Digital, Industry and Space

Introduction to Digital, Industry and Space

Global Challenges Theme

You are currently exploring one of the 6 themes (clusters) under the “Global Challenges” category. This is your starting point to determine if your research and innovation aligns with funding opportunities in Digital, Industry and Space.

This cluster focuses on supporting key enabling technologies that are strategically important for Europe’s industrial future. Digital, Industry and Space centres on developing competitive, trusted technologies for European industry, aiming for global leadership. It emphasises a digital, low-carbon, and circular industry to address global challenges and strengthen Europe’s industrial base, resilience, and competitiveness.

Digital

A key underpinning element of the Horizon Europe programme, digital covers a wide range of topics and use cases across three destinations (and external partnership calls). Strategic aims include:

• Strengthening European capacities in key parts of digital and future supply chains, allowing agile responses to urgent needs, and investing in early discovery and industrial uptake of new technologies.
• Developing the next-generation computing and data technologies and infrastructures enabling the European single market for data with the corresponding data spaces and a trustworthy artificial intelligence ecosystem.
• A human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies, with a two-way engagement in the development of technologies, empowering end-users and workers, and supporting social innovation.

Watch the video: Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking.

Industry

Industry calls focus on 2 main destinations. Strategic aims include:

Circular economy, clean and climate-neutral industrial value chains, digital systems and infrastructures (networks, data centres), through innovative manufacturing processes and digitisation. New business models, sustainable-by-design advanced materials and technologies enabling the switch to decarbonisation in all major emitting industrial sectors, including green digital technologies.

Industrial leadership and increased autonomy in key strategic value chains with security of supply in raw materials, through breakthrough technologies, dynamic industrial innovation ecosystems and advanced solutions for substitution, resource and energy efficiency, effective reuse and recycling and clean primary production of raw materials, including critical raw materials and leadership in circular economy.

Space

Space technology and data is an integral part of our daily lives and forms a key component of technologies and applications across all sectors. To advance this use, the space calls focus on developing, deploying and using global space-based infrastructures, services, applications and data. This includes Europe’s capacity to access space, securing the autonomy of supply for critical technologies and equipment, as well as space science and security.

The space calls in Cluster 4 are split across two overarching themes; space based technology infrastructure and services, and applications. The applications call is managed by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), and the call topics can be found under the section ‘Other Actions’ in the work programme or on the EUSPA Horizon Europe webpages.

The Digital, Industry and Space Work Programme

Funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme for Cluster 4, this Work Programme document outlines the expected impacts as set out by Pillar 2 of the strategic plan and details specific calls for proposals and their relevant conditions to apply. Review this information before beginning your application process.

Summary and download for Pillar 2 – Digital, Industry and Space