The European Commission awards €400 million to 65 projects aimed at decarbonizing industrial heat production under its first Innovation Fund Heat Auction. The funding is distributed across 10 European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. The projects target energy-intensive industries where heat demand is difficult to electrify, focusing on the deployment of innovative clean heat technologies. According to the reports, the supported approaches include electrification and renewable heat solutions, as well as other technology options intended to reduce emissions from industrial heat generation. The Commission presents the auction as an EU-wide mechanism designed to accelerate the rollout of innovative decarbonization technologies within industry. With this round, the selected projects represent the first set of commitments made through the Innovation Fund heat auction framework, using competitive selection to back industrial decarbonization efforts across the participating countries.