Transnational Eureka Lightweighting Call – 2026

The increasing scarcity of resources, rising energy prices and the necessary transition to a climate-neutral economy require new approaches in material and product development. Lightweight construction, as a key technology for resource efficiency and emission reduction, plays a major role in the context of those requirements and goals. At the same time, the transformation to a circular economy requires products that are designed from the outset to be resource-efficient, reusable, and recyclable.

Therefore, the European Lightweighting Network (ELN), together with support from countries worldwide, aims to fund research and development projects focused on lightweighting design. The objective is to stimulate the deployment, demonstration, and showcasing of advanced materials, innovative design methodologies, and digital solutions that seamlessly integrate lightweighting with circular value creation.

Funding is provided for application-oriented research and development projects focusing on:

1. Development and testing of lightweighting design (including a Safe-and-Sustainable by-Design approach) and manufacturing concepts (including joining technologies, additive manufacturing, …) in various sectors (e.g. construction, energy, and mobility).
2. Development and use of novel or alternative advanced lightweight materials including optimized manufacturing processes
3. Substitution of conventional (raw-)materials with sustainable and lightweighting alternatives with a lower ecological footprint.
4. Innovative approaches in the areas of ease of disassembly, reparability, recyclability, and reuse of lightweighting components.
5. Use of digital technologies to optimize lightweighting design for circularity, lifecycle assessment and material tracking in the field of lightweighting (including digital twins, machine learning, …).
6. Development of transferable and scalable business models for circular lightweighting design and manufacturing.

Regardless of national priorities, all sectors with a need for Lightweighting technologies are welcome, including but not limited to automotive, railway, aerospace, space, maritime, mechanical engineering, energy, construction, infrastructure, health, farming, and forestry, etc.

• 6 May 2026: Call for projects opens
• 8 October 2026: Call for projects deadline
• December 2026 to March 2027: Eureka label and funding decisions
• February to June 2027: Projects can start

Eureka has limited eligibility criteria for organisations participating in a Network projects consortium:

• Your project idea must represent international cooperation in the form of a specific project.
• The project must be directed at researching or developing an innovative product, process, or service with the goal of commercialisation.
• The project must have a civilian purpose.
• Your consortium must include at least two independent legal entities from a minimum of two Eureka Call participating countries. Please note, that organisations from non-participating countries are welcome to join if (public or self-) funding is secured by the call deadline.
• No single organisation or country can be responsible for more than 70% of the project budget.

This call for projects has additional criteria for organisations to be eligible to receive funding:

• The project must benefit all involved partners.
• The project should have an obvious benefit and added value resulting from the technological cooperation between the participants from the different countries (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure etc.).
• The product or process must be innovative and with the potential to create impact.
• The maximum duration of a project may not exceed 36 months.
• A signed consortium agreement is required upon approval, before the actual start of the project. It should include, amongst others, the ownership and use of know-how and IPR settlements

1. Contact your national funding body to discuss your project idea, financial viability, eligibility and national procedures.
2. Create an account on our application portal https://eureka.smartsimple.ie/ (one per consortium) and select the funding opportunity you want to apply to.
3. Using the portal, complete one application form per consortium (in English) and invite other consortium partners to fill in a partner form.
4. Upload a GANTT chart (one per consortium), a signed and completed co-signature form (which you can download from the platform) and any additional required annexes.
5. Your application will be checked for completeness and eligibility before being reviewed using a standard evaluation procedure. If successful, your project will receive a Eureka label.
6. Your national funding body may carry out a further evaluation (performed by the NPC and technical experts) according to national rules before allocating funds to successful applicants.
7. The final step is to complete and sign a consortium agreement (CA). We recommend that you seek legal advice when drafting your CA.

For detailed information on national rules and application procedures, please see Section “Funding conditions and rules per NFB”.

We will review your R&D project application according to our evaluation criteria.

1. Impact

• Is the market properly addressed (i.e. size, access and risks)?
• Is the value creation properly addressed (i.e. employment opportunities and environmental and societal benefits)?
• What are the competitive advantages of your project (i.e. strategic importance, enhanced capabilities and visibility)?
• Are your commercialisation plans clear and realistic (i.e. return on investment, geographic and sectoral impact)?

2. Excellence

• What is the degree of innovation? (i.e. is the proposed product, process or service state-of-the-art? Is there sufficient technological maturity and risk)?
• How would you use new knowledge?
• Is your project scientifically and technically challenging for consortium partners?
• Is the technical achievability and risk properly addressed?

3. Quality and efficiency of implementation

• What is the quality of your consortium (i.e. balance of the partnership and technological, managerial and financial capabilities of each partner)?
• Is there added value through international cooperation?
• Is your project management and planning realistic and clearly defined (i.e. methodology, planning approach, milestones and deliverables)?
• Is your cost structure reasonable (i.e. costs and financial commitment for each consortium partner)?

4. Overall perception

• Experts will list three positive and negative points about your application and state whether they recommend your project for public funding.

Your ministry or funding agency may carry out another evaluation according to national or regional rules before allocating funding to organisations.