The latest Horizon Europe deadlines are fast approaching, with plenty to offer the region’s food innovators.

The €95.5 billion programme is perfectly suited for international and collaborative projects aiming to advance alternative protein research, and with negotiations continuing for its successor, now is the chance for researchers and SMEs to get involved.

Check out some of the calls in the 2025 work programme ahead of September’s deadline:

• Raising citizen awareness on alternative proteins derived from biotechnology (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-13) is this year’s flagship call. One €2 million project will be funded to build an outreach programme to inform Europeans about the science of alternative proteins and their environmental and economic benefits. 
• Nutrients produced by microbes utilising CO2 from the air, with the support of biotechnology (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-14) is the most direct route in this year’s programme to support fermentation. Two €6 million projects will explore gas fermentation approaches, support companies in setting up pre-commercialisation infrastructure, and complete environmental assessments of the potential of these technologies to capture CO2 in the air. 

Boosting Europe’s bioeconomy

Other calls also support the development of Europe’s wider bioeconomy, including two that are relevant to alternative protein researchers and companies:  

• Bioprospecting and optimised production of the terrestrial natural products: new opportunities for bio-based sectors (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-08) and  Unleashing the potential and advancing the impact of the digitalisation/AI of the bio-based value chains (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-9).

Other calls offer funds enabling companies and institutions to embed their alternative protein research within the bioeconomy sector, securing their place at the centre of Europe’s burgeoning ecosystem:  

• Strengthening and connecting bioeconomy networks (HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-06) and Strengthening the European Research Area by enhancing the bioeconomy research and innovation ecosystem in BIOEAST countries (HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-07) offer researchers the chance to build their communities, ensuring alternative proteins are baked into the European bioeconomy. 
• Support to the EU Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative: scoping action (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-10) is a €2 million project providing opportunities to educate policymakers on the potential uses of agricultural and food industry sidestreams, including fermentation for food and feed,  as well as influencing the bio-based sector’s future path, and developing an EU strategic research and innovation agenda. 

Horizon Europe also recognises the contribution that alternative proteins and the bioeconomy can play in tackling the harm being done to our oceans: 

• Diversifying aquaculture production with emphasis on low-trophic species (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-10) and Bioprospecting and optimised production of marine/aquatic natural products in the omics & artificial intelligence era (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-14) are excellent opportunities for algae and other marine researchers to access larger quantities of byproducts that could be used as key ingredients in plant-based seafood.

Supporting Europe’s farmers

Alternative proteins offer potential opportunities for farmers, from growing protein crops to finding innovative uses of sidestreams for fermentation, and involving agricultural communities will be vital to any food system transition.

This year’s programme offers opportunities to improve the resilience of European agriculture and explore future solutions for European land use:

• Enhancing plant protein production to bolster the resilience of agricultural systems and EU self-sufficiency in plant protein used as feed (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-04) and Breeding for resilience: enhancing multi-stress tolerance in crops (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-02-two-stage) are both open to researchers who focus on improving protein crops, vital for expanding the plant-based ecosystem and boosting European food security.  
• Open topic: Innovating for on-farm post-harvest operations, storage and transformation of crops into food and non-food products (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-02-two-stage) will fund two €6 million projects that could be used to help farmers develop economic opportunities from sidestreams.
• Environmental impacts from the production of agricultural crops for bio-based industrial systems (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-02) will fund researchers to ensure that the use of sidestreams and other crop production methods is carried out in the most environmentally responsible way possible.
• Exploring options to resolve land and sea use competition (HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-05) will support researchers in exploring the impact of policy on land, sea and biomass use and could provide further evidence for the ability of alternative proteins to complement regenerative agricultural approaches. 

Helping industry thrive

The work programme is aimed at helping critical European industry mature and thrive, meaning some calls provide opportunities for alternative protein companies:

• Novel circular business models to enable the just transition to a sustainable and circular economy (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-01) and Open Topic: Innovative solutions for the sustainable and circular transformation of SMEs (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-01-two-stage) aim to help SMEs develop sustainable circular business practices, offering opportunities for alternative protein companies to explore the use of sidestreams. 
• Demonstration of reduced energy use and optimised flexible energy supply for industrial bio-based systems (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-11) and Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) of policy and market-relevant product groups (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-03) could enable alternative protein companies to demonstrate the environmental benefits of these foods by developing tools that businesses across the supply chain can use to carry out impact assessments. 

Providing nutritious diets

Two final calls provide opportunities for researchers interested in the role that alternative proteins can play in improving nutrition and providing people with access to better diets:

• Nutrition and Mental Health (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-12) is relevant for researchers keen to explore the health benefits of plant-based meat and seafood.
• Developing agroecology living labs and lighthouses under the Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) partnership (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-05-two-stage) would suit researchers taking a global approach to sustainable food systems change. 

These are just a few examples, but I strongly recommend alternative protein researchers delve into the work programme or look at Cluster 6’s Food and Bioeconomy calls for more information and ideas. 

Remember the European Research Council’s Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, and Proof of Concept grants are also available to all researchers regardless of topic. 

Check out our resources if you’re interested in applying for these calls: 

• If you’re looking for research ideas, our Advancing Solutions initiative highlights high-priority knowledge gaps.
• Individuals can use our alternative proteins researcher directory to connect with people interested in getting involved in the field, while researchers previously funded by GFI can be found on our grantee web pages. 
• Our company database provides information about potential private sector partners. The European Commission’s partner finding tool offers a similar resource. 
• You can find other relevant opportunities in our research funding database or see what projects are already being funded on our research grants tracker. 
• GFI is sometimes able to support strong research consortia addressing our highest priority research areas as an advisor – please get in touch for more information.

Author

Stella Child Senior Research and Grants Manager

Stella works to help the alternative protein research community across Europe secure grant funding for open-access research.