Open topic on citizen and regional and/or local authorities' engagement in enhanced disaster risk awareness, including education, and preparedness
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Open topic on citizen and regional and/or local authorities' engagement in enhanced disaster risk awareness, including education, and preparedness offering max €18.0M funding💰 Funding Details
Funding Overview
Key Facts
* Call identifier: HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-DRS-01
* Topic title: Open topic on citizen and regional/local authorities' engagement in enhanced disaster risk awareness, including education, and preparedness
* Type of action: HORIZON-RIA – Lump-Sum Model Grant Agreement (HORIZON-AG-LS)
* Maximum EU contribution per grant: €18 000 000 (funding rate 100 % of eligible lump-sum costs)
* Indicative project duration: 36–48 months
* Opening date: 12 June 2025 | Deadline: 12 November 2025 (17:00 Brussels time)
* Single-stage submission & evaluation
What the Grant Funds
The call supports research and innovation that strengthens disaster preparedness and societal resilience by:
1. Designing, testing and validating new tools, services or methods that raise risk awareness and preparedness among citizens and regional/local authorities (Option a).
2. Creating or scaling mechanisms for structured dialogue between the research & technical community and policy-makers/practitioners to increase uptake of scientific knowledge (Option b).
Activities may include applied research, co-design, prototyping, demonstrators, pilot deployments, living-labs, social science studies, training & capacity-building, standardisation inputs, and cost-benefit analyses for future up-scaling. Both technological (e.g. AI-enabled early-warning dashboards) and non-technological (e.g. social innovation, behavioural nudges) solutions are eligible.
Eligibility Snapshot
* Consortium minimum: At least 3 independent entities from 3 different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries AND within the consortium the *following actors must be formal beneficiaries*:
* ≥2 regional and/or local authorities;
* ≥2 organisations representing citizens or local communities (e.g. NGOs, volunteer associations);
* ≥2 first responders or disaster-management authorities.
* SSH integration is compulsory: relevant social sciences & humanities expertise must be embedded.
* Security & data requirements: if satellite EO/PNNT data are used, Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS services must be prioritised.
* Non-duplication clause: proposals must clearly show how they build on – and do not duplicate – projects from Horizon Europe 2021-2024 Disaster-Resilient Society calls.
* Standard Horizon Europe eligibility regarding legal entities, financial & operational capacity, ethics, gender equality plans, etc. applies.
Budget & Cost Model
* The EC issues lump-sum payments linked to work-package deliverables/milestones agreed in the Grant Agreement.
* 25 % flat-rate indirect costs are *already embedded* in the lump-sum calculation.
* No actual cost reporting; however, a detailed lump-sum budget with cost break-down per partner, WP and cost category must be provided during proposal stage and may be audited on methodology.
Complementary Policies & References
* Alignment with the EU Preparedness Union Strategy and Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM).
* Use findings from the Special Eurobarometer on Disaster Risk Awareness and Preparedness as evidence base.
* Coordinate with other projects funded under this topic to exploit synergies and avoid overlap.
📊 At a Glance
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🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-Wide Advantages & Strategic Opportunities under HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-DRS-01
1. Gateway to the Single Market (450+ million citizens)
• Pan-European demo pilots can reach heterogeneous risk profiles (urban, rural, coastal, mountainous) enabling statistically robust evidence and quicker product-market fit.
• Freedom to provide services (Art. 56 TFEU) allows AI-based early-warning apps or VR educational modules to be rolled out simultaneously in 27 Member States without new authorisations.
• Direct access to public procurement markets via the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (~€2.3 bn/yr) and the expanding rescEU reserve.
2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange
• Mandatory participation of ≥3 countries creates a living laboratory across climatic zones and hazard types (floods, wildfires, earthquakes, heat-waves).
• Facilitates transnational “Communities of Practice” linking first responders, citizen NGOs and local authorities—strengthening mutual aid under the UCPM.
• Multilingual datasets enhance AI model accuracy and transferability, while GDPR provides a common data-protection baseline.
3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies
• European Green Deal: Tackles climate-induced disasters and feeds into the Climate Adaptation Mission.
• Digital Europe & Europe’s Digital Decade: Promotes trustworthy AI, data spaces for civil security, and digital skills.
• EU Preparedness Union Strategy: Direct contribution to Disaster Resilience Goal 2 "Prepare"—increasing chances of policy uptake and extra DG ECHO funding.
4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Standards Leadership
• Harmonised EU civil-protection legislation (Decision 1313/2013/EU) simplifies cross-border piloting of alerting protocols (CAP-EU).
• Consortium can influence forthcoming CEN/CENELEC standards on inclusive risk communication, achieving first-mover advantage.
5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem
• Synergies with 3,000+ Horizon Europe security projects, 25 EIT KICs, Copernicus & Galileo user communities.
• Linkages to European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) and Living Labs of the New European Bauhaus for citizen-centric design.
6. Funding Synergies
• Blending potential with: EU4Health (HERA), LIFE climate-adaptation calls, ERDF/Interreg for regional deployment, InvestEU & EIB venture debt for scale-up.
• Lump-sum model eases combination with national co-funding and ESA InCubed for EO components.
7. Scale, Replicability & Impact
• Deliverables can be embedded in the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network, providing EU-wide visibility.
• KPIs feed directly into the next Eurobarometer on disaster preparedness—metrics recognised by policy-makers.
• Opportunity to create a pan-EU certification label "Trusted Risk Awareness Solution" to accelerate market uptake.
8. Strategic Recommendations for Applicants
1. Map pilot activities to at least three macro-regions (Nordic, Mediterranean, Central-Eastern) to showcase scalability.
2. Embed Copernicus & Galileo data/services to meet eligibility and exploit EU assets.
3. Reference and build upon past DRS projects (e.g., ENGAGE, LINKS, RESILOC) while proposing a coordination board to avoid duplication.
4. Involve SSH partners to run citizen-science campaigns and set gender/age/disability-sensitive KPIs.
5. Draft a post-grant "EU Uptake Plan" aligned with DG ECHO Knowledge Network and standardisation roadmaps.
Bottom line: Leveraging EU integration mechanisms turns this RIA into a continent-wide catalyst for safer, better-prepared communities while positioning the consortium for future policy influence, commercial expansion and investment.
🏷️ Keywords
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Open topic on citizen and regional and/or local authorities' engagement in enhanced disaster risk awareness, including education, and preparedness offering max €18.0M funding