💰 Funding Details

Funding Description

Call identifier: HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-04-two-stage

Programme / Cluster: Horizon Europe – Cluster 6 “Food, Bio-economy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment”

Type of action: HORIZON-RIA (Research & Innovation Action) implemented through a Lump-Sum Model Grant Agreement (MGA)

Available budget per project: up to €18 000 000 (lump-sum; single reimbursement of agreed workplan)

Opening / deadlines:

• Stage 1: 06 May 2025 → 04 Sept 2025 (17:00 CET)

• Stage 2: invitation only → 18 Feb 2026 (17:00 CET)

What is funded

• Development, testing and validation of innovative tools, methods and technologies (incl. AI, IoT, image recognition, smart meters, sensors) that measure, monitor, prevent and reduce food waste at household level.

• Large-scale pan-European pilots generating harmonised food-waste data (edible & inedible fractions) across diverse socio-economic groups.

• Research on root causes & behavioural drivers of household food waste; design of evidence-based interventions and policy recommendations.

• Creation of interoperable metadata standards and integration of data in the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

• Multi-actor, trans-disciplinary approaches incorporating social sciences & humanities (SSH), citizen science, and civil-society engagement.

• Actions that support Member-State reporting under the Waste Framework Directive and contribute to Green Deal, Farm2Fork and Food 2030 objectives.

Eligibility snapshot

• Consortium: minimum 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or Horizon-Europe Associated Countries (HE GA Art 22).

• Participant types: universities, RTOs, SMEs, large industry, NGOs, consumer organisations, public authorities, digital solution providers, utilities.

• Funding rate: 100 % of eligible costs (Lump-Sum agreement – actual costs not declared; payment linked to completion of work packages).

• In-kind contributions & third parties: allowed under lump-sum, but must be budgeted ex-ante.

• Ethics, open science, gender equality plan (GEP) and data management plan (DMP) are compulsory.

Key grant specifics

• Two-stage evaluation – concise 10-page outline in Stage 1; full proposal (~45 pages) only if invited.

• Technology Readiness Levels (TRL): typically start TRL 3-4 → end TRL 6-7 for tools / methods (guideline, not formal).

• Complementarity with prior EU projects (CHORIZO, WASTELESS, REFRESH, etc.) and alignment with the European Consumer Food Waste Forum is expected.

• No co-funding or national match is required; lump-sum simplifies reporting but asks for robust budgeting during proposal.

📊 Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria & Scoring Insight

Horizon Europe applies three core criteria, each scored 0–5. Minimum threshold per criterion is 3; overall threshold 10/15. Weighting is identical across criteria in both stages.

Stage 1 (outline – 10 pages)

Only Excellence & Impact are evaluated (each threshold 4/5); Implementation is not scored but must be credible.

Stage 2 (full proposal)

1. Excellence (0–5)

• Clarity & pertinence of objectives; alignment with topic scope & expected outcomes.

• Soundness of methodology incl. interdisciplinarity, citizen science, SSH dimension.

• Credibility of new tools/technologies; consideration of state-of-the-art & previous EU projects.

2. Impact (0–5)

• Credibility of pathways toward reducing household food waste & related GHG emissions.

• Suitability of KPIs, target groups, uptake mechanisms; contribution to Waste Framework reporting.

• Quality of measures to exploit, disseminate & communicate; open science & EOSC integration.

• Barriers/risks (regulatory, behavioural, market) and mitigation strategies.

3. Quality & Efficiency of Implementation (0–5)

• Quality of work plan, WPs, milestones, deliverables; coherence with lump-sum budgeting.

• Consortium competence, complementarity & geographical balance; involvement of end-users.

• Appropriateness of resources & allocation; risk management & decision-making structures.

Cross-cutting considerations (may influence scores)

- Integration of gender dimension & inclusiveness in R&I content.

- Addressing climate & environmental impacts (Do No Significant Harm principle).

- Ethics, data protection, AI transparency.

Tie-break priorities

If proposals receive the same total score, evaluators prioritise:

1. Higher Impact score

2. Higher Excellence score

3. Gender balance among key personnel

4. Widening-country participation

5. Earlier submission time

Evaluator expectations – key takeaways

• Quantified baselines & targets: avoid generic claims (e.g., give % food-waste reduction linked to sample size).

• Policy relevance: show concrete links to national reporting templates & Eurostat indicators.

• Scalability & EU added value: demonstrate solution transferability to > 50 % of EU households by 2030.

• Consistency between objectives, methodology, budget and consortium expertise – any mismatch is penalised.

📝 Application Strategy

Strategic Application Guide

1. Build a mission-oriented consortium

- Cover full knowledge chain: behavioural scientists, data scientists, AI developers, food technologists, wastewater experts, sociologists, EOSC specialists.

- Secure end-users & multipliers: consumer associations, municipalities, retailers, utilities (for wastewater sampling), NGOs, digital-app companies.

- Include at least 8–10 countries to guarantee geographical and socio-economic variety; involve Associated Countries for extra evaluation points.

2. Design a compelling concept for Stage 1 (max 10 pages)

- One clear narrative: “From precise measurement → deeper understanding → targeted prevention → measurable reduction”.

- Map Expected Outcomes to specific Work Packages (WPs) with KPIs.

- Provide a visual pilot matrix (countries × household segments × tools).

- Quantify ambition: e.g. “measure 15 000 households; achieve ≥ 25 % reduction in avoidable food waste; enable 10 Member States to meet 2030 target.”

3. Craft a robust Stage 2 full proposal

1. Excellence

• Show state-of-the-art review linking to CHORIZO & WASTELESS gaps.

• Detail multidisciplinary methodology; explain AI bias mitigation, citizen-science protocols, metadata standards.

2. Impact

• Provide a pathway-to-policy: how results feed national reporting, Waste Framework targets, Green Deal.

• Include exploitation & scaling plan (open-source toolbox, pay-per-use SaaS, standardisation roadmap).

• Quantified impacts: GHG reduction, litres of water saved, economic savings per household.

3. Implementation

• Create a lean WP structure (6–8 WPs) with lump-sum milestones; link budget to deliverables.

• Show risk management (data privacy, AI bias, citizen fatigue) with mitigations.

4. Integrate cross-cutting requirements

- SSH integration: dedicate a WP to behavioural insights.

- Gender & inclusiveness: sampling strategy ensuring representation; integrate gender dimension in data analytics.

- Open Science: commit to EOSC-compliant datasets, open-access publications, FAIR principles.

- Climate & sustainability: perform life-cycle assessment (LCA) of technological solutions.

5. Timetable & milestones

- M0–M6: Tool refinement & ethical approvals.

- M7–M30: Household pilots (2–3 seasonal cycles).

- M18: Interim data release to Member-States.

- M31–M42: Impact validation, policy simulation, replication toolkit.

- M48: Final conference & hand-over to EU Platform on Food Losses & Waste.

6. Proposal writing tips

- Use HEU formats: part A (forms) & part B (narrative).

- Keep lump-sum budget proportional to tasks; evaluators look for realism, not cost category detail.

- Include Gantt chart & PERT diagram; cross-reference them with deliverables list.

- Solicit external advisory board letters (policy-makers, UN FAO, consumer groups) – attach as annex if needed.

Research and innovation for food waste prevention and reduction at household level through measurement, monitoring and new technologies

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