System innovation experimentation for Industry 5.0 (IA)
HORIZON Innovation Actions under CL4-Industry 2025
Funding Amount
Amount not specified
Deadline
23/09/2025
Eligible Organization Types
Non-profit, Private Business, Research Institution, Public Institution
Trusted by
What is the System innovation experimentation for Industry 5.0 (IA) Call?
Grant Description
This call supports innovation actions to develop and apply Industry 5.0 enabling conditions, processes and methods via system-innovation experimentation in regional and local industrial ecosystems. It addresses the need for human-centric, sustainable and resilient industrial transformation, tackling skills gaps, boosting competitiveness and organisational agility through stakeholder-driven experimentation, sandboxes and systemic incentives. Projects build on existing Industry 5.0 research and in...
Required Results for Successful Funding
Expected Outcomes
Funded projects are expected to deliver:
• Demonstrated, evidence-based incentives and mechanisms that catalyze systemic transformation of industrial ecosystems towards Industry 5.0.
• Measurable improvements in workforce skills upgrading and organizational learning capacities, leading to enhanced competitiveness of EU industries.
• Deployment and application of Industry 5.0 enabling conditions, processes and methods at regional/local level, revitalizing industrial ecosystems.
• Concrete evidence on implementation of human-centric technologies and learning-organization models that enhance resilience, organizational agility and adaptation to twin (green and digital) transitions.
• Strategies and tools for attracting and retaining top talent in regional industrial ecosystems.
• Digital/AI-enabled decision-support tools and peer-learning formats that accelerate place-based Industry 5.0 transformation.
• Documented results and policy recommendations for upscaling Industry 5.0 innovations across EU industrial and regional ecosystems.
• Demonstrated, evidence-based incentives and mechanisms that catalyze systemic transformation of industrial ecosystems towards Industry 5.0.
• Measurable improvements in workforce skills upgrading and organizational learning capacities, leading to enhanced competitiveness of EU industries.
• Deployment and application of Industry 5.0 enabling conditions, processes and methods at regional/local level, revitalizing industrial ecosystems.
• Concrete evidence on implementation of human-centric technologies and learning-organization models that enhance resilience, organizational agility and adaptation to twin (green and digital) transitions.
• Strategies and tools for attracting and retaining top talent in regional industrial ecosystems.
• Digital/AI-enabled decision-support tools and peer-learning formats that accelerate place-based Industry 5.0 transformation.
• Documented results and policy recommendations for upscaling Industry 5.0 innovations across EU industrial and regional ecosystems.
Funded areas
Scope Requirements
Proposals must:
1. Ground activities in a systems-thinking approach to bolster economic and environmental resilience of regional/local industrial ecosystems and enhance sustainable competitiveness of EU industries.
2. Build on the results of the Industry 5.0 Community of Practice and other related Horizon Europe projects.
3. Involve expertise in Social Sciences and Humanities (especially systems thinking or complexity science) to underpin system innovation and transformation initiatives.
4. Identify a clear, long-term transformative innovation challenge for participating industrial ecosystems or actors; formulate concrete objectives addressing systemic competitiveness issues, with emphasis on attracting skilled employees and creating conditions for learning ecosystems or learning organizations.
5. Engage stakeholders in transdisciplinary R&I activities to:
a. Identify and test packages of systemic innovations (technologies, business models, organizational/social innovations) and assess related skills needs.
b. Prototype and validate incentive schemes and enabling measures via sandboxes involving quadruple/quintuple helix stakeholders.
c. Develop and deploy tools/measures (digital/AI, peer-learning formats, leadership actions) to generate evidence on and promote the impact of Industry 5.0 methods locally.
6. Include an exploitation strategy for results, and plan for documentation to advise policy-makers on upscaling potential.
7. Seek synergies and complementarities with relevant European, national or regional initiatives, platforms and partnerships (e.g., Regional Innovation Valleys, New European Bauhaus, Digital Innovation Hubs, EIT KICs, European Partnerships).
1. Ground activities in a systems-thinking approach to bolster economic and environmental resilience of regional/local industrial ecosystems and enhance sustainable competitiveness of EU industries.
2. Build on the results of the Industry 5.0 Community of Practice and other related Horizon Europe projects.
3. Involve expertise in Social Sciences and Humanities (especially systems thinking or complexity science) to underpin system innovation and transformation initiatives.
4. Identify a clear, long-term transformative innovation challenge for participating industrial ecosystems or actors; formulate concrete objectives addressing systemic competitiveness issues, with emphasis on attracting skilled employees and creating conditions for learning ecosystems or learning organizations.
5. Engage stakeholders in transdisciplinary R&I activities to:
a. Identify and test packages of systemic innovations (technologies, business models, organizational/social innovations) and assess related skills needs.
b. Prototype and validate incentive schemes and enabling measures via sandboxes involving quadruple/quintuple helix stakeholders.
c. Develop and deploy tools/measures (digital/AI, peer-learning formats, leadership actions) to generate evidence on and promote the impact of Industry 5.0 methods locally.
6. Include an exploitation strategy for results, and plan for documentation to advise policy-makers on upscaling potential.
7. Seek synergies and complementarities with relevant European, national or regional initiatives, platforms and partnerships (e.g., Regional Innovation Valleys, New European Bauhaus, Digital Innovation Hubs, EIT KICs, European Partnerships).
Additional Conditions for Applicants
Special Conditions
- Type of Action: HORIZON Innovation Actions under Horizon Europe Lump Sum Grant (HORIZON-AG-LS).
• Single-stage submission; deadline 23 Sept 2025, 17:00 Brussels time.
• Proposals must comply with admissibility, eligibility, financial and operational capacity, and exclusion criteria per Horizon Europe General Annexes (Annexes A–G).
• Lump sum funding model; eligible costs defined by the Simplified Costs Decision.
• Beneficiaries may provide grants up to EUR 60 000 to third parties.
• Mandatory use of the application form template; page limits and layout rules as per Work Programme General Annexes.
• Evaluation and award criteria, thresholds and processes as per General Annexes (Annexes D and F).
• Typical project duration: 36 months (alternative durations allowed if justified).
• Applicants must select the relevant destination (1, 2, 4 or 6) from the Work Programme and address its expected impacts.
• Proposals should include an exploitation strategy and plan for policy advisory outputs.
• Single-stage submission; deadline 23 Sept 2025, 17:00 Brussels time.
• Proposals must comply with admissibility, eligibility, financial and operational capacity, and exclusion criteria per Horizon Europe General Annexes (Annexes A–G).
• Lump sum funding model; eligible costs defined by the Simplified Costs Decision.
• Beneficiaries may provide grants up to EUR 60 000 to third parties.
• Mandatory use of the application form template; page limits and layout rules as per Work Programme General Annexes.
• Evaluation and award criteria, thresholds and processes as per General Annexes (Annexes D and F).
• Typical project duration: 36 months (alternative durations allowed if justified).
• Applicants must select the relevant destination (1, 2, 4 or 6) from the Work Programme and address its expected impacts.
• Proposals should include an exploitation strategy and plan for policy advisory outputs.
Important dates
Open from: 22/05/2025
Deadline:23/09/2025
Application period has ended
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