The call aims to to maximise real-world impact and solution uptake across European cities, including new opportunities for projects focused on implementation and scaling.

The Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) European Partnership is a programme of JPI Urban Europe and a financed European Partnership under Horizon Europe. DUT involves national and regional policy makers, funders and urban-related policy agencies to invest in urban R&I and strengthen a European innovation ecosystem for urban transitions.

DUT in now inviting applications for its fifth joint transnational call for proposals to support transnational research and/or innovation projects that help cities tackle urban challenges and transition towards a climate neutral and resilient future for all. Projects should contribute to one or more of the following three thematic areas:

15-minute City

• Next steps for multimodal urban mobility, building on the travel experience
• Reimagining parking – transforming urban parking policies
• Mobility policymaking in context of radical contestation

Circular Urban Economies

• Resilient green and social infrastructure
• Sustainable tourism – circular benefits and challenges
• Public procurement to foster urban greening and circularity

Positive Energy Districts

• Driving a just transition: PED strategies in social and subsidised housing
• Ensuring positive socio-economic impact: PEDs in local economies and energy markets
• PEDs in urban heating and cooling strategies

While the call maintains its traditional structure of topics, it introduces a new cross-cutting topic that spans all three pathways. This topic is reserved exclusively for Innovation-Oriented Approaches (IOA). It is designed for projects with a high degree of maturity that move beyond concepts toward pilots, demonstrations, and large-scale implementation in real urban contexts.

Projects must have at least three partners from three different countries and include a municipality or local authority. Those applying for the new cross-cutting topic must also include a private sector organisation (such as an SME, industry partner, or business) as either a main or co-applicant.

Typically, small to medium sized consortia (involving funding requests to three to five Funding Agencies on average per proposal), are expected. However, there is no upper limit, and consortia may involve as many partners as necessary for a convincing proposal, ensuring that all participants have a justified role.

The following countries have confirmed their participation: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia and Türkiye.