Specialists of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU provided consultations to potential applicants within the Horizon Europe Cluster 5
Specialists of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU continue to provide consultations to everyone who is interested in participating in the Horizon Europe calls. Thus, on January 16, 2026, representatives of LLC CIT, which owns the AI platform for managing the energy consumption of buildings and HVAC systems – AII Systems, were consulted online regarding the preparation and submission of a project application within the Cluster 5: Climate, energy and mobility of the Programme.
The organisation is preparing an application for the call HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-02, which involves the implementation of several pilot facilities of various types and climatic zones, the creation and validation of the platform core, the formation of a reproducible methodology for assessing the energy, economic and CO2 effect, as well as the involvement and training of young engineers, in particular graduates of Ukrainian technical universities.
Questionnaires asked the Office to provide consultations on such issues as the correctness of the formation and submission of the application, in particular compliance with the requirements of the specified call, and the evaluation of the project application by Horizon Europe experts. The Leading Officer of the department, Vladyslav Mykhailenko, whose area of responsibility includes, in particular, Cluster 5, within which the company prepares project application, not only described in detail the call, its conditions, expected results, budget, etc. The specialist also provided recommendations that can help to get a positive assessment of the application.
Smarter buildings as part of the energy system for increased efficiency and flexibility – Societal Readiness Pilot (HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-02)
Type of action: Innovation Actions
Type of MGA: Lump Sum Grant
Deadline model: single-stage
Opening date: September 16, 2025
Deadline date: February 17, 2026, 17:00:00 Brussels time.
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Measurable reduction in buildings’ energy demand together with a reduced gap between their as-designed and as-built energy performance
- Measurable increase in the number of building typologies with smart grid connected renewable energy sources (RES) and energy storage together with increased flexibility in grid/network management and operations
- Measurable enhancement of the smart readiness of buildings as rated by the Smart Readiness Indicator and/or other relevant building rating systems
- Improved responsiveness by the relevant stakeholders to the needs and concerns of users from a diversity of social groups, including vulnerable and disadvantaged ones, involved in or potentially affected by the smart buildings, thereby increasing the potential for beneficial societal uptake and building trust in outcomes.
Please note that the maximum volume of the application has been increased by two pages (up to 52 pages) in order to properly cover issues related to public readiness (Societal Readiness)!
Moreover, the EC specifies the following:
The page limit for calls under the HE Work Programme 2025 is as follows:
Unless provided otherwise in the specific call/topic conditions, the limit for a full application is 45 pages (except for ‘Coordination and support’ actions, where the limit is 30 pages, and for ‘Programme co-fund’ actions, where the limit is 70 pages). For topics using lump sum funding, the limit for ‘Research and Innovation’ actions and ‘Innovation’ actions is 50 pages and the limit for ‘Coordination and support’ action is 33 pages.
Whereas, within HE Work Programme 2026-2027, the limit of pages is as follows:
Unless provided otherwise in the specific call/topic conditions, the limit for a full application is 40 pages (except for ‘Coordination and support’ actions, where the limit is 25 pages, and for ‘Programme co-fund’ actions, where the limit is 65 pages). For topics using lump sum funding, the limit for ‘Research and Innovation’ actions and ‘Innovation’ actions is 45 pages and the limit for ‘Coordination and support’ action is 28 pages.
Unfortunately, there is no clear distinction on the portal as regards topics under WP 2025 (that includes calls CL5-2026-01 and CL5-2026-02) and WP 2026-2027 (that includes calls CL5-2026-03 and beyond). Applicants will need to look at the number of pages in the submission system or refer to the work programmes in pdf format to check under which work programme the call belongs. Therefore, this is important to identify whether the topic you are looking at belongs to work programme 2025 or work programme 2026-2027.
