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  1. An institution, body, office or agency established by or based on the Treaty on European Union and the Treaties establishing the European Communities.

    All education and training facilities for people of different age groups.

    An intergovernmental organization having legal personality under public international law or a specialized agency established by such an international organization. An international organization, the majority of whose members are Member States or Associated Countries and whose main objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe, is an International Organization of European Interest.

    A person with legal rights and obligations. Unlike a legal entity, a natural person does not have a legal act (e.g. association, limited liability company, etc.).

    An NPO is an institution or organization which, by virtue of its legal form, is not profit-oriented or which is required by law not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members. An NGO is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that does not represent business interests. Pursues a common purpose for the benefit of society.

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    A research institution is a legal entity established as a non-profit organization whose main objective is to conduct research or technological development. A college/university is a legal entity recognized by its national education system as a university or college or secondary school. It may be a public or private institution.

    A microenterprise, a small or medium-sized enterprise (business) as defined in EU Recommendation 2003/361. To qualify as an SME for EU funding, an enterprise must meet certain conditions, including (a) fewer than 250 employees and (b) an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. These ceilings apply only to the figures for individual companies.

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  1. Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation 

    This topic focuses on strengthening governance, fostering institutional capacity, and enhancing cross-border cooperation. It includes promoting multilevel, transnational, and cross-border governance by designing and testing effective structures and mechanisms, as well as encouraging collaboration between public institutions on various themes. 

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    It also covers improving soil and air quality by reducing pollution, managing contamination, preventing soil erosion, and enhancing air quality both outdoors and indoors. Water management plays an essential role, including sustainable water distribution, monitoring systems, innovative wastewater treatment technologies, and water reuse policies. Additionally, it addresses the protection and development of waterways, lakes, and rivers, as well as sustainable wetland management. 

    This topic focuses on preserving, promoting, and enhancing cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable way. It includes efforts to increase the attractiveness of cultural and natural sites through preservation, valorisation, and the development of heritage objects, services, and products. Cultural heritage management, arts, and culture play a key role, including maritime heritage routes, access to cultural sites, and cultural services like festivals, concerts, and art workshops. 

    Tourism development is also central, with actions aimed at promoting natural assets, protecting and developing natural heritage, and increasing touristic appeal through the better use of cultural, natural, and historical heritage. It also covers the improvement of tourist services and products, the creation of ecotourism models, and the development of sustainable tourism strategies. 

    This topic focuses on the sustainable management, protection, and valorisation of natural resources and areas, such as habitats, geo parks, and protected zones. It also includes preserving and enhancing cultural and natural heritage, landscapes, and protecting marine environments. 

    Circular economy initiatives play a key role, with actions aimed at innovative waste management, ecological treatment techniques, and advanced recycling systems. Projects may focus on improving recycling technologies, organic waste recovery, and establishing repair and re-use networks. Additionally, pollution prevention and control efforts address ecological economy practices, marine litter reduction, and sustainable resource use. 

    This topic covers labour market development and employment, focusing on creating job opportunities, optimizing existing jobs, and addressing academic (un)employment and job mobility. It also includes attracting a skilled workforce and improving working conditions for various groups. 

    Strengthening small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and boosting entrepreneurship are key priorities. This includes enhancing SME capacities, supporting social entrepreneurship, and promoting innovative business models. Activities may focus on creating advisory systems for start-ups, spin-offs, and incubators, fostering business networks, and improving the competitiveness of SMEs through knowledge and technology transfer, digital transformation, and sustainable business practices. 

    This topic focuses on fostering community integration and strengthening a common identity by promoting social cohesion, positive relations, and the development of shared spaces and services. It supports initiatives that enhance intercultural understanding and cooperation between different societal groups. 

    Demographic change and migration address key societal challenges, such as an aging population, active aging, and silver economy strategies. It also includes adapting public services and infrastructure to demographic shifts, tackling social and spatial segregation, and addressing brain drain. Migration-related actions cover policy development, strategic planning, and the integration of migrants to create inclusive and resilient communities. 

    All projects where ICT has a significant role, including tailor-made ICT solutions in different fields, as well as digital innovation hubs, open data, Internet of Things; ICT access and connecting (remote) areas with digital infrastructure and services; services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.); services and applications for companies (e-commerce, networking, digital transformation, etc.).

    This is about the mitigation and management of risks and disasters, and the anticipation and response capacity towards the actors regarding specific risks and management of natural disasters, for example, prevention of flood and drought hazards, forest fire, strong weather conditions, etc.. It is also about risk assessment and safety.

    This topic focuses on enhancing education, training, and opportunities for children, youth, and adults. It covers the expansion of educational access, reduction of barriers to education, and improvement of higher education and lifelong learning. It also includes vocational education, common learning programs, and initiatives supporting labour mobility and educational networks. Additionally, it addresses the promotion of media literacy, digital learning tools, and the development of innovative educational approaches to strengthen knowledge, skills, and societal participation. 

    This topic emphasizes the role of culture and media in education and social development. It supports initiatives that foster creativity, cultural awareness, and artistic expression among children and youth. Activities include promoting cross-border cooperation in the audiovisual sector, enhancing digital content creation skills, and boosting the distribution of educational and cultural media products. Furthermore, it encourages the development of media literacy initiatives, helping young audiences critically engage with digital and media content. By connecting education, creativity, and media, this topic strengthens cultural identity and supports inclusive, knowledge-based societies. 

    This topic covers actions aimed at improving energy efficiency and promoting the use of renewable energy sources. It includes energy management, energy-saving methods, and evaluating energy efficiency measures. Projects may focus on the energy rehabilitation and efficiency of buildings and public infrastructure, as well as promoting energy efficiency through cooperation among experienced firms, institutions, and local administrations. 

    In the field of renewable energy, this encompasses the development and expansion of wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal, and other sustainable energy sources. Activities include increasing renewable energy production, enhancing research capacities, and developing innovative technologies for energy storage and management. Projects may also address sustainable regional bioenergy policies, financial instruments for renewable energy investments, and the establishment of cooperative frameworks for advancing renewable energy initiatives. 

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Call key data

Our Blue Future – Co-designing a future vision of a restored ocean and water system in the EU by 2030 and 2050

Funding Program

Horizon Europe: Missions

Call number

HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-01-05

deadlines

Opening
23.04.2024

Deadline
18.09.2024 17:00

Funding rate

70% (NPO:100%)

Call budget

€ 3,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

€ 3,000,000.00

Link to the call

Link to the submission

Call content

short description

This action will develop and co-design transitional alternative futures of the EU, in which the Ocean, seas and waters are conserved or restored to good health.

Call objectives

The action will support the co-creation of narratives, and innovative visualisation tools such as maps, related to different scenarios of what the EU and its ocean, seas and water spaces could look like by 2030 and 2050 if innovative solutions to restore our ocean and waters would be applied, so that the targets of the Mission Ocean and Waters and consequently those of the European Green Deal are fully reached. These narratives must be supported by the co-design of different science-based transition pathways together with citizens including students and key stakeholders such as scientists, experts and decision-makers responsible for planning ocean and water spaces. The co-design process should be inclusive, participatory following transdisciplinary and structured science-policy-society interface methodologies and taking into consideration environmental, social, economic and political considerations.

Following on from a pan-European vision, proposals should also develop specific regional visions, scenarios and narratives for each of the four Mission lighthouse areas in the Atlantic-Arctic, Danube, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic and North Sea, supported by innovative visualisation tools and co-created by multi-actors such as local stakeholders and citizens. By choosing a minimum of four large scale case-studies, the action should enable the participatory co-design of alternative futures where the Mission objectives have been achieved in the lighthouse area, and develop together with the relevant stakeholders the action pathways and necessary narratives to achieve these alternative futures.

Proposals should develop and visualise different scenarios for each of the case-studies, with both 2030- and 2050-time horizons in line with the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and EU Green Deal targets. They should at least encompass a business-as-usual scenario, in which current trends are extrapolated, as well as a scenario where European Green Deal and relevant environmental legislation (e.g. Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Birds and Habitats Directives, Water Framework Directive) targets for climate, biodiversity and pollution are fully reached through the large-scale deployment of innovative solutions. The change scenario(s) should build on deliverables of relevant Mission related projects, best practices on citizen participation and deliberative democracy, national initiatives as well as state-of-the-art models and draw on data and projections from the IPCC, IPBES, European Environment Agency and JRC. Finally, they should rely on and be compatible with the EU Digital Twin Ocean developments and eventually become one of its use-cases.

Scenarios of the future should in particular include the deployment at scale of innovative solutions with a special emphasis on nature-based solutions, which are proven to be environmentally, economically and socially effective and which address in particular the climate change, biodiversity and pollution driven challenges to the ocean and water system, including biodiversity loss and its impacts on marine ecosystems and sectors relying on it, sea level rise, extreme weather, as well as pollution of the seas, coasts and rivers. The scenarios should take the objectives of current EU policies and legislation into consideration for their design.

Proposals are expected to develop a map and visualisations as an interactive, dynamic and digital tool and application to be co-created and used by citizens, including schools and planners at EU, national, regional and where applicable local level, using whenever possible the Digital Twin of the Ocean core public infrastructure and its services. This could take the form of an interactive 2D and 3D visual experience of the future envisioned EU and regional landscapes (NUTS 2 and NUTS 3) and ocean and water space incl. the seabed.

Proposals are expected to work closely with other Horizon Europe projects, particularly Prep4Blue, the 4 Mission lighthouse CSA projects (EcoDaLLi, BlueMissionAA, BlueMissionMed, BlueMissionBANOS) and other relevant projects, as well as the Mission Ocean and Waters Implementation Support Platform to connect to citizens and stakeholders in the region (incl. the lighthouse citizen assemblies), build on existing activities and strategies at basin-level and to take into account innovative solutions that have already been developed and deployed.

This topic should take into consideration contributions of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

Proposals may draw on experiences of past projects such as ‘A nature-based vision for The Netherlands in 2120’.

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Expected results

To support the implementation of the European Green Deal, the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and the related EU climate, biodiversity and pollution targets, project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

  • Increased confidence in and support for the transitions required by the European Green Deal, by co-designing possible science-based transition scenarios for reaching the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters objectives and related EU climate, biodiversity and pollution targets, including environmental, social, economic and political considerations.
  • Support progress in restoring our ocean and waters, in adapting to climate change, reversing biodiversity loss and pollution, by co-designing inspiring narratives that stimulate effective action by policy-makers, citizens and stakeholders, and by identifying the pathways that are necessary to realise them.
  • Increased awareness of decision-makers, stakeholders and citizens, including students, through structured science-policy interfaces, in relation to the urgency of the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises and the central role of restoring the entire water system to address these crises.
  • National, regional and local decision-makers in planning decisions are taking measures to protect and restore their ocean, coastal and water spaces and ecosystems.

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan), Belarus (Беларусь), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom

eligible entities

Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

Yes

Project Partnership

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
  • third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

  • at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
  • at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.

A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.

Specific cases:

  • Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
  • Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
  • Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
  • Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.

Additional information

Topics

Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation, 
Agriculture & Forestry, Fishery, Food, Soil quality, 
Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management, 
Education & Training, Children & Youth, Media

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

Additional Information

All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.

The application form will have two parts:

  • Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
  • Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.

Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).


The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.

Contact

EU Missions in Horizon Europe
RTD-HORIZON-EUROPE-MISSIONS@ec.europa.eu
Website

National Contact Points for Horizon Europe
Website

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