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Home / Horizon Europe / HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-03

Innovative solutions for the sustainable and beautiful use of vertical space

Open now · HORIZON Innovation Actions · HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-03

Next cut-off
01 Dec '26
in 86 days
Per grant
€5.0M
the call's own average
Grants expected
3
projects that will be funded
Funding rate
70%
the rest is your own money

In context of Horizon Europe

This grant€5.0M
The track runs to the largest grant in Horizon Europe (€171M). The median across the 482 calls we publish is €5.3M, this one is below it.

What this call funds

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

  • Higher availability of innovative solutions for vertical space[1] use on the market.
  • The application of innovative solutions for vertical space use allows for a more efficient use of the existing built environment[1] and provides green spaces and/or affordable housing in neighbourhoods[1].

Scope:

The increased demand for housing and thus land can conflict with the need to preserve and restore nature and biodiversity in our neighbourhoods. Rethinking the way we use existing buildings and applying a smart and efficient use of space is thus crucial to limit urban sprawl.

There is therefore a need to develop solutions that make use of the under-used and un-used vertical space above our streets and buildings. Urban vertical farming, community gardens on rooftops, vertical extensions and other alternative multifunctional structures making use of these spaces might be suitable solutions to high-quality, sustainable[1] and affordable housing and green spaces while limiting land use. However, if not carefully planned and integrated, these solutions might face challenges such as social acceptance, regulatory barriers, and hold risks of excessive densification, neighbourhoods profound alteration as well as environmental risks.

Proposals are expected to address all of the following:

  • Develop and demonstrate at least one innovative solution that makes use of the un-used or under-used vertical space above buildings and/or streets in a beautiful[1] and sustainable manner to improve the availability and affordability of housing and / or provide more green spaces.
  • Integrate circularity principles[6] to the solution(s) developed.

Trimmed here, the full scope, expected outcomes and award criteria are on the official topic page ↗.

What applying costs you

ItemEstimateNote
Drafting effort6–8 weekssingle submission
Partner search4–8 weeksruns in parallel, and it is the part that slips
Your own money€2.1M30% of project cost, over the project's life
Time to first payment6–9 monthscut-off → evaluation → grant agreement

These are Bemzu's estimates from the call's structure (the number of stages and whether a consortium is required) not figures published by the Commission. Only the co-financing share is read from the call itself.

Where these conditions come from

Two kinds of row. Most are the sentence we read the condition from, quoted out of the call itself. Some say plainly that they are not a quotation but the programme's own rule for this type of action, the EU portal publishes a table of contents where the conditions should be, so for a Research and Innovation Action the rate comes from the rulebook rather than from the fiche.

ConditionQuoted from the call, or the rule behind it
Consortium sizeNot quoted from this call — Innovation Actions under the Horizon Europe rules are at least three independent legal entities from three different Member States or Associated Countries, at least one established in a Member State.
Funding rateNot quoted from this call — Innovation Actions under the Horizon Europe rules are funded at 70% of eligible costs for profit-making organisations, and 100% for non-profit legal entities — the rate shown here is the one that applies to a company.
Maturitynull Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

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