Once again, the Built4People Projects Clustering Event took place this year, held on 16 October 2025 from 09:00 to 17:00 CEST in Brussels. Organised by CINEA, the European Commission, and ECTP in the context of the Built4People project STAR*track, this annual event brings together representatives from all projects funded under the Built4People calls. The aim of the day is to provide a valuable networking opportunity, foster knowledge exchange, and share lessons learned, challenges faced, and good practices developed across the Built4People (B4P) community.

The event opened with welcoming remarks by Alain Zarli (ECTP Secretary General), Mathieu Daloze (Policy Officer at DG ENER), and Annarita Ferreri (Head of Sector at CINEA). Following the opening, Mathieu Daloze offered an overview of the latest European policies related to the construction sector, highlighting the recent updates to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), including National Building Renovation Plans, and initiatives under the Affordable Energy Action Plan such as the forthcoming Heating and Cooling Strategy, the Electrification Action Plan, and the Citizen Energy Package. Mathieu Daloze also shared insights on the Blueprint towards a decarbonised building stock by 2050, the current state of Cluster 5 (Climate, Energy and Mobility) and Work Programme 2025–2027, as well as early perspectives on the next Framework Programme 10 (FP10), which will continue to support partnerships in sustainable construction and energy efficiency under Pillar II. Annarita Ferreri presented the Built4People call statistics from 2021 to 2024, including projects funded under the 2024 call - FRAIMwork, SPHEERE, RADIANCE, ShieldBot, DTERBIM, INTEGRATES, CRedIBlE, Le Colaz, BLUEPRINT, and RenoVisor - some of which were supported through additional budget from the reserve list. Annarita Ferreri also introduced the upcoming call HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4, with a deadline of 17 February 2026, with three projects expected per topic. The presentation showed that EU contributions are fairly balanced between private-for-profit entities (33%) and research organisations (34%), with 40 ongoing projects, 639 participating organisations, and 27% of EU funding going to SMEs. As she noted, the high number of applications has led to a lower overall success rate in 2025.

The next session, led by Alain Zarli, focused on the Built4People Partnership, providing an overview of its mission, general and specific objectives, as well as its KPIs and partner-specific impact pathways. Following this, Anastasiya Yurchyshyna (ECTP Project & Policy Officer) presented the state of play and next steps of the B4PIC Network, which now includes participants from 21 countries across the EU27 and beyond, bringing together 34 Built4People Innovation Clusters (B4PICs) - 10 Prospective and 24 Emerging. This growth reflects the outcomes of the B4P Charter Signature Ceremony, held on 15 October 2025 as part of the Built4People Stakeholders Forum, during which six new B4PICs signed their B4PIC Charters, officially becoming Emerging B4PICs and beginning their journey to implement their roadmaps and advance through the network’s maturity process.

The event continued with presentations from four mature projects funded under the 2021 and 2022 calls: FORTESIE, presented by Paraskevi Plagaki (European Dynamics); Herit4ages, by Carlos Ernesto Ochoa (IERC); RE-SKIN, by Fabrizio Leonforte (Politecnico di Milano); and WeForming, by Ângelo Casaleiro (R&D Nester), showcasing their achievements, challenges, and innovative solutions in the built environment sector. This was followed by presentations from four newly granted projects starting in 2025: CRedIBlE, introduced by Paris A. Fokaides (Euphyia Tech); INBLANC, by Andre van Delft (DEMO Consultants); Le’ Colaz, by Eleni Goni (E2ARC); and RADIANCE, by Gabriel Fontenla (Universidad de Vigo), highlighting the next wave of innovation and upcoming contributions to the Built4People Partnership.

A dedicated break-out session on Challenges & Solutions on Data Collection, Integration & Interoperability, moderated by Olav Luyckx (CINEA), explored key issues and solutions across data management in Built4People projects. Participants discussed the types of data collected, ranging from building and energy consumption data, humidity, overused resources, and digital twin aspects, to qualitative societal and life-cycle inventory data; and the challenges of collecting it in a useful, standardised, and confidential manner. Solutions included standardisation, using accessible data from other projects, and ensuring data security, with proposals for a European observatory and trustworthy servers. On data integration, challenges included difficulties with energy data, infrastructure, and using aggregated data from other EU projects. Solutions focused on secure sandboxes, minimum data standards, and potentially a joint data repository to enhance knowledge-sharing. Interoperability challenges highlighted differences in regulations, software, and platforms across countries, with open standards and protocols identified as key to overcoming these barriers. Finally, discussions emphasised the value of data for policy feedback, including input for the Smart Readiness Indicator testing phase in Member States and for local or regional roadmap development. Key takeaways included the need for standardisation and harmonisation, data security compliance, and the promotion of open standards and protocols to enhance interoperability.

A second break-out session, Challenges & Solutions for Demo Buildings & Sites, moderated by Linda Novosadová (CINEA), focused on the technical, regulatory, financial, and social challenges of coordinating demo projects across different types of sites and regions. Participants highlighted difficulties such as the lack of clear guidelines for defining pilot projects, accessibility issues for people with disabilities, changes of ownership, permitting bottlenecks, legal barriers, certification processes, and skills gaps for innovative products. Solutions and good practices shared by the participants included implementing smaller demonstrators, ensuring transparency, applying risk management, involving building managers and owners, addressing privacy and insurance issues, and building trust with demo site responsible parties. Emphasis was also placed on the need for frameworks to define pilot projects, involving universal design experts, and maintaining proactive engagement with project officers. Key takeaways included the importance of clear guidelines, addressing accessibility, legal, and operational challenges, and adopting flexible, adaptive strategies to manage risks and ensure successful project implementation.

The event concluded with Veronika Schröpfer (CINEA) presenting a synthesis of the break-out sessions, summarising the key challenges, solutions, and best practices discussed. Annarita Ferreri closed the event by thanking all participants for their presence and engagement, emphasising the importance of always seeing projects in reality, maintaining ongoing dialogue between project officers and participants, and ensuring that feedback informs policy through evidence-based information.