Funder: European Commission
Due Dates: March 18, 2027: Full application submission deadline (single-stage)
Funding Amounts: €39 million total; typical project funding around €10 million; 4 projects expected to be funded
Summary: Funds pilots and demonstration projects to advance energy efficiency and sustainability of AI data processing in data centres, including new cooling, backup power, and optimisation methods, plus an open demonstration site.
Key Information: Entities controlled by China are not eligible; strict consortium and eligibility rules apply.
Description
This Horizon Europe Innovation Action funds projects that develop, pilot, and demonstrate advanced technologies to significantly improve the energy efficiency and sustainability of AI data processing in data centres. The call targets innovations in direct on-chip cooling, advanced backup power systems (such as graphene-enhanced batteries), holistic data centre optimisation (including AI-driven workload scheduling, integration of renewables, and waste heat reuse), and the creation of an open pilot demonstration site to showcase and benchmark these technologies across the European data centre industry.
Projects should deliver tangible advancements in thermal management, backup power, AI workload optimisation, and sustainable data centre integration with energy systems. The demonstration site is expected to serve as a European reference, supporting industry adoption and helping the sector move towards carbon-neutral operations.
