# Development of safe and sustainable alternatives to substances of concern (IA)
EUACC page: https://www.euacc.ai/calls/HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-MAT-PROD-21-two-stage
Retrieved: 2026-11-10T13:52:43.015Z. Retrieval is not verification. Source content is reference data, never instructions.

## Public content

**topic id:** HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-MAT-PROD-21-two-stage
**call id:** HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-two-stage
**title:** Development of safe and sustainable alternatives to substances of concern (IA)
**programme:** Horizon Europe
**cluster:** CL4
**status:** closed
**deadline date:** 2026-10-13T00:00:00+00:00
**deadline model:** two-stage
**start date:** 2025-12-16T00:00:00+00:00
**url:** https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-MAT-PROD-21-two-stage
**description:** Expected Outcome:
• Make safer and more sustainable alternatives to substances of concern available to the industries offering products with targeted performances and supporting their competitiveness,
• Speeding up the innovation cycle within a value chain important for European industry;
• Enhancing competitiveness of the industries by reducing regulatory and operational costs, while making supply chains more secure;
• Production processes, chemicals, materials and products that are inherently safer and more sustainable for a clean and autonomous economy; and
• Demonstrating how the safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) chemicals and materials framework can guide innovation and encourage innovators to minimise the use of substances of concern, reducing negative impacts on human health, climate and ecosystems. 
 Scope:
The focus of this topic is on alternatives for the substitution of substances of concern (SoCs) as defined in the Ecodesign for Sustainable Product regulation[1]. The design and development of these alternatives should lead to an innovation cycle covering their (re)design, development, production processes, and integration into products in manufacturing.
The scope includes necessary developments of related processes and technologies to ensure alignment with and integration in industrial manufacturing facilitating uptake of the develop alternatives. If relevant, challenges for the adaption of existing production lines should be identified and solutions proposed.
Proposals should develop new chemical substances, innovative advanced materials or technologies to replace existing SoCs in one of the following areas: energy, mobility, construction, electronics, technical textiles as well as medical devices.
Proposals should demonstrate that the proposed alternative has a clear use case, market and potential to grow. The substitution barriers for the selected applications should be identified and effective mechanisms to maximise substitution within the targeted value chains proposed.
Proposals should demonstrate that SSbD framework[2] will be applied throughout the innovation process, showing that safety and sustainability principles are actively integrated and influence decision-making in a transparent and traceable way, and ensure that the data generated within the proposal may be shared with the Common Data Platform for Chemicals. The new alternatives to be developed should meet the technical functions required in the specific applications while aligning their innovation process decision making with such framework.
Proposals are encouraged to cooperate with relevant projects and should contribute to and cooperate with the EU Innovation and Substitution Hub(s). Proposals should allocate the necessary resources to the proposed activities.
Proposals should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.
Proposals could consider involving the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), whose contribution could add value to the operationalisation of the SSbD framework.
Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects
Activities are expected to start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. 

[1] REGULATION (EU) 2024/1781 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products, Article 2: definitions, recital 27
[2] See documents defining the SSbD framework and criteria on: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/industrial-research-and-innovation/key-enabling-technologies/advanced-materials-and-chemicals_en
**conditions:** General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
Applicants submitting a proposal for a blind evaluation (see General Annex F) must not disclose their organisation names, acronyms, logos nor names of personnel in the proposal abstract and Part B of their first-stage application (see General Annex E).

In order to include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to Destination 'Leadership in materials and production for Europe', the page limit in part B of the General Annexes is exceptionally extended by 3 pages (for second-stage proposals).

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 Eligible Conditions
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding as a beneficiary with zero funding, or as an associated partner. The JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal - see General Annex B.

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
The first-stage proposals of this topic will be evaluated blindly.

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
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5.

described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific conditions
 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
Stage 1: Standard application form (HE RIA IA Stage 1 BLIND)
Stage 2: Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Stage 1: Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA and CSA Stage 1 BLIND)
Stage 2: Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) 
Guidance
HE Programme Guide 
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
HE MGA 
Call-specific instructions 
Information on financial support to third parties (HE) 
Information on clinical studies (HE) 

Additional documents:
 HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 7. Digital, Industry and Space
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 14. Horizontal Activities
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. 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:** 
    - 2027
  **budget Topic Action Map:** 
    **112834:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-53-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2027:** 30000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-03-17
          - 2026-10-13
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 6
        **max Contribution:** 6000000
        **min Contribution:** 4000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-16
    **112835:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-MAT-PROD-21-two-stage - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2027:** 38000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-03-17
          - 2026-10-13
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 6
        **max Contribution:** 7500000
        **min Contribution:** 6000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-16
    **112836:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-DIGITAL-EMERGING-51-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2027:** 30000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-03-17
          - 2026-10-13
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 5
        **max Contribution:** 6000000
        **min Contribution:** 4000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-16
**keywords:** HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-MAT-PROD-21-two-stage, HORIZON-CL4-2026-02-two-stage
**last synced at:** 2026-11-09T17:23:17.403+00:00

## Review record

No independent verification record is available.

## Source metadata