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2025:** 5000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2025-10-02
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 2000000
        **min Contribution:** 1000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-06-10
**keywords:** HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01, HORIZON-CL4-2025-04, Optoelectronics, Photonic integration, photonic integrated circuits, Photonics, Sensor Technology and Components
**last synced at:** 2026-11-09T17:23:17.403+00:00

## Review record

No independent verification record is available.

## Source metadata