To apply, you must form a consortium of at least three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country:

• At least one independent legal entity established in a Member State, and
• At least two other independent legal entities each established either in a different Member State or an Associated Country (this includes the UK).

For CSAs the requirement is at least 1 legal entity established in a Member State or Associated Countries.

If you would like help to find a project partner, read about the help that Innovate UK Business Connect can offer; you can also connect via the CBE-JU networking platform.

The CBE JU calls fund three types of actions:

• Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) include activities of testing, demonstrating and piloting. These activities aim to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. These may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation on a small-scale prototype, in a laboratory or simulated environment. Projects are expected to be at the level of laboratory or simulated environments and expected to deliver TRL 3-5 at the end of the projects.
• Innovation Actions (IAs) include activities of testing, demonstrating and piloting and also aim at scaling up activities from prototype, in a (near to) operational environment, industrial or otherwise, to large-scale product validation and market replication. Projects are demonstration activities in relevant and operational environments and expected to deliver TRL 6-8 at the end of the projects.
  • Flagships are an important and specific type of Innovation Action which aim to support the first application/deployment in the EU market of an innovation that has already been demonstrated but not yet applied/deployed in the EU market (first-of-its-kind innovation). Flagship projects will need to deliver TRL 8 at the end of the projects with a large-scale first-of-its-kind facility.
• Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs) address needs to i) structure stakeholder communities; ii) support dissemination and exploitation of research or innovation projects; iii) exploit synergies of scale among projects; iv) raise awareness in specific areas; v) support technological visions (e.g., road-mapping, user cases, etc.) and outreach (e.g., events, publications, etc.); vi) promote international cooperation with specific regions and/or technological areas for any of the above-mentioned activities; vii) undertake other activities similar in nature to those above (i.e., this is not an exhaustive list).

• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IAFlag-01: Boosting biorefinery competitiveness through biotech (Flagship: €20m for a single project)
  • Primary outcome: Full industrial scale biorefinery and related value chain(s) for the sustainable production of bio-based products using biotech as a key enabling technology
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IAFlag-02: SSbD bio-based alternatives for fertilising and/or crop protection products (Flagship: €20m for a single project)
  • Primary outcome: Full industrial scale biorefinery and related value chain(s) for the sustainable production of bio-based fertilisers and/or crop protection solutions
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IAFlag-03: SSbD bio-based solutions for home and/or personal care (Flagship: €20m for a single project)
  • Primary outcome: Full industrial scale biorefinery and related value chain(s) to produce SSbD bio-based solutions for home and/or personal care sector with significantly improved sustainability.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IAFlag-04: Diversification of nutritional food ingredient sources for increased EU resilience and strategic autonomy (Flagship: €20m for a single project)
  • Primary outcome: Full industrial scale biorefinery and related value chain(s) for the production of nutritional food ingredients.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IA-01: Biotech routes for valorisation of residual biomass (total funding €14m, up to €7m per project)
  • Outcomes: Increased added value of residual biomass for biorefinery applications; availability of a wider portfolio of sustainable bio-based products via industrial biotech; robust, scalable and efficient biotech process(es) applicable to residual biomass.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IA-02: Bio-based additives as alternatives to unlock and increase recyclability and/or biodegradability (total funding €14m, up to €7m per project)
  • Outcomes: Wider availability of bio-based additives targeting high functional properties, stability and compatibility with polymers/matrices.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IA-03: Bio-based chemicals and/or materials from woody residues (total funding €14m, up to €7m per project)
  • Outcomes: Increased availability of bio-based chemicals and/or bio-based materials from woody residues; increased sustainability of forest-based value chains in cooperation with local forestry owners/cooperatives; improved end-of-life (EoL) of bio-based products from woody residues.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IA-04: High-performance, circular-by-design, bio-based thermosets (total funding €14m, up to €7m per project)
  • Outcomes: Wider availability of bio-based thermoset materials meeting high technical performance requirements; improved circularity of thermosets and downstream application(s) against specified market benchmarks taking into account production, use and EoL.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IA-05: Films and coatings for circular packaging (total funding €14m, up to €7m per project)
  • Outcomes: Wider availability of bio-based films and coatings for packaging products; improved technical performances of packaging products compared to fossil based and/or bio-based benchmarks; improved circularity of packaging products against specified market benchmarks taking into account production, use and EoL.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-RIA-01: Addressing separation and purification challenges in biorefineries (total funding €6.5m, up to €3.25m per project)
  • Outcomes: Enhancing competitiveness, efficiency, sustainability, circularity and safety of industrial biorefineries; efficient, selective and scalable separation and purification technology platform(s) with high potential to be integrated within existing and/or new biorefineries; purity and stability of targeted intermediates/product(s) compatible with further conversion requirements.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-RIA-02: SSbD bio-based polymers from alternative sources (total funding €6.5m, up to €3.25m per project)
  • Outcomes: Sustainable feedstock diversification for the production of bio-based polymers; scalable process(es) for obtaining SSbD bio-based polymers from bio-based feedstock alternative to primary biomass; enlarge the portfolio of performant bio-based polymers, opening up new market applications.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-RIA-03: Develop breakthrough and sustainable bio-based textile fibres (total funding €6.5m, up to €3.25m per project)
  • Outcomes: Wider availability of natural and/or man-made bio-based fibres meeting market requirements; scalable production processes for novel man-made and/or modified natural fibres; enhanced circularity and prevent microplastics release compared to benchmarks.
• HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-CSA-01: Supporting industry in the switch to sustainable and circular biobased products and processes (€1.2m for a single project)
  • Outcomes: Identification of technical, market and regulatory barriers and possible solutions for industry to ‘switch to bio-based’; contribution to filling the gap between bio-based sectors and the broader industrial landscape.

Read the full work programme for details of each call. You can also view the slides detailing each call from the Info Day.

The Info for CBE-JU 2026 was held on 21 March: watch the recording and download the slides.

If you would like to find collaboration partners, you can register on the CBE-JU networking platform at any time before the call deadline of 22 September.

Contact IUK Business Connect’s European team for any enquiries.