Official call identifier: DUT
Objective of the call
DUT Call 2026 is the fifth joint call of the European Partnership Driving Urban Transitions, co-funded under Horizon Europe. It supports transnational research and innovation projects that help cities and urban areas progress towards climate-neutral, resilient and inclusive futures, with results that can inform policy and be implemented in practice.
Scope of activities
Projects must contribute to at least one of the three DUT Transition Pathways.
15-minute City
- Adaptive reuse of existing urban structures and spaces
- Align ambitions for mobility transitions across sectors
- Nurture neighbourhood economies – activate innovation in local everyday offers
This pathway addresses sustainable mobility, logistics, public space and proximity-based urban development.
Circular Urban Economies
- Adaptive reuse of existing urban structures and spaces
- Innovative maintenance of urban green and blue spaces
- Rethinking urban production for circular and resilient cities
This pathway focuses on circular resource flows, regenerative urbanism, urban greening and equitable access to urban resources.
Positive Energy Districts
- Adaptive reuse of existing urban structures and spaces
- PED solutions in private housing across different urban contexts
- Sustainable PEDs, flexibility in energy systems and integrated technologies
This pathway supports energy-efficient urban districts combining renewable energy generation, flexibility, affordable energy systems and sustainable urban development.
Projects may follow either a primarily research-oriented approach, focused on knowledge, analysis, modelling and tools, or an innovation-oriented approach, focused on practical technological and organisational solutions and their testing. Projects may combine both approaches.
Eligible applicants
Applicants may include:
- Universities and other higher education institutions
- Research organisations and institutes
- Companies and commercial organisations
- Municipalities, cities and other urban government authorities
- Urban infrastructure and service providers
- NGOs and not-for-profit organisations
- Community and civil-society organisations
- Social innovators and social entrepreneurs
- Actors from the cultural and creative sectors, including artists and designers.
A consortium must include:
- At least 3 funded partners
- From at least 3 participating countries
- At least 2 of the countries must be participating EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries
- At least one urban government authority, such as a city, municipality or eligible locally owned urban service provider.
For the cross-cutting topic, the consortium must additionally include a private-sector organisation.
No individual applicant or cooperation partner may represent more than 50% of the consortium's total workload, measured in person-months.
Participating countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia and Türkiye. Malta-based researchers may participate under a separate national cooperation mechanism.
Funding conditions
Participating national and regional funding agencies have committed approximately EUR 49 million to DUT Call 2026. The European Commission provides additional Horizon Europe co-funding of up to 30% of the eligible funding-agency budget.
Most projects are expected to request approximately EUR 1–2 million in total, although the call does not set a common minimum or maximum project size.
Project duration: up to 36 months.
Funding rate and eligible costs: each funded partner receives support under the rules of its national or regional funding agency. Funding rates, eligible organisation types, cost categories and maximum amounts therefore vary by country and agency and must be checked in Annex A of the call text.
Consortia should reserve time and a combined budget of up to EUR 30,000 for mandatory DUT programme activities, networking, dissemination and participation in joint events.
Deadline for submission
DUT Call 2026 follows a two-stage application procedure. The Main Applicant submits the transnational application in English through the UEFISCDI UDiManager system. Some funding agencies may also require a parallel national or regional application.
- Pre-proposal deadline: 17 November 2026 at 13:00 CET.
- Full-proposal deadline: 15 April 2027 at 13:00 CEST. Only consortia invited after Stage 1 may submit a full proposal.