Call 01 - single stage (2026)

This destination will support the EU Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’.

The destination supports the EU Green Deal^[1] and contributes to Europe’s competitiveness and sustainable prosperity by supporting the development of a more resilient circular economy in line with the EU Competitiveness Compass^[2], the announced EU Clean Industrial Deal^[3] and the EU Circular Economy Act.

It aims to increase market demand for secondary materials and establish a single market for waste, whilst enhancing Europe’s efforts to develop a single market for sustainable products. It will also support the implementation of the framework conditions set by the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy.

Furthermore, the destination aims to facilitate the emergence and uptake of innovative, circular and bio-based materials, products, processes and value chains that play a key role for the defossilisation (reduction of feedstocks of fossil origin), climate neutrality and strategic autonomy of our economy, in line with the new EU bioeconomy strategy as well as with the New European Bauhaus.

In addition, this destination supports several key EU policies including the industrial strategy, the European Chemicals Industry Action Plan^[4] and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation^[5] and its working plan.

It also contributes to the EU Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, the SME strategy, the communication on safe and sustainable by design framework, the sustainable blue economy, the European Ocean Pact^[6], the European Water Resilience Strategy^[7], the European Life Sciences Strategy, the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, and the Nature Restoration Regulation.

Further support extends to the CAP, the EU forest strategy for 2030, the proposal for a Regulation on a forest monitoring framework, the EU proposal for a directive on soil monitoring and resilience, and the Vision for Agriculture and Food.

The destination supports unlocking the unique assets for research and innovation of the EU outermost regions, in line with the EU strategy for outermost regions^[8].

Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes.

Expected impact: Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway contributing to “achieving healthy soils and forests, as well as clean air, fresh and marine water, whilst ensuring water resilience and the transition to a clean, competitive and circular economy and sustainable bioeconomy”, and more specifically to one or more of the following expected impacts:

• Improved climate change adaptation and mitigation through the transition to a more sustainable and circular economy and bioeconomy, underpinned by biotechnologies and sustainable industrial solutions, such as carbon capture and utilisation and recovery of materials, water and energy.
• Industrial competitiveness, sustainability and strategic autonomy are improved through the development of safe, sustainable, circular and/or bio-based value chains. This is done by promoting the efficient and circular use of secondary materials and water, fostering the multi-functionality of forests, and ensuring the sustainable supply of critical resources from land and sea.
• Living conditions for individuals and communities are improved through innovative, affordable and sustainable safe and sustainable by design products and services based on circular and/or bio-based solutions while demonstrating a reduction of environmental and climate pressures.
• Advanced societal transformation based on a systemic approach, as well as people’s involvement and integration of social sciences and humanities for fair, safe, sustainable and circular value chains, sustainable consumption patterns, environmental justice, gender equality and social inclusion.

[1] The European Green Deal - European Commission

[2] https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/competitiveness-compass_en

[3] Clean Industrial Deal - European Commission

[4] European Chemicals Industry Action Plan – European Commission

[5] Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation – European Commission

[6] The European Ocean Pact - European Commission

[7] Water resilience strategy - European Commission

[8] COM(2022) Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU’s outermost regions.

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• increased support on green bioprocessing, safe and sustainable blue bio-based products;
• increased understanding of safety, effectiveness and regulatory bottlenecks of blue bio-based products;
• increased commitment to biodiversity preservation and conservation ensuring that the biodiscovery of new compounds does not lead to unsustainable harvesting from the wild and promoting sustainable use of genetic diversity.

Scope:

The European industry must transition to a greener, more sustainable model to enhance its competitiveness against other business models and foster the production of novel high-value sustainable products. Achieving this requires a shift towards a bio-based system, which leverages biological processes to deliver products that contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing environmental impact and can compete with and eventually replace traditional models. For instance, the current use of hazardous chemicals in various industries, such as the textile and polymer industries, requires the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives.

In this context, the vast and largely untapped diversity of marine organisms—including fungi, algae, and invertebrates—presents a valuable source of biomolecules with unique properties. These marine-derived compounds hold significant potential across a range of applications, for example from construction materials, chemical processes to bioplastics and textiles. Supporting research and innovation in blue biotechnology fosters the transition toward greener, high-performance products across multiple industries.

Proposals should address the following:

• develop safe and sustainable blue bio-based products, by exploring the use of the unique physical, chemical and biochemical properties of biomolecules from marine organisms (e.g., adhesion, structural organization, fluorescence, luminescence). Proposals in scope include novel adhesion agents or bonding products, biochemicals to replace hazardous chemicals, antifouling paintings and coatings, replacement for synthetic surfactants, biomarkers, biosensors, enzymes. Proposals aiming to develop molecules with important economic or societal impact are encouraged. The applications in health biotechnology, as well as the biofuel/bioenergy area are excluded, to avoid overlaps with Horizon Europe Clusters 1 and 5, respectively;
• incorporate the use of synthetic and engineering biology approaches and foresee the necessary links with the digital technologies and tools (AI/ML, bioinformatics);
• include the assessment of the costs and benefits compared to conventional alternatives in the market. Proposals should look into regulatory, market and value chain bottlenecks; 
• assess the safety, environmental sustainability and effectiveness of the developed bio-based products derived from marine environments compared to the equivalent material on the market;
• develop recommendations for policy makers and industrial actors, considering the available scientifically sound assessment of risks and benefits of the developed solutions.

Proposals should cover the innovation chain from research, to development, and proof of concept. Legal aspects linked to securing clear access to marine resources, including related infrastructures and bio-resources banks and collections, their sustainable use as well as access and benefit sharing aspects, should be properly considered. Marine resources can be obtained sustainably from natural environments, as well as from publicly or privately accessible collections. The harvesting or utilization of sentient marine animals, including invertebrates, must be carefully evaluated to ensure that ethical and moral considerations are adequately addressed.

Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures^[1], such as EMSO ERIC, EU-OPENSCREEN, ELIXIR, EMBRC ERIC, IBISBA. Efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable). Proposals should ensure adequate involvement of all relevant stakeholders to maximize the impact and use of the developed products, including but not limited to economic and financial actors. International cooperation, for example with Latin America and Caribbean countries, is encouraged.

Proposals are expected to establish synergies and links with relevant projects funded under the Horizon Europe CL6 Work Programmes 2021-2025^[2] and with actions supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) and the Sustainable Blue Partnership (SBEP) ensuring that any potential overlaps or duplications are avoided.

Projects under this topic are relevant to the EU policies related to the new EU bioeconomy strategy, the European Life Sciences Strategy, the EU Biotech Act, the EU Algae Initiative, the European Ocean Pact, the EU strategy on research and technology infrastructures, and the new approach for a sustainable blue economy.

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[1] The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed from ESFRI website https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/

[2] E.g. HORIZON-CL6-2021-CIRCBIO-01-09, HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-01-07, HORIZON-CL6-2023-CircBio-01-11, HORIZON-CL6-2024-CircBio-01-10, HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-14.