The EU’s Restore Our Ocean and Waters Mission aims to protect and rejuvenate Europe’s ocean, seas, and waters by 2030. through innovative research, citizen engagement, and sustainable investments. This mission addresses the interconnectedness of our ocean and waters, playing a crucial role in achieving climate neutrality and restoring nature.
Phases of Implementation:
- Development and Piloting (2022-2025): Focus on research, innovation and citizen engagement.
- Deployment and Upscaling (2026-2030): Deploy, replicate and scale up solutions.
Here are the main thematic focuses:
- Restoring Ecosystems and Biodiversity: This involves efforts to protect and restore marine ecosystems and biodiversity, including the restoration of 25,000 km of free-flowing rivers.
- Eliminating Pollution: The mission aims to prevent and eliminate pollution by reducing plastic litter at sea nutrient losses, and the use of chemical pesticides by 50%.
- Making the Blue Economy Carbon-Neutral and Circular: This includes initiatives to make the blue economy sustainable by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting circular economy practices.
- Citizen Engagement and Public Mobilization: Engaging citizens and local communities in the mission’s activities to foster a sense of ownership and participation in ocean and water restoration efforts.
- Digital Ocean and Water Knowledge System: Developing a digital system to monitor, forecast, and value the health of aquatic systems, supporting better decision-making and implementation of the mission’s goals.
These thematic focuses are supported by regional “lighthouses” in major sea and river basins, which serve as sites to pilot, demonstrate and deploy mission activities.
Why Apply? Participation in Horizon Europe Cluster 5 calls offers the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research and innovation that can significantly impact climate action, energy efficiency and sustainable mobility. Successful projects receive substantial funding and support, fostering collaboration and advancement in these critical areas by connecting with leading researchers, businesses and organizations across Europe.
Application Process
Eligible applicants Researchers, universities, businesses (including SMEs), NGOs and local authorities from EU member states and associated countries.
Who Can apply
A consortium of at least three independent legal entities (“beneficiaries”), each established in a different EU member state or Horizon Europe associated country (e.g. Israel); at least one member of the consortium must come from an EU member state.
Additionally, some of the calls require the participation of specific partners in the proposal (for example: local authorities, social science and humanities) – read carefully the specific topic to see the requirements. Some of the calls also require the participation of specific partners in the proposal (for example: local authorities, representatives of the social sciences and humanities). Read the topic carefully to see the specific requirements.
Funding
Up to several million Euros per project, in accordance with the specific topic description. Participants will usually receive hundreds of thousands of Euros per project depending on their role and responsibilities in the project.
- The funding rate for this grant will be 70% or 100% of the eligible costs + 25% overhead, depending on the type of funding mechanism. Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) will cover 100% of the expenses and Innovation Actions (IA) will cover 70% of the expensesNonprofit entities are always eligible for 100% of the eligible costs + 25% overhead
Submission
The submission deadline date is available on the calls for proposal webpage. Applications should be submitted by 17:00 Brussels time. It is highly recommended that you submit a few days prior to the official deadline.
RIA/IA proposals must follow this provided template; CSA proposals must follow this provided template.
Evaluation process
- Read the topic carefully to see the specific requirements.
- Your proposal will be first evaluated and scored remotely by at least 3 EU expert evaluators, each giving it a grade of up to 5 on the three evaluation criteria: Excellence, Impact, and Implementation.
- The evaluation process is expected to take 5 months after the deadline.
Useful links
The Missions work programme 2023-2025
NCP4Missions – a free online B2Match partner search platform
For ISERD support (link to the page)
For questions and more information: asaf.aharon@iserd.org.il