Supporting the implementation of the Soil Deal for Europe Mission

Living labs to enhance soil health in Continental, Black Sea, Pannonian and Steppic biogeographical regions <div class="eui-u-mt-l>"><h4>General conditions</h4><div><h4>1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p><strong><em></em></strong>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex A</a> and <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex E</a> of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.</p><p><strong>Proposal page limits and layout:</strong> described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.</p></div></div><div><h4>2. Eligible Countries</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex B</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p><p>A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/programme-guide_horizon_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Horizon Europe Programme Guide</a>.</p></div></div><div><h4>3. Other Eligible Conditions</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>Proposals must apply the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach in the introduction to this work programme part.</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex B</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex C</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>Proposals must focus either on the Continental biogeographical region or on one or more of the following three biogeographical regions: Black Sea, Pannonian and Steppic. This means that the majority of the living labs of each proposal must be located either within the Continental biogeographical region or within one or more of the three biogeographical regions (Black Sea, Pannonian and Steppic). Proposals must clearly indicate their focus. To ensure a balanced portfolio covering different biogeographical regions, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to those that are the highest ranked within Black Sea, Pannonian and Steppic biogeographical regions, provided that the applications attain all thresholds.[[<a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/maps-and-charts/biogeographical-regions-in-europe-2">Biogeographical regions in Europe</a> according to the European Environmental Agency.]]</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>are described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex D</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>The overall threshold for the second stage evaluation will be 12, with a minimum threshold of 4 for the ‘Excellence’ criterion’.</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>are described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex F</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes and the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/om_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Online Manual</a>.</p></div></div><div><h4>5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex F</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties to facilitate active involvement of smaller actors (e.g. land managers and owners such as farmers, SMEs or civil societies) in one or more of the living labs of the project. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants (further to calls or, if duly justified, without a call for proposals). The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex G</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div></div><div class="eui-u-mt-l"><h4>Specific conditions</h4> <div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]</p></div></div><div class="eui-u-mt-l"><div class="eui-u-mt-s"> </div><h4>Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):</h4> <div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p><strong>Application form templates</strong> <em>— the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System</em></p><p><strong>Evaluation form templates</strong> <em>— will be used with the necessary adaptations</em> </p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/ef/ef_he-ria-ia_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)</a>&#xa0;</p><p><strong>Guidance</strong></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/programme-guide_horizon_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HE Programme Guide</a>&#xa0;</p><p><strong>Model Grant Agreements (MGA)</strong></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/agr-contr/general-mga_horizon-euratom_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HE MGA</a>&#xa0;</p><p><strong>Call-specific instructions</strong>&#xa0;</p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/af/information-on-financial-support-to-third-parties_he_en.docx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Information on financial support to third parties (HE)</a>&#xa0;</p></div><h4>Additional documents:</h4> <div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-1-general-introduction_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction</a></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-12-missions_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel=