Environmental biotechnology applications in service of remediation of polluted ecosystems
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Environmental biotechnology applications in service of remediation of polluted ecosystems offering max €30.0M funding💰 Funding Details
Funding Description
Programme & Call: Horizon Europe – Cluster 6, Destination "Clean environment and zero pollution"
Topic Identifier: HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-03
Type of Action: HORIZON-RIA – Research & Innovation Action (Lump-Sum Model Grant Agreement)
Total Indicative Budget (EC): ~€60–80 million for the topic (Work Programme figure)
Maximum EU Contribution per Project: €30 million (no mandatory ceiling, but exceeding this level is unlikely to be competitive)
Funding Rate: 100 % of the *agreed* lump-sum (covers direct + 25 % flat-rate indirect costs).
Payment Logic:
* • A single global lump-sum is fixed at Grant Agreement signature, based on the detailed cost-breakdown in Part B.
* • Payments are linked to the successful completion of pre-defined work packages/milestones; no financial reporting of actual costs is required.
What the Grant Funds
* Development, integration and validation of biotechnology-driven, bio-based and nature-based solutions (NBS) for remediation of contaminated soils, sediments, surface- & ground-water.
* Digital/AI tools for optimisation and emergency deployment of remediation actions.
* Multi-site case-studies across EU/Associated Countries, including accident- or climate-exacerbated pollution scenarios.
* Environmental, economic, social, health-risk and circular-economy assessments in line with the precautionary principle, Do-No-Significant-Harm (DNSH), gender & inclusiveness requirements.
* Citizen-science engagement, SSH integration, policy uptake activities, exploitation, dissemination and communication.
Eligibility Snapshot
1. Consortium: ≥3 independent legal entities from ≥3 different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries (standard HE rule).
2. Multi-actor composition expected: research organisations, SMEs & industry, public authorities/site owners, NGOs/citizen groups, digital tech providers, social scientists.
3. Joint Research Centre (JRC) may join as beneficiary or affiliated entity.
4. Participants from non-associated third countries may join without funding *or* with own national funding schemes that support Horizon Europe participation.
5. Ethics, gender equality plan (for public bodies, higher-education & research orgs ≥50 staff), and open-science commitments are obligatory.
Key Deadlines
* Call opening: 06 May 2025
* Single-stage submission deadline: 17 Sept 2025, 17:00 CET (Brussels time)
* Evaluation results: ~5 months post-deadline
* Grant signature: ~9 months post-deadline
Typical Project Profile
* Duration: 48–60 months
* Budget: €7–20 million (larger consortia with multiple demonstration sites may target up to €30 million).
* 6–15 beneficiaries covering the full innovation chain (TRL 3→6).
Cost Categories Covered via Lump-Sum
* Personnel, equipment depreciation, consumables, travel, subcontracts, third-party services, and 25 % indirect cost flat-rate – all pre-agreed in the lump-sum breakdown.
Non-Financial Obligations
* Data Management Plan, Open-Access publications, contributions to common indicators, cooperation with other HE projects & EC services, clustering & policy feedback.
📊 At a Glance
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🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-wide Advantages & Opportunities for "Environmental Biotechnology Applications in Service of Remediation of Polluted Ecosystems" (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-03)
1. Single Market Access (450+ million citizens)
• Unified demand for green remediation solutions: The EU Chemicals Strategy, Zero-Pollution Action Plan and Urban Waste-Water Treatment Directive create an EU-wide pull for safe & sustainable remediation technologies. A successful project can commercialise bio-/nature-based solutions in a regulatory space that already bans or phases out pollutants (PFAS, micro-plastics, hazardous chemicals), accelerating market uptake.
• Public procurement leverage: More than €100 bn/yr of EU public procurement is environment-related. Post-project spin-offs can certify products under EU ETV (Environmental Technology Verification) or EU Taxonomy, easing entry into pan-European tenders for soil, water and sediment clean-ups.
• Economies of scale: Manufacturing bio-remediation agents (microbial consortia, bio-sorbents, enzymatic formulations) in larger volumes for a continental market reduces unit costs by up to 30 %, reinforcing competitiveness versus conventional physico-chemical methods.
2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange
• Multi-site case studies: The topic explicitly requests several EU/AC sites—enabling comparative pilots in, for example, Baltic coastal sediments, Mediterranean salinised soils and Alpine mining residues. Cross-border testing validates robustness under diverse climatic and regulatory contexts.
• Access to pan-European research infrastructures: Projects can tap into ESFRI facilities (e.g. AnaEE for ecosystem experimentation, ELIXIR for bio-informatics) and Copernicus data for AI-enabled monitoring.
• Staff mobility & training: Horizon lump-sum flexibility supports short-term secondments between academia, SMEs and public agencies, fostering a new EU talent pool in environmental biotechnology.
3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies
• European Green Deal & Fit-for-55: Contribution to net-zero by coupling pollutant removal with carbon sequestration (bio-char, phytoremediation) directly answers Climate Law obligations.
• Nature Restoration Regulation: The topic is listed as a direct enabler of Annex VII measures, positioning the consortium as an early supplier of methodologies that Member States must apply from 2030 onward.
• Digital Europe & AI Act: Development of AI-driven decision-support tools for emergency remediation dovetails with Europe’s push for trustworthy AI, offering scope for CE-marked software devices.
4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits
• One-time compliance: Once a bio-based product is authorised under REACH/BPR or labelled SSbD (Safe & Sustainable by Design), it can circulate freely across 30+ countries, reducing duplication of certification efforts.
• Common soil & water standards: Forthcoming EU Soil Monitoring Law and revised Groundwater Directive set convergent thresholds, simplifying performance benchmarking of remediation efficiency.
• Unified data standards: INSPIRE & EMODnet interoperability rules allow sharing of geo-spatial pollution data, lowering integration costs for the project’s AI models.
5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem
• Top-tier expertise: 300+ EU laboratories specialise in environmental biotech; clustering with leaders (e.g., Helmholtz, INRAE, Wageningen, CNR, VTT) boosts scientific excellence scores and TRL progression.
• Cluster & Living-Lab networks: Participation in EIT Climate-KIC Deep Demonstrations, Water4All or Soil Deal living labs accelerates co-development with end-users (cities, farmers, ports).
• JRC partnership: Direct JRC involvement streamlines policy uptake and facilitates inclusion of project outputs in EU knowledge services (e.g., IPCHEM, Water Information System for Europe).
6. Funding Synergies & Leveraging Effects
• Cumulative financing pipeline:
- LIFE 2026 & Interreg CBC can fund post-project deployment at regional scale.
- CBE-JU (Circular Bio-based Europe) resources for upscaling bioprocesses.
- EIB Innovation Fund & InvestEU Green Transition windows for first-of-a-kind plants.
• Mission interfaces: Results can be fast-tracked into Mission “Restore our Ocean & Waters” lighthouse basins and “A Soil Deal for Europe” living labs, opening additional €1 bn+ financing envelopes.
• Seal of Excellence: Proposals scoring ≥80 % but not funded may still receive national/EU top-ups, de-risking proposal investment.
7. Scale & Impact Potential
• EU-wide deployment pathways: Harmonised procurement rules (Green Public Procurement criteria for remediation) enable replication in 5000+ contaminated sites listed under the Environmental Liability Directive.
• Disaster-response integration: By embedding AI early-warning modules compatible with the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, the solution can become a standard tool in cross-border emergency pools.
• Circular-economy valorisation: Recovery of critical raw materials (Li, REE) from polluted matrices supports the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, creating new secondary supply chains.
8. Strategic Recommendations for Applicants
1. Consortium composition: At least 3 MS/AC covering north-south-east climatic gradients; include an SME specialised in digital twins and a regional authority committed to the Nature Restoration Regulation.
2. Gender & SSH integration: Embed citizen social science pilots (e.g., participatory sensing of PFAS) to score highly on ‘Excellence’ and ‘Impact’ criteria.
3. Lump-sum budgeting: Use work-package-level lump sums tied to milestone deliveries (field trials, AI prototype, policy briefs) to minimise administrative burden.
4. Exploitation & IP: File EU-wide patents under the Unitary Patent system and prepare a Horizon Results Booster plan for post-grant commercialisation.
Bottom line: Operating at EU scale transforms a research project into a continent-wide market entry platform, offering unrivalled regulatory coherence, funding leverage and impact multipliers that cannot be achieved at the national level.
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Environmental biotechnology applications in service of remediation of polluted ecosystems offering max €30.0M funding