Open topic on driving innovation uptake of disaster risk solutions – Förderung EU-weit

Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following expected outcomes: • Accelerated adoption of high-TRL (Technology Readiness Level) disaster risk solutions across diverse sectors; • Facilitated integration of innovative technologies into existing disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery frameworks; • Promoted collaboration among stakeholders to scale proven solutions and enhance resilience; • Addressed barriers to deployment, ensuring accessibility and usability of advanced DRS technologies; • Strengthened evidence-based decision-making through demonstration and validation of high-TRL solutions in real-world scenarios; • Promoted visibility of civil security research results. Scope: This topic aims to foster the widespread adoption and integration of high-TRL (Technology Readiness Level) disaster risk solutions (DRS) across multiple sectors, enhancing societal resilience to various hazards, including climate. The focus is on overcoming barriers to deployment, ensuring accessibility, and strengthening collaboration among stakeholders to drive innovation uptake. Projects should promote the adoption of high-TRL solutions by public and private sector organizations involved in disaster risk management, developing strategies for scaling and commercializing innovative DRS technologies to ensure they reach end-users efficiently. They should also demonstrate how these technologies can complement or replace existing disaster preparedness, response, and recovery frameworks by developing integrated governance and coordination models across sectors and levels for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in multi-hazard and cascading risk scenario interoperability standards, and guidelines for integrating new solutions into national and European civil protection systems. The project should especially liaise and support other disaster resilience projects in driving their uptake as well as examine how to build synergy pathways with other preparedness grants, such as Knowledge for Action in Prevention & Preparedness (KAPP) funding call of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). Addressing deployment barriers is crucial, including identifying and mitigating technical, regulatory, financial, and social obstacles hindering the uptake of advanced solutions, while ensuring accessibility and usability for diverse stakeholders such as first responders, local authorities, and communities and individuals in a vulnerable situation. Projects should also demonstrate the real-world effectiveness of high-TRL solutions through large-scale pilot projects and demonstrations, generating robust evidence to support data-driven decision-making and optimize disaster risk reduction strategies. Initiatives should consider the capacity gaps of the UCPM[1], align with EU disaster resilience objectives and build on existing programs, ensuring synergies with relevant policies, funding mechanisms, and technological ecosystems. The private-public cooperation chapter of the Preparedness Union Strategy should especially be a guiding document. Proposals are encouraged to incorporate digital tools, AI-driven analytics, digital twins such as Destination Earth, IoT applications, and other emerging technologies to enhance disaster preparedness and response. Proposals should have a strategy to promote the visibility of the project and the results to the broader public in order to show the potential of European civil security research (political sphere, private sector, citizens). This could entail the European Civil Protection Forum and the European Commission Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre platform as examples. In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort. Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects Activities are expected to achieve TRL 8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. [1] eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52025DC0286 ">General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout 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 In line with the “restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China are not eligible to participate in the action. Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. The following additional eligibility criteria apply: This topic requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 3 first responders or authorities in charge of disaster risk[[Authorities in charge of disaster risk entail public bodies operating at the national level that hold legally defined responsibilities in the area of disaster risk management. This includes national civil protection authorities as well as other institutions that can demonstrate, through appropriate legal or administrative acts, a formal mandate to design, coordinate, or implement disaster risk prevention, preparedness, or response, measures.]] from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Information about security practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool. If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). 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 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. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]]. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme] Some activities resulting from this topic may involve using classified background and/or producing of security sensitive results (EUCI and SEN). Please refer to the related provisions in section B Security — EU classified and sensitive information of the General Annexes. 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) HE Programme Guide Model Grant Agreements (MGA) Lump Sum MGA Call-specific instructions Detailed budget table (HE LS) Information on financial support to third parties (HE) Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" Additional documents: HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 6. Civil Security for Society 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