Grants

Support for the deployment of Multi-Country Projects (MCPs), delivering fully functional digital infrastructures or operational services with clear long-term sustainability. Projects must contribute to the digital transformation and industrial recovery of the EU by involving at least three Member States. Implementation may be through a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) or similar mechanisms, pooling resources from the EU, Member States, and private entities. Funded projects must demonstrate significant added EU value, foster cross-border digital services and infrastructures, bridge the gap between pilot and deployment, and support a secure, interoperable Single Market across public and private sectors.

The ERC Proof of Concept Grants aim to facilitate the exploration of the commercial and social innovation potential of ERC-funded research. These grants are available only to Principal Investigators whose proposals build substantially on their ERC-funded research. The grant provides a lump sum to cover both direct and indirect eligible costs over a period of eighteen months.

This prize aims to reward Energy Communities with innovative governance structures and management of Renewable Energy Technologies (RET), to inspire and accelerate progress in other energy communities, promote effective business models, and contribute to the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. The prize showcases replicable best practices that address challenges and bottlenecks related to management, governance, and the integration of services, encouraging inclusive and innovative approaches to climate goals at the city and community level.

This grant aims to design and validate innovative business models for the integration of renewable hydrogen, produced via electrolysis, into industry. The focus is on overcoming economic, contractual, and financial bottlenecks that currently hinder large-scale adoption. The objective is to accelerate the financial maturity, investment-readiness, and replication of successful models for industrial hydrogen integration, supporting the decarbonisation of energy-intensive sectors, enhancing competitiveness, and attracting private investment throughout Europe.

The grant aims to support the development of novel technologies for high-efficiency hydrogen production from renewable gases and biogenic waste, ensuring sustainability, cost reduction, scalability, and integration of advanced reactor designs. The project fosters the adoption of innovative thermochemical or biological pathways, process intensification, and integration with other industries, targeting enhanced hydrogen yield and energy efficiency, advanced impurity management, and circular approaches. The expected outcomes include improved hydrogen yield, reduced costs (CAPEX and OPEX), increased use of renewable and waste sources, process electrification, minimized direct CO2 emissions, and expanded use of by-products for economic and environmental benefits.

The grant aims to foster the development, design, and demonstration of robust multi-fuel Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) powertrains tailored for maritime transport. This topic addresses the urgent need to decarbonise global shipping, reducing greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions by supporting innovative SOFC systems capable of operating efficiently with hydrogen and other alternative fuels under challenging marine conditions. Projects must demonstrate improved system durability, efficiency, and integration in maritime vessels, with the ultimate goal of enabling large-scale, reliable, and safe multi-MW SOFC installations to accelerate the green energy transition in waterborne transport and strengthen Europe's industry in low- and zero-emission maritime technologies.

This grant aims to demonstrate the use of reversible Solid Oxide Cells (rSOC) at MW-scale for efficient, long-duration energy storage and grid balancing by integrating renewable hydrogen into electricity and gas grids. The project will validate rSOC performance, reliability, economic viability, and control strategies in real-world conditions, contribute to best practice and regulatory guidelines, and support sector coupling and the transition to a decarbonised and resilient European energy system.

As the hydrogen economy expands, the need for efficient, cost-effective, small scale, decentralised hydrogen liquefaction is growing—especially for remote transport hubs, off-grid or remote communities, and industrial facilities with hydrogen demand below 5 metric tons per day (tpd). The aim is to develop new technologies that optimise energy use, ensure safety, lower capital and operational costs, and cope with fluctuating demand, making small-scale hydrogen liquefaction viable and competitive. Projects are expected to contribute to rolling out next-generation decentralised hydrogen liquefaction technologies, reducing energy intensity to 12 kWh/kgH2 at 500 kg/day and 10 kWh/kgH2 at 5 tpd, and reducing liquefaction cost to about €3.5/kg.

The grant aims to develop and apply high-quality, openly accessible datasets (Life Cycle Inventories) covering key hydrogen (FCH) technologies and products. These datasets will support robust life cycle (sustainability) assessment and ecodesign studies, strengthen the European value chain, enhance reporting of life cycle profiles, and accelerate the mass-market adoption of sustainable hydrogen products. Projects must build at least 20 such datasets and cover environmental, and where possible, also economic and social dimensions. Results are expected to contribute to the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA objectives for life cycle thinking tools and sustainability indicators, enabling transparent and comparable assessments and supporting circular economy and sustainable investments.