Second edition of the transnational call for projects of the European Partnership Driving Urban Transitions with a focus on urban areas

Coming from the Horizon Europe Partnership scheme and related to the JPI Urban Europe, the European Driving Urban Transitions Partnership gather a massive community: 27 countries and more than 60 partners to support the European innovation ecosystem in the urban area. The aim of the DUT Joint Call 2023, whom first stage will open on September 1st and will close on November 21 is to fund transnational research and innovation projects on urban challenges, at an international level in order to help cities in their transition to a more sustainable economy. Among Horizon Europe's 49 European Partnerships, DUT is the only one dedicated to urban transition.

Our future relies on tackling complex grand challenges now, many of which must be addressed within cities and by urban communities. Cities and urban areas are the nexus for the transformations required if the European Union (EU) is to achieve the targets of the European Green Deal (EGD) and to fulfil commitments related to the United Nations (UN)’ Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, the Urban Agenda for the European Union, the Paris Agreement and to support the New European Bauhaus (NEB) movement.

The Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership aims to address these challenges with an integrated approach to offer decision makers in municipalities, companies and, more generally, society the means to enact and enable the necessary urban transformations. Furthermore, the DUT Partnership aims to develop, through research and innovation (R&I) projects, skills and tools (including technology) to make urban change happen and boost the urgently needed urban transformations, and to bring existing and new knowledge and evidence into action.

The main goal of the Driving Urban Transitions Partnership is to support research and/or innovative transnational projects on urban challenges to help cities in their transition towards a more sustainable way of life.

Topics of the call:

The challenges are grouped into three themes called Transition Pathways:

• Positive Energy Districts (PED);
• the 15-Minute City (15mC);
• Circular Urban Economies (CUE);

The Positive Energy Districts (PED) challenge aims to develop and optimize local energy systems through energy efficiency, flexibility and local energy production from renewable energy and by relying on key stakeholders including local governments and developers.

The 15-minute City (15minC) challenge aims to foster sustainable mobility choices, redistribute urban space and reorganize activities to make cities more climate-neutral and inclusive.

The Circular Urban Economies (CUE) challenge aims to foster the design of urban places characterized by regenerative urbanism, composed of liveable, inclusive and green neighborhoods and supported by circular urban economies, minimizing distant flows and optimizing the use of resources.

Further information on this Call (mandatory templates to use for applying, link to the submission platform…) can be found on the following website Driving Urban Transitions to a sustainable future - DUT Partnership.

The funded projects within this Joint Call must be submitted by a consortium consisting of at least three eligible Applicants from at least three different participating countries. In addition, at least two of the eligible Applicants must be from different EU Member States or Associated Countries eligible for EC co-funding in this Call.

Consortia must include at least one urban government authority (city, municipality or entity providing key urban services) either as a Main Applicant, Co-applicant, or Co-operation Partner depending on the national/regional eligibility criteria.

All funded partners in this Call will be funded by their national/regional Funding Agencies in accordance with their respective national/regional eligibility criteria. Please note that a specific national/regional agency may not be able to fund all types of organizations. Applicants have to pay careful attention to the relevant national/regional funding rules indicated in Annex A and contact the relevant national/regional contact person with any queries to avoid any issues related to national/regional eligibility.

ANR will only fund French teams. French partners requesting funding from the ANR are invited to read the document "Modalités pour les participants français", available on this page.

ANR will cover all topics and sub-topics of the call. Please note that ADEME is the other French funding Agency participating to the Call and will support French applicants (specific condition to check on ADEME website).