Supporting the implementation of the Soil Deal for Europe Mission

Home Funding Calls for proposals Innovative biotechnologies to restore soil health and improve agricultural competitiveness and resilience Innovative biotechnologies to restore soil health and improve agricultural competitiveness and resilience HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-SOIL-05-two-stage Topic Calls for proposals Internal navigation General information Topic description Conditions and documents Budget overview Partner search announcements Start submission Topic Q&As Get support General information Programme Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Call Supporting the implementation of the Soil Deal for Europe Mission (HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-two-stage) Type of action HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions Type of MGA HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] Forthcoming Deadline model Two-stage Planned opening date 04 February 2027 Deadline dates 08 April 2027 17:00:00 Brussels time 14 September 2027 17:00:00 Brussels time Topic description Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic will advance the objectives and targets of the Mission Soil and should contribute to achieving the targets of the EU Soil Strategy for 2030, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the proposal for a Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, the Life Science Strategy, the Communication on Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU, while also contributing to the objectives on improving soil management and environmental performance of the Vision for Agriculture and Food. Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes: to advance, validate and bring up to market readiness level innovative, scalable, sustainable and cost-effective biotechnologies, particularly those leveraging soil microbiome, which enhance crop quality and productivity, while remediate soil pollution and improve soil health; validated, market ready biotechnological solutions for soil remediation and soil health improvement are made available to relevant stakeholders, to enable reduced dependency on synthetic chemicals, increased crop resilience and agricultural productivity. Scope: Europe faces increasing challenges due to soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, and the expanding impacts of climate change. Addressing these issues is essential to ensure food security and sustainable land use. The integration of biotechnology can play a transformative role in this regard in the varied environmental conditions and land-use types found across Europe. In addition biotechnology solutions that improve soil health (such as novel bio-based fertilizers or microbial inoculants) can significantly enhance crop productivity by restoring essential nutrients and microbial balance in the soil. Finally, biotechnology solutions can provide innovative methods to decontaminate and rehabilitate degraded soils and lands, thus boosting the ecological and economic value of underutilized areas. Proposals should: develop, identify, upscale, pilot and validate biotechnology solutions, particularly leveraging the soil microbiome (such as novel bio-based fertilizers or microbial inoculants but not only) which remediate, restore and improve soil health across diverse pedoclimatic and cropping conditions; address the following issues: bioremediation of contaminated soils (i.e. by heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, PFAS); increasing soil organic carbon stocks, improving soil structure to enhance soil biodiversity, water retention and nutrient availability; overall, this should lead to enhanced crop quality and productivity, enabled higher and more sustainable biomass production; ensure that developed solutions are scalable, sustainable, cost-effective and integrate circular economy principles to boost resource efficiency and support sustainable soil management practices; assess the economic, environmental and social impact of developed biotechnological solutions; analyse their socio-economic feasibility (including cost-benefit, adoption barriers, and market potential) and validate their scalability and market readiness through stakeholder collaboration (e.g. SMEs, farmers, industry); address challenges related to environmental stability and sustainability of the developed solutions and the adaptability to varying environmental conditions; design integrated market-readiness pathways for the developed biotechnology solutions, to accelerate their safe, effective, and socially accepted deployment. The pathways should ensure regulatory compliance including risk assessment considerations, stakeholder engagement strategies, market acceptance analysis and policy foresight. Proposals must implement the 'multi-actor approach' and ensure adequate involvement of all relevant actors of the value chain, such as academia, research-technology organizations, small-medium enterprises (including start-ups), investors, product developers, intellectual property and legal advisors, manufacturing and distribution partners, as well as end-users, like farmers and practitioners. Proposals should include a dedicated task, appropriate resources and a plan on how they will collaborate with other project funded under this topic and other relevant topics. They should participate in joint activities, workshops, focus groups or social labs, as well as organise common communication and dissemination activities and show potential for upscaling and cross-fertilisation. Applicants should plan the necessary budget to cover these activities. null Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5-6 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Show more Topic conditions and documents General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible Countries described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 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 Horizon Europe Programme Guide. 3. Other Eligible Conditions Proposals must apply the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach in the introduction to this work programme part. described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]]. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme] Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) Guidance HE Programme Guide Model Grant Agreements (MGA) Lump Sum MGA Call-specific instructions Detailed budget table (HE LS) Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" Additional documents: HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 12. Missions HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes HE Programme Guide HE Framework Programme 2021/695 HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement Show more Budget overview Topic Budget year : 2027 Stages Opening date Deadline Contributions Indicative number of grants HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-SOIL-01-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions 24 000 000,00 € Two-stage 4 February 2027 8 April 2027 14 September 2027 around 12 000 000,00 € 2 HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-SOIL-02-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions 24 000 000,00 € Two-stage 4 February 2027 8 April 2027 14 September 2027 around 12 000 000,00 € 2 HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-SOIL-03-two-stage - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions 16 000 000,00 € Two-stage 4 February 2027 8 April 2027 14 September 2027 around 8 000 000,00 € 2 HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-SOIL-04-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions 11 000 000,00 € Two-stage 4 February 2027 8 April 2027 14 September 2027 around 5 500 000,00 € 2 HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-SOIL-05-two-stage - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions 12 800 000,00 € Two-stage 4 February 2027 8 April 2027 14 September 2027 around 6 400 000,00 € 2 HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-SOIL-06-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions 7 000 000,00 € Two-stage 4 February 2027 8 April 2027 14 September 2027 around 7 000 000,00 € 1 Items per page: 10 50 100 Showing 1–6 of 6 Partner search announcements 87 Searches of partners to collaborate on this topic View / Edit LEARs, Account Administrators or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics after logging into this Portal, as well as any user having an active public Person profile. Start submission The submission system is planned to be opened on the date stated on the topic header. Topic Q&As0 item(s) found General FAQ Get support Please read carefully all provisions below before the preparation of your application. Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant. Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe. Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management. Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular. National Contact Points (NCPs) – get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’). 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