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€1.5 Billion Available Across Horizon Europe Cluster 4 Programme

Ruth Kearney at the Horizon Europe Cluster 4 and 5 Inward Multilateral Brokerage Event near Belfast

Our CEO, Ruth Kearney, is heading to Belfast on 3 September 2026 for Innovate UK Business Connect’s Horizon Europe Cluster 4 and 5 Inward Multilateral Brokerage Event, hosted at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC), Factory of the Future.

The event brings together UK and international organisations to explore Horizon Europe opportunities, connect with National Contact Points (NCPs), and, most importantly, meet potential consortium partners for upcoming collaborative R&D projects.

Of particular interest to Nightingale HQ is Cluster 4: Digital, Industry and Space, which covers manufacturing, materials and industrial technologies. With around €1.5 billion available across the 2026–27 programme, there are significant opportunities for ambitious industry-led innovation.

For us, the focus is clear: finding the right partners and consortia for the Cluster 4 calls that can accelerate cleaner, smarter and more sustainable steel manufacturing.

Open to Collaboration

We want a clear overview of the Cluster 4 research and innovation landscape, and time with NCPs who understand the target countries where relevant research and industry expertise sits. We are looking to meet organisations working towards these Cluster 4 calls:

  • HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-06 — Circular innovative advanced materials: facilitating the transition from design to markets (Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU and Made in Europe partnerships)
  • HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-02 — Advanced manufacturing for key products (Made in Europe partnership)
  • HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-16 — Technologies for innovative processing of raw materials
  • HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-22 — Innovative advanced materials and new production processes, reducing dependencies on Critical and Strategic Raw Materials (Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU and Processes4Planet partnerships)
  • HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-03 — Factory processes and automation for de- and re-manufacturing (Made in Europe partnership)
  • HORIZON-CL4-2027-01-MAT-PROD-61 — Fast Track to Research and Innovation for breakthroughs in industrial technologies

Clean steel and industrial automation sits across several of these calls, and it is where our track record and our appetite to contribute are strongest.

Why partners should talk to us

Nightingale HQ, the team behind GoSmarter, builds Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that cut scrap, waste, and carbon in metals manufacturing. We are not new to European and Innovate UK-funded research. In 2024, we completed “Re-imagining Design & Planning for Greener Reinforcement Steel Manufacturing”, a pan-European project with steel and manufacturing partners from Ireland and Norway aimed at standardising modular steel sections to cut waste. We have a strong track record of working with world class universities and research organizations including research collaboration agreements with King’s College London and submissions with University of Warwick, Aston University among others. This has given us direct routes into academic expertise on AI planning and advanced manufacturing and to also advance product to market.

As Ruth Kearney explains:

“We’ve done the pan-European consortium work before, we’ve delivered against it, and we know how to turn a research grant into something a steel mill or fabricator can actually use on the shop floor. We’re at this event to meet the people and organisations building proposals for the Cluster 4 calls covering clean steel, and to find out where we can add real industrial expertise rather than just another logo on the consortium slide.”

What we bring to a consortium

  • Delivered EU and Innovate UK-funded research, including a completed pan-European clean steel project
  • Experience in delivering research and innovation project with academic and research partners with King’s College London, CTAG (Automotive Technology Centre of Galicia) Spain
  • Real production data and industrial deployment experience from working inside metals manufacturers, not just a lab
  • A working AI platform, GoSmarter, already reducing scrap, waste, and carbon in steel production today

Get in touch

If you are building a consortium for any of the Cluster 4 calls above, particularly anything touching clean steel, circular advanced materials, or reducing dependency on critical raw materials, we would like to talk. Contact us to arrange a conversation with Ruth Kearney and the team.

FAQs

What is Horizon Europe Cluster 4?

Cluster 4 is one of the thematic pillars of Horizon Europe, the European Union’s research and innovation funding programme. It covers manufacturing, advanced materials, and industrial technology, including calls aimed at circular materials, raw material processing, and reducing dependency on critical and strategic raw materials. Several 2027 calls under Cluster 4 are directly relevant to clean steel production.

What is a National Contact Point?

A National Contact Point is an official appointed by a participating country to help organisations understand and access Horizon Europe funding. National Contact Points explain what a specific call is looking for, advise on eligibility, and help match applicants with potential consortium partners in other countries. Meeting National Contact Points directly, rather than working from the published call text alone, gives a much clearer picture of what a strong proposal needs.

What is the Horizon Europe Cluster 4 and 5 Inward Multilateral Brokerage Event?

It is an event run by Innovate UK Business Connect that brings UK organisations together with National Contact Points and international partners working on Horizon Europe Cluster 4 and Cluster 5 topics. Cluster 4 covers manufacturing and advanced materials; Cluster 5 covers climate, energy, and mobility. The format is designed to build proposal-ready consortiums rather than general networking.

What was the 'Greener Steel' project Nightingale HQ completed?

Nightingale HQ was lead digitalisation partner on a pan-European project titled “Re-imagining Design & Planning for Greener Reinforcement Steel Manufacturing”, working alongside steel and manufacturing partners across Europe to standardise modular prefabricated steel sections and cut waste in reinforcement steel manufacturing. The project completed in 2024 and gave Nightingale HQ direct experience of delivering against EU-funded, multi-partner research grants in the steel sector.

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