Horizon Europe Missions 2026: deadlines and key information on the calls

The Horizon Europe Missions 2026 calls bring together some of the most significant European funding opportunities for organisations working in innovation, sustainability, health, digitalisation, climate resilience and urban transformation. Through this new wave of calls, the European Commission is strengthening its mission-oriented approach: funding projects capable of delivering tangible impact on specific societal, environmental and economic challenges.

There are currently 36 open or forthcoming calls linked to the HORIZON-MISS-2026 area, with deadlines ranging from September 2026 to October 2027. These calls cover several European Missions: Climate Change Adaptation, Cancer, Soil Health, Oceans and Waters, and Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.

For companies, technology centres, universities, public authorities, hospitals, start-ups and third-sector organisations, these calls represent a strategic opportunity to participate in high-impact collaborative projects. In addition, many of them promote demonstrators, living labs, nature-based solutions, artificial intelligence, digital models, social innovation and blended finance mechanisms.

What are the Horizon Europe Missions 2026 calls?

The Horizon Europe Missions 2026 are part of the Horizon Europe programme and address major challenges identified by the European Union. Unlike other, more sector-specific funding schemes, the Missions aim to deliver measurable results in areas that are critical for citizens and territories.

This edition focuses on five major areas:

• Climate change adaptation
• The fight against cancer
• Soil health and food security
• Ocean and water restoration
• Climate-neutral and smart cities

This approach connects research, innovation, technology deployment, public policy and citizen engagement. As a result, the calls support not only scientific development, but also validation in real-life environments, solution scaling, interregional cooperation and end-user uptake.

Horizon Europe Missions 2026 fund European projects aimed at addressing major societal and environmental challenges, including climate adaptation, cancer, soil health, ocean restoration and the transition towards climate-neutral cities.

Main areas covered by the Horizon Europe Missions 2026 calls

The opportunities included in the programme are grouped under several Missions and thematic areas. Below is a summary of the most relevant ones for organisations looking to participate.

Climate Change Adaptation

The Mission Adaptation to Climate Change features a significant number of calls in 2026. These opportunities aim to strengthen the climate resilience of regions, cities, infrastructure, ecosystems and local communities.

Among the most relevant topics are calls to establish and strengthen national adaptation hubs, improve multi-level governance, bridge disaster risk management and climate adaptation, and facilitate the implementation of actionable solutions for regional and local authorities.

Additional topics focus on climate services, financing local adaptation actions, resilience of inland waterways and protecting cultural heritage from the impacts of climate change. In the latter case, projects will need to demonstrate innovative solutions to preserve both tangible and natural heritage with cultural significance.

Most of these calls close on 23 September 2026, meaning interested organisations should assess the suitability of their capabilities, partnerships and experience as early as possible.

Key opportunities under Mission Adaptation 2026

The HORIZON-MISS-2026-01-CLIMA-01 call focuses on National Adaptation Hubs and strengthening connections between national, regional and local levels. Its objective is to improve climate governance and facilitate knowledge transfer between territories.

Meanwhile, HORIZON-MISS-2026-01-CLIMA-04 addresses the gap between disaster risk management and climate adaptation. This topic is particularly relevant for organisations working in civil protection, territorial resilience, risk modelling, climate planning or crisis response.

In addition, HORIZON-MISS-2026-01-CLIMA-07 introduces an important approach to financing local adaptation. The call promotes combining public grants with private finance, including bank loans, to make adaptation actions bankable.

Mission Adaptation 2026 funds solutions to improve regional and local climate resilience, strengthen multi-level governance, connect adaptation and disaster risk management, and mobilise public and private finance for local adaptation actions.

Mission Cancer 2026: European funding for research, prevention and quality of life

Mission Cancer 2026 includes several calls with a deadline of 15 September 2026. These opportunities cover prevention, diagnosis, treatment, quality of life and cancer research capacity building.

One of the most strategic topics is the development of Virtual Human Twin models for cancer research. This call aims to advance multi-scale digital representations capable of improving the understanding of cancer onset and progression while supporting more personalised treatments.

Another call focuses on the microbiome as a tool for predicting cancer before disease onset. This topic may be particularly attractive to consortia with expertise in biobanks, clinical data, artificial intelligence, biomarkers and preventive medicine.

Other important opportunities include pragmatic clinical trials to optimise immunotherapies for refractory cancers, earlier and more precise palliative care, mental health support for young cancer survivors and improving the quality of life of older cancer patients.

Mission Cancer 2026 and healthcare digitalisation

Digitalisation plays a central role in several calls. For example, the topic addressing the mental health of young cancer survivors foresees the development of tools integrated into the European Cancer Patient Digital Centre. These solutions must respond to the real needs of adolescent and young adult patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Furthermore, Cancer Mission calls promote the use of FAIR data, integration with European infrastructures, artificial intelligence, predictive models, remote digital tools and active patient participation.

🚀 Discover all Mission Cancer 2026 funding opportunities in Kaila

Mission Cancer 2026 funds projects focused on virtual human twins, microbiome-based prediction, immunotherapy, palliative care, mental health, quality of life and cancer research capacity building, with a strong digital and clinical dimension.

Mission Soil 2026: living labs, soil health and artificial intelligence

Mission Soil 2026 continues to drive the transition towards healthy soils across Europe. To achieve this, several calls focus on living labs, monitoring systems, data-driven solutions, artificial intelligence and One Health approaches.

One of the flagship opportunities concerns living labs in Alpine and Atlantic biogeographical regions. Projects will establish between four and five living labs, tackle common soil health challenges and apply participatory, interdisciplinary and multi-actor approaches.

Another call targets living labs in managed forests and natural or semi-natural lands. This opportunity is particularly relevant for forestry organisations, environmental authorities, research centres, landowner associations, SMEs and biodiversity-focused organisations.

Mission Soil also funds initiatives aimed at improving soil health monitoring by equipping stakeholders with sampling, analysis and interpretation methods. In addition, a dedicated call supports AI-ready decision support systems based on long-term field experiments and other datasets.

Soil resilience and food security

A particularly cross-cutting topic is HORIZON-MISS-2026-06-CLIMA-SOIL, which links soil resilience to extreme weather events with food security. Projects must demonstrate solutions to address droughts, floods, heatwaves and other climate-related impacts.

This topic is especially relevant for agricultural regions, local authorities, cooperatives, agri-food research organisations and companies developing technologies for monitoring, soil management, regenerative agriculture or nature-based solutions.

🚀 Discover all Mission Soil 2026 funding opportunities in Kaila

Mission Soil 2026 promotes living labs, soil monitoring, artificial intelligence, sustainable management, resilience to extreme weather events and One Health solutions to protect soil health and food security.

Mission Ocean 2026: restoring oceans and waters through innovation

The Mission Ocean 2026 calls focus on restoring marine and freshwater ecosystems, reducing pollution, protecting biodiversity and deploying advanced digital solutions.

One of the most significant opportunities supports large-scale demonstrations for mapping marine habitats and implementing the Nature Restoration Regulation. This call aims to improve Member States’ ability to understand the distribution and condition of marine habitats.

Another topic addresses aquatic pollution and biodiversity loss through nature-positive solutions from source to sea. Projects must demonstrate solutions targeting nutrients, chemicals, plastics and microplastics while integrating river basins, coastal ecosystems and marine environments.

Additional opportunities include fisheries-based ecosystem co-management, European networks of ocean technology testing sites and regional components of the EU Digital Twin Ocean.

Digital Twin Ocean and marine technologies

The call dedicated to regional components of the EU Digital Twin Ocean aims to integrate local data, models and applications into the EDITO infrastructure. This creates opportunities for organisations specialising in marine data, modelling, artificial intelligence, biodiversity, fisheries, aquaculture, coastal resilience and the blue economy.

Meanwhile, the call on ocean technology testing sites seeks to accelerate innovation cycles, reduce risks associated with offshore trials and improve access to validation infrastructures for companies, SMEs and start-ups.

Mission Ocean 2026 funds projects to restore oceans and waters, map marine habitats, reduce pollution, advance ocean technologies and develop regional applications within the EU Digital Twin Ocean.

🚀 Discover all Mission Ocean 2026 funding opportunities in Kaila

Climate-neutral cities and circular economy in Horizon Europe Missions 2026

Cities play a strategic role within the Horizon Europe Missions 2026 framework. Several calls support the transition towards climate-neutral, circular and more efficient urban environments.

Key opportunities include energy-efficient urban and suburban public transport, low-temperature heating solutions for multi-apartment residential buildings, and circular economy models for the construction sector.

The urban mobility call aims to improve the energy efficiency of public transport, integrate shared mobility solutions and accelerate fleet electrification. It also requires the participation of at least three cities from different Member States or Associated Countries, together with follower cities.

The low-temperature heating call focuses on transforming urban heating systems and existing buildings. This opportunity may be particularly attractive to energy companies, municipalities, district heating operators, housing organisations, engineering firms and technology providers.

Finally, the circular construction call supports tools, solutions and business models that reduce material consumption, increase reuse and recycling, and lower life-cycle emissions in buildings and districts.

Horizon Europe Missions 2026 and climate-neutral cities

Urban calls are closely linked to the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission and to initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus, Built4People, CIVITAS and the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative. As a result, projects will need to demonstrate replicable solutions, local authority involvement and measurable outcomes.

🚀 Discover all Mission climate-neutral cities

Horizon Europe Missions 2026 urban calls fund energy-efficient public transport, low-temperature heating, circular construction and scalable solutions for climate-neutral cities.

Horizon Europe Missions 2026: key deadlines

Although each call has its own requirements, the programme includes several important deadline clusters:

• 15 September 2026: Main Mission Cancer calls and selected Mission Soil topics.
• 17 September 2026: Bioremediation of conflict-contaminated ecosystems in Ukraine.
• 23 September 2026: Most climate adaptation, ocean, soil and cross-cutting calls.
• 8 October 2026: Calls related to cities, circular construction, heating and urban mobility.
• 5 November 2026: Climate security and civil preparedness call.
• 2027: Forthcoming opportunities on artificial intelligence for climate resilience, cross-border climate adaptation, circular economy and pre-commercial procurement.

These deadlines require early preparation. Developing a successful Horizon Europe proposal involves defining strategic fit, building a strong consortium, designing a robust methodology, demonstrating impact and aligning the budget with the objectives of the call.

How to prepare a proposal for Horizon Europe Missions 2026

To compete successfully in the Horizon Europe Missions 2026 calls, organisations must go beyond a strong technical idea. The European Commission expects proposals capable of demonstrating impact, scalability and alignment with European policies.

First, it is essential to analyse the chosen topic in detail. Each call defines expected outcomes, scope, action type, TRL requirements, demonstration activities, stakeholder involvement and links to existing platforms or projects.

Next, building a balanced consortium is critical. Many calls require local authorities, end-users, research organisations, companies, SMEs, civil society organisations or sector-specific stakeholders. Multi-actor approaches are particularly common in soil, ocean, city and climate adaptation topics.

Impact is another key factor. Proposals should clearly explain how project results will contribute to European Missions, EU strategies, regulations, market uptake or policy improvements. Exploitation, replication and long-term sustainability pathways should also be included.

Finally, projects should integrate FAIR data principles, collaboration with European platforms, effective communication and citizen engagement where relevant. In many topics, social, regulatory and governance dimensions are just as important as the technology itself.

Who can benefit from Horizon Europe Missions 2026?

These calls offer opportunities for a wide range of organisations. Universities and research centres can lead scientific activities, validation work, modelling and data analysis. Companies and start-ups can contribute technologies, digital solutions, AI tools, climate services, medical devices, ocean technologies or energy innovations.

Public authorities, particularly at regional and local level, play a crucial role in adaptation, city, mobility, circular construction, ecosystem restoration and territorial deployment calls. Hospitals, cancer centres and patient organisations are also essential participants in Mission Cancer topics.

Meanwhile, cooperatives, farmers’ associations, forestry organisations, fishers, water managers, energy operators and citizen organisations can contribute to projects focused on living labs, co-creation, demonstration and solution replication.

Conclusion: a strategic opportunity to fund impactful innovation

The Horizon Europe Missions 2026 reinforce the role of European funding as a driver of transformative innovation. The 36 identified opportunities open the door to projects in critical areas such as climate resilience, cancer, soil health, oceans, sustainable cities, circular economy, artificial intelligence and civil security.

To take advantage of these calls, organisations should act early, assess their fit with each topic and build robust, impact-oriented proposals aligned with European priorities. Furthermore, the diversity of funding instruments — RIA, IA, CSA and PCP — allows participation to be tailored to different levels of technological maturity, capabilities and objectives.

In a context defined by the green transition, digital transformation and the need for collaborative responses to systemic challenges, the Horizon Europe Missions 2026 calls offer a clear opportunity to transform knowledge, technology and cooperation into real solutions for Europe.