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The Horizon Europe Data and AI 2027 call, HORIZON-CL4-2027-04, offers three funding opportunities to advance secure digital infrastructure, decentralised artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainable data processing. Under the destination Developing an agile and secure single market and infrastructure for data-services and trustworthy artificial intelligence services, the European Commission (EC) has allocated EUR 112 million to support Europe’s digital sovereignty and competitiveness.

Opening on 17 November 2026, the call has a submission deadline of 18 March 2027. These opportunities target research organisations, cloud and telecommunications providers, AI developers, data centre operators and industrial end-users.

Advancing decentralised and sustainable AI data processing

HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-DATA-03 addresses the limitations of centralised AI computing, including growing energy demand, restricted computing capacity, data security challenges and processing latency. The topic supports new technologies enabling AI processing across distributed computing resources, from edge devices and cloud infrastructure to high-performance computing (HPC) systems. Proposals should advance approaches beyond conventional federated learning. Relevant research areas include:

• Distributed AI architectures supporting heterogeneous computing infrastructures.
• New techniques for AI model compression and efficient workload distribution.
• Secure data management across decentralised environments.
• Tools for monitoring and improving energy efficiency throughout the AI processing lifecycle.

A key requirement is to demonstrate the developed solutions in at least two complementary use cases from different domains. These should demonstrate practical benefits and potential applicability across additional economic sectors. Projects are expected to start at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 and reach TRL 6–7 by completion.

Pro tip: Select use cases that challenge the proposed architecture in different operating conditions. Define measurable indicators for computing efficiency, scalability, latency, energy consumption and data protection to demonstrate improvements over centralised approaches.

Demonstrating the potential of converged Telco-Edge-Cloud infrastructure

HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-DATA-08 supports large-scale, demand-driven pilot demonstrators integrating telecommunications, edge computing and cloud capabilities. The goal is to validate Connected Collaborative Computing (3C) networks and demonstrate their benefits for European industrial sectors. Projects must build on the infrastructure and open orchestration platforms developed under HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-08. The EC expects two pilot demonstrators targeting different sectors:

• Smart mobility: Applications covering transport, logistics or the automotive industry, aligned with the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance.
• Another strategic sector: Applications in areas such as energy, health, manufacturing, agrifood, smart communities or industrial virtual worlds.

Proposals should demonstrate the practical benefits of 3C networks, including improved service continuity, security, low latency and efficient resource utilisation. The integration of AI, extended reality and other advanced technologies is encouraged. Consortia must involve both infrastructure providers and industrial end-users. Projects should also develop robust data governance models covering interoperability, data sovereignty and secure information exchange.

Pro tip: Establish cooperation with relevant 3C infrastructure initiatives before submitting your proposal. Demonstrate how the selected industrial use case exploits specific network capabilities and delivers measurable benefits compared with existing solutions.

Improving energy efficiency in AI data centres

HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-DATA-09 targets the environmental footprint of AI data processing. As AI applications require increasingly powerful computing infrastructure, data centres face growing challenges related to energy consumption, cooling and operational resilience. The EC seeks technological innovations and demonstration activities addressing:

• Advanced cooling: Improved heat removal from high-performance AI chips through innovative cooling systems and thermal management.
• Energy-efficient backup systems: New storage and backup technologies with reduced cooling requirements.
• Sustainable data centre operation: Intelligent workload scheduling, energy management, renewable energy integration and waste-heat recovery.
• An open demonstration site: Infrastructure for testing, integrating and benchmarking innovations developed by the funded projects.

Projects addressing the first three expected outcomes must include at least two use cases demonstrating their results. The Work Programme foresees three technology-focused projects and one open pilot demonstration site, with projects expected to reach TRL 8. The Commission also encourages synergies with HORIZON-CL5-2027-05-D4-06 on thermal energy optimisation and waste-heat recovery in buildings and smaller data centres.

Pro tip: Position your proposal clearly within one of the expected outcomes. For technology-focused projects, demonstrate quantifiable improvements in energy efficiency, cooling performance or resource consumption and explain how the solutions can be replicated across European data centres.

Preparing competitive Horizon Europe Data and AI 2027 proposals

Although the three topics address different technological challenges, they share the objective of strengthening Europe’s digital infrastructure while improving sustainability, resilience and strategic autonomy. Applicants should pay particular attention to topic-specific eligibility conditions. DATA-08 and DATA-03 restrict participation to organisations established in specified eligible countries, while DATA-09 includes restrictions concerning entities controlled by China and the protection of European communication networks. Consortia should therefore verify participation eligibility and ownership structures early in proposal development. For all three topics, applicants should also demonstrate how their solutions build on relevant European initiatives, contribute to measurable technological advances and create opportunities for future industrial uptake.