To develop sustainable, bio-based production methods for rubber to reduce the EU’s reliance on imports and fossil-based materials.

1. Identify and characterise the suitable sources of rubber-bearing genetic backgrounds (e.g., plants, yeast, microbial hosts, etc…) which are suitable for optimisation for natural and/or synthetic rubber biomanufacturing. When targeting plant-based sources, proposals should focus on implementing low-ILUC solutions.

2. Develop bio-based solutions aiming at high yield of isoprenoid and/or other elastomers, e.g. by deploying the modern tools of biotechnology or other biomanufacturing approaches.

3. Advance EU/AC-based production, extraction and/or processing methods, to enable high productivity and quality of high molecular weight natural rubber and/or other bio-based elastomers. Test the suitability of the developed biomanufactured alternatives into end-products.

4. Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment

5. Address environmental aspects, aiming at lowering the overall environmental impact of the natural and /or synthetic rubber production in the EU/AC (and potentially, in the long term, globally) and at achieving its high sustainability (e.g. resource efficiency), as well as prevention of microplastics release, as appropriate.

Legal entities must be established in an EU Member state, Overseas Countries and Territories, Horizon Europe-associated countries, or certain low- or middle-income countries.