RFCS Steel Big Tickets — Steel and Metals Action Plan
Funded large-scale pilot and demonstration projects for new low-carbon steelmaking processes and advanced steel grades, reaching TRL 7-8.
Projects are expected to achieve TRL 7-8 by completion, include an exploitation strategy for industrial integration, and quantify targeted improvements against existing installations or the relevant Emissions Trading Scheme benchmark. This topic carried its own EUR 25 million 2026 budget, separate from the sibling recycling-focused topic (EUR 50 million) in the same call document.
This 'Big Ticket' topic funds pilot or demonstration projects addressing new, sustainable and low-carbon steelmaking and finishing processes (Article 8 of Council Decision 2008/376/EC), or advanced steel grades and applications (Article 9). Proposals focused on recycling technologies instead belong under the sibling RFCS-2026-BT-Steel-CID topic in the same call.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see what you submit
Sign up free to see the timeline
Sign up free to see where teams trip up
Guides for this application
All guides →TRL Levels Explained for Deeptech Founders
Learn what TRL levels mean, how to estimate technology readiness, and how TRL affects grants, EIC Accelerator, SBIR/STTR, funding stage, and application evidence.
DocumentsGrant Work Plan Template: Work Packages, Gantt, Milestones, and Risks
Use this grant work plan template to structure work packages, tasks, owners, deliverables, Gantt timing, dependencies, and risk registers.
DocumentsProof-of-Concept Data for Grants: Evidence Examples for Deeptech Applications
See how to present proof-of-concept data in grant applications, with examples for evidence registers, test logs, pilot data, and prior project proof.
Start hereStartup Funding Stages for Deeptech: From Lab to Scale
A deeptech funding roadmap that maps startup funding stages to TRL, grants, SBIR/STTR, EIC Accelerator, pilots, VC, and scale-up evidence.
More from European Commission
All grants from this funder →Digital Europe Programme
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds Europe-wide digital capability development in AI, cybersecurity, semiconductors, hardware, and IoT.
Crime prevention approaches, online and off-line, tackling the nexus between addictions and crime
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds research and pilot collaboration between police authorities and civil-society groups to prevent addiction-linked crime across the EU.
Horizon Border Security: Accessible Travel Facilitation
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds two €4M border-crossing tech projects, run with Border or Coast Guard Authorities, built for travelers with disabilities or low digital skills.
Horizon Border Security: Age Assessment Reliability
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds a €1.33M project, run with border and coast guard authorities, that compares how reliable different ways of estimating a young migrant's age really are.
Horizon Border Security: Surveillance & Drone Detection
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds two €6M projects that build border detection and surveillance tech, run jointly with national Border and Coast Guard authorities.
Horizon Civil Security: Bioterrorism Prevention
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds a €3M project that reviews how synthetic biology could be misused for bioterrorism and pinpoints where monitoring and regulation fall short.
Similar grants
Browse the directory →
Interregional Innovation Investments Strand 1
🇪🇺EISMEA · European Union
Connects research teams and institutions for Interregional Innovation Investments Strand in manufacturing, materials science, and agriculture innovation.
Interregional Innovation Investments Strand 2a
🇪🇺EISMEA · European Union
Funds EISMEA Interregional Innovation Investments for small and medium-sized enterprises in developing European regions through cross-border transfer and capability building.
WIPANO Standards Participation for Companies
🇩🇪BMWE · Germany
Funds German companies with up to 1,000 employees taking part in national, European, and international standardization committees through WIPANO.
Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC)
🇳🇱NWO · Netherlands
Funds multi-sector consortium research in the Netherlands with private co-financing for innovation readiness.
MIT SME Innovation Grants
🇳🇱EZK · Netherlands
Supports Dutch small businesses with MIT Innovation Grants for projects in priority sectors and practical technology development.
EIC Accelerator Challenge: Boosting the European Critical Raw Materials value chain
🇪🇺EIC · European Union
Supports securing the European critical raw materials value chain across extraction, processing, and strategic substitution.