SESAR JU
SESAR JU
SESAR is the technological pillar of the EU’s Single European Sky policy and a key enabler of the European Commission’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. SESAR defines, develops and deploys technologies to transform air traffic management in Europe. The SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking (SESAR 3 JU) is a European institutional public-private partnership set up to accelerate through research and innovation the delivery of this digital transformation, in other words, the Digital European Sky. To do so, it is harnessing, developing and accelerating the take-up of the most cutting-edge technological solutions to manage conventional aircraft, drones, air taxis and vehicles flying at higher altitudes. With the Digital European Sky comes the promise of making Europe’s airspace the most efficient and environmentally-friendly sky to fly in the world. Building on the work of the first SESAR Joint Undertaking, the SESAR 3 JU has 10-year mandate (2021-2031), corresponding to the duration of the Horizon Europe programme (2021-2027), followed by 4 years to complete the work outlined in the Multiannual Work Programme.
Entité de financement
Commission Européenne - SESAR Joint Undertaking (Horizon Europe)Clôture de l'appel
16 septembre 2025Zone géographique
eur
Objectif
With a budget of EUR 24 million, this call focuses on disruptive technologies and innovative concepts that are in the early stages of development. The primary aim is to explore new ideas, concepts, methods and technologies that will help define future development activities in ATM aligned with the long-term vision of the Digital European Sky.
The Exploratory research call (ER3) under the DES will focus on disruptive technologies and innovative concepts that are in the early stages of development. The primary aim is to explore new ideas, concepts, methods and technologies that will help define future development activities in ATM aligned with the long-term vision of the Digital European Sky for 2045.
The Industrial Research (IR) call is focused on significantly advancing the six development priorities defined in the ATM Master Plan for Industrial Research in relation to Phase D and reflect the need to focus on developing the next generation platforms. These six development priorities for industrial research are:
• Transformation to trajectory-based operations.
• Transition towards high performance of air-ground connectivity (multilink).
• Future en-route and TMA ground platforms.
• Future airport platform.
• Autonomy and digital assistants for the flight deck.
• U3 U-space advanced services, innovative air mobility (IAM) and vertiports.
Critères d'éligibilité
The same eligibility rules as for Horizon Europe calls for proposals apply to SESAR JU 2025 calls. The main difference lies in the funding rates.
Stakeholders from across the aviation and research ecosystem are encouraged to apply, from airports, airlines, air navigation service providers, to manufacturers, data specialists and research organisations. Our calls are open to any legal entity eligible to participate, be it private or public, for-profit or not-for-profit organisations, established in a Member States or Associated Country.
Technologies clés
SESAR Exploratory Research calls :
- Fundamental research:
o FR-01 ATM impact on climate change
o FR-02 Digital flight rules
o FR-03 Investigate quantum sensing and computing applied to ATM
o Any ATM/U-space fundamental research area not covered by the development priorities FR-1, FR-2 or FR-3.
- Applied Research :
o AR-01 Research to help shape the future regulatory framework for a Digital European Sky
o AR-03 Integration of the next generation aircraft
for zero/low emission aviation
SESAR Industrial Research calls :
- Enhanced CNS capabilities
- Support to programme execution on SESAR architecture and on Strategic deployment planning and monitoring
- Fast-track Extending U-space eco-system
- Fast-track Enabling innovative air mobility (IAM) / Vertical take-off and landing capable aircraft (VCA) (crewed and uncrewed) operations
- Fast-track U3 U-space advanced services and CNS capabilities
- Support to programme execution framework on performance
- Smart airports, airports as multimodal nodes and passenger experience
- Transformation to trajectory-based operations
- Airborne capabilities for supporting reducing ATM environmental footprint
- Next generation ATS platforms for en-route and TMA operations
- Transition towards high performance of air-ground connectivity (multilink)
- Increased automation assistance for the pilot for ATM tasks
- Next generation ATS platform for airport operations
- Highly automated ATM for all airspace users
Typologie de consortium
The applicable target maturity levels for exploratory research are TRL1 (fundamental research) and TRL2 (applied research). The targeted TRL for industrial research calls is TRL 6-7.
Maximum EU contributions vary from one project to another, within the range of 1M to 31M per project. Funding rates go from 70% for every type of beneficiary in Industrial Research calls to 100% for Exploratory Research calls.