ACE aims to support innovation in architecture and design by highlighting research funding streams, encouraging architecture practices to explore design value, and applying research knowledge in live building projects.
With over 20 years of experience and 33 EU-funded projects, our goals are to:
- Inform: Share details of EU funding opportunities, including calls for proposals relevant to your interests.
- Support: Help you identify the right EU funding opportunities and guide you through the application process.
- Connect: Foster collaborations within the ACE network to establish partnerships.
This edition features key calls for 2026 under the Erasmus+ et Horizon Europe frameworks, including the upcoming Built4People et Nouveau Bauhaus européen calls. Topics covered include Education, Sustainability, Digitalisation, Cultural Heritage, Urban Issues, and the New European Bauhaus.
Explore current and upcoming EU funding calls and discover opportunities tailored to your practice.
Subscribe to the ACE EU-Funded Opportunities Newsletter and stay informed. For more information, contact the ACE EU-Funded Projects team by email.
EDUCATION
Cooperation Partnerships in the field of education and training submitted by European NGOs
Cooperation Partnerships aim to help organisations improve the quality and relevance of their work, strengthen transnational cooperation, and build capacity through joint activities. They support innovation, knowledge exchange, and peer learning at the European level, with results that are reusable, transferable, scalable, and ideally transdisciplinary.
Status: Open
Deadline: 05/03/2026
Funding framework: Erasmus+
Type of action: Lump sum
Topics: Inclusion and diversity, Environmental Sustainability, Digital Dimension, Participation and Civic engagement
Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills
Alliances for Innovation aim to strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity by boosting innovation through cooperation and the flow of knowledge on the provision of new skills and addressing skills mismatches by designing and creating new curricula for higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET), supporting the development of a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mindsets in the EU. These partnerships shall implement a coherent and comprehensive set of sectoral or cross-sectoral activities.
Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills seek to tackle skills gaps on the labour market that hamper growth, innovation and competitiveness in specific sectors or areas, aiming both at short term interventions and long-term strategies.
Status: Open
Deadline: 10/03/2026
Funding framework: Erasmus+
Type of action: Lump sum
Funding rate: 80%
Topics: Green and digital skills, sustainable development
Alliances for Education and Enterprises
Alliances for Innovation aim to strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity by boosting innovation through cooperation and the flow of knowledge on the provision of new skills and addressing skills mismatches by designing and creating new curricula for higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET), supporting the development of a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mindsets in the EU. These partnerships shall implement a coherent and comprehensive set of sectoral or cross-sectoral activities.
The Alliances for Education and Enterprises aim to foster innovation in higher education, vocational education and training, enterprises and the broader socio-economic environment. Fostering new, innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning, setting up of incubators, and corporate social responsibility.
Status: Open
Deadline: 10/03/2026
Funding framework: Erasmus+
Type of action: Lump sum
Funding rate: 80%
Topics: Green and digital skills, sustainable development
SUSTAINABILITY
Validating policies and business models for affordable and sustainable housing
Proposals should research and evaluate existing policies, regulations, support instruments, and business models affecting affordable rental housing, validate a methodology to compare property affordability across different markets, climates, and demographic groups, and design and assess new solutions that improve affordability while meeting decarbonisation targets, quantifying their impact on deep renovation costs for various building scales and governance models.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 15/09/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – Built4People partnership
Type of action: Research and Innovation action
Funding rate: 100%
Number of projects funded: 3 Contribution for each project: Around 5 EUR million
Topics: Efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use
Low disturbance prefabrication approaches for deep renovation of multi-storey buildings
Proposals are expected to present cost-effective, deep renovation approaches for multi-storey buildings (more than 5 storeys) that use adaptable prefabricated solutions, achieve at least NZEB performance, and minimise disruption to occupants by reducing on-site construction time and maintaining comfort and building functionality.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 15/09/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – Built4People partnership
Type of action: Innovation action Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 4 Contribution for each project: Around 7 EUR million
Topics: Efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use.
DIGITALISATION
Proposals should develop digital data exchange platforms that integrate diverse building data—from whole-life carbon and embodied material flows to Energy Performance Certificates, Smart Readiness Indicator, Building Renovation Passports, and digital logbooks—using advanced analytics and recognised standards for interoperability with BIM and digital twins, and validate them through at least three large-scale pilots across different building types and use cases.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 15/09/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – Built4People partnership
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 3
Contribution for each project: Around 5,25 EUR million
Topics: Efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use
The project will improve understanding of how different people use smart, energy-efficient buildings and how these affect energy use (whole life cycle), comfort, health and well-being, while helping make such systems easier and more effective to use.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 15/09/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – Built4People partnership
Type of action: Research and Innovation action
Funding rate: 100%
Number of projects funded: 3
Contribution for each project: Around 5,25 EUR million
Topics: Efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use
CULTURAL HERITAGE
Project results are expected to demonstrate innovative, including nature-based, solutions for protecting cultural heritage from climate change, strengthen the capacity of regional and local authorities to preserve it, and engage stakeholders and communities in co-creating and implementing climate-resilient measures across the EU and beyond.
Status: Opening on 04/02/2026
Deadline: 23/09/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – EU Mission adaptation to Climate Change
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 3
Contribution for each project: Around 7 EUR million
Topics: Adaptation to Climate Change: Supporting the implementation of the EU Mission Adaptation to Climate Change.
Creative alliances: Fostering global partnerships in cultural policies and CCI innovation
The proposal should focus on how international partnerships can enhance cultural policies and creative industry innovation, foster cross-cultural collaboration, support sustainable development, and strengthen Europe’s global standing, with proposals addressing one of two interconnected focuses while considering potential synergies between them. Focus one: Cultural and creative industries’ innovation beyond borders. Focus two: International cultural relations for global resilience.
Status: Opening on 12/05/2026
Deadline: 23/09/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – Heritage
Type of action: Research and Innovation action
Funding rate: 100%
Number of projects funded: 4
Contribution for each project: Around 3-3,75 EUR million
Topics: Destination Innovative Research on European Cultural Heritage and Cultural and Creative Industries.
URBAN ISSUES
Introducing the circular economy models in the construction sector, from buildings to city scale.
Proposals should develop and demonstrate district- or city-level tools and solutions to apply circularity in construction—covering material reuse, urban mining, adaptive building design, and GHG inventories—while creating inventories, business models, and marketplaces for reclaimed materials, reducing regulatory barriers, integrating stakeholders, and validating these solutions in at least three cities across different countries, including at least one EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities participant.
Status: Opening on 04/02/2026
Deadline: 08/10/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – EU Mission´ Joint Calls
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 5
Contribution for each project: Around 9,5 EUR million
Topics: 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030.
NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS
Addressing homelessness through housing-led approaches aligned with the New European Bauhaus
Proposals should refine and demonstrate at least three housing-led approaches in diverse neighbourhoods across different countries that provide permanent housing and supportive services for homeless people, are adapted to local characteristics and regulations, integrate green transition and social cohesion measures, are co-created with the target populations, address institutional barriers, maximize replicability, and include a methodology to monitor and compare their effectiveness in reducing homelessness.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 2
Contribution for each project: Around 6,30 EUR million
Topics: Connecting the green transformation, social inclusion and local democracy.
Innovative approaches for the spatial design of neighbourhoods
Proposals should develop and demonstrate an innovative, co-created approach to public space design that assesses how spatial design affects diverse users, integrates sociocultural factors, climate resilience, biodiversity, safety, and multisensory experience, and is adaptable, replicable, and scalable across at least three neighbourhoods in different countries, while providing recommendations for broader application and identifying related skills needs.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 2
Contribution for each project: Around 5 EUR million
Topics: Connecting the green transformation, social inclusion and local democracy.
Understanding inhabitant’s experiences of neighbourhoods to support their health and well-being
Proposals should study inhabitants’ sensory and emotional experiences across diverse and vulnerable groups, assess variations by sociodemographic and neighbourhood characteristics, collect consistent data using methods like the NEB self-assessment, validate findings in at least three neighbourhoods across different countries, and provide evidence-based recommendations to improve well-being, sense of belonging, and support nature-positive, climate-resilient neighbourhoods.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Research and Innovation action
Funding rate: 100%
Number of projects funded: 3
Contribution for each project: Around 5 EUR million
Topics: Connecting the green transformation, social inclusion and local democracy.
Sustainable, inclusive, affordable and beautiful solutions for thermal comfort in buildings
Proposals should develop and demonstrate at least two accessible and aesthetically appealing solutions for thermal comfort—based on vernacular principles, nature-based solutions, bioclimatic design, or frugal innovation—on new or existing buildings, including cultural heritage sites, across different climatic zones, evaluate their life cycle GHG emissions, costs, and affordability, and identify barriers to implementation, scalability, and replicability with recommendations to overcome them.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 3
Contribution for each project: Around 4 EUR million
Topics: Destination – Circular and regenerative approaches for the built environment.
Advancing sustainable maintenance and repair measures for existing buildings
Proposals should develop and demonstrate at least one LCA-based decision-support tool for predictive maintenance and a package of environmentally sustainable, circular, and financially feasible maintenance measures that engage building users, comply with regulations, minimise disruption, and are tested on three buildings—including heritage and social housing—across different countries, while assessing the potential for wider application and addressing implementation barriers.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 2
Contribution for each project: Around 5 EUR million
Topics: Destination – Circular and regenerative approaches for the built environment.
Innovative solutions for the sustainable and beautiful use of vertical space
Proposals should develop and demonstrate at least one beautiful, sustainable, and circular solution that utilizes under-used vertical space to increase housing or green areas, assess its environmental, social, and economic impacts, minimise densification effects, evaluate its potential to reduce land use demand, and identify and address regulatory, technical, and societal barriers to implementation.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 3
Contribution for each project: Around 5 EUR million
Topics: Destination – Circular and regenerative approaches for the built environment.
Proposals should develop and validate a system-based approach in at least five neighbourhoods across different countries to mitigate homelessness and support community reintegration by coordinating social infrastructure and services, analyzing local contexts and the built environment, assessing impacts on homelessness, well-being, social cohesion, and socioeconomic outcomes, engaging homeless groups, addressing coordination challenges, and providing guidance for wider application considering local conditions and equity factors.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Innovation action
Funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of up to 100% applies)
Number of projects funded: 3
Contribution for each project: Around 3,5 EUR million
Topics: Destination – Innovative funding and new business models for the transformation of neighbourhoods.
Understanding capital market dynamics for increased investment in New European
Bauhaus projects in neighbourhoods
Proposals should analyse capital market dynamics affecting NEB-aligned neighbourhood projects—including demand, supply, barriers, risks, and contextual factors—and develop and validate in at least three countries an innovative investment solution that leverages place-based and diverse funding approaches, identifies mobilisable capital, guides future financing decisions, and helps investors assess the economic, social, cultural, aesthetic, and environmental returns of such projects.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Research and Innovation action
Funding rate: 100%
Number of projects funded: 2
Contribution for each project: Around 3,5 EUR million
Topics: Destination – Innovative funding and new business models for the transformation of neighbourhoods.
Approaches to reuse vacant, obsolete or underutilised spaces
Proposals should develop and validate in at least three neighbourhoods across different countries a systematic, context-sensitive, and co-created approach for reusing vacant, obsolete, or underutilised spaces, analysing drivers of vacancy, assessing community needs and potential impacts, identifying funding mechanisms, and evaluating social, cultural, environmental, and economic value, while providing recommendations for adaptation to other contexts.
Status: Opening on 05/05/2026
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Funding framework: Horizon Europe – NEB facility
Type of action: Research and Innovation action
Funding rate: 100%
Number of projects funded: 2
Contribution for each project: Around 4,5 EUR million
Topics: Destination – Innovative funding and new business models for the transformation of neighbourhoods.
