Horizon Bioeconomy: Industrial & Environmental Biotech

Developing and advancing key enabling technologies for industrial and environmental biotechnology and biomanufacturing — synthetic and molecular biology, gene editing, metabolic engineering, microbiome science, and biofoundry approaches — aimed at clean growth and environmental solutions, with pilot-scale validation encouraged. Funded work has to integrate digital technologies (AI/ML, bioinformatics) and converge with nature-based solutions such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection, following circular-economy principles, with environmental and human-health safety assessed quantitatively from the outset. Proposals must also produce policy and industry recommendations grounded in a risk-benefit assessment. Health biotechnology and biofuel or bioenergy applications are out of scope — those sit under Horizon Europe Clusters 1 and 5 instead.