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Call key data
Strengthening knowledge and skills of advisors and integrating them within Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) via an EU advisory network
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Call number
HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-13
deadlines
Opening
06.05.2025
Deadline
24.09.2025 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 10,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 10,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
Successful proposal will support the common agricultural policy (CAP), in particular its cross-cutting objective, and related climate, biodiversity and other environmental policies, by connecting impartial advisors across all EU Member States in an EU-wide network.
Call objectives
Advisors are best placed to encourage farmers to change their practices that improve the competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of farming. A novelty in the current CAP strategic plans is that advisors should be integrated within the AKIS as well as be impartial, competent and up to date on scientific and innovation developments. They should be able to translate the knowledge and provide concrete, targeted and practical solutions for farmers adapted to specific local circumstances. They should be prepared to provide innovation support services, based on the interactive innovation model. They should also be able to use diverse data sources to analyse the performance of farms over time covering the three dimensions of sustainability and accordingly provide informed, holistic advice to the farmers.
Expected effects and impacts
Proposals should:
- improve the organisation and concrete services provided by impartial advisors, both public and private, within Member States’ AKIS in a collaborative way, including by (1) ensuring more networked structures, deepening the advisors’ integration into AKIS at EU and national/regional levels, and (2) developing and advancing more effective and interactive working methodologies and tools;
- improve advisors’ knowledge and skills across the EU in all areas of high interest to practitioners, covering competitiveness and the three dimensions of sustainability in line with all the objectives of CAP, at minimum by (1) enhancing the provision and management of knowledge useful for practice, and the sound thematic organisation and interaction of advisors and other relevant actors within AKIS in knowledge hubs, ensuring stronger links between research, education, advisors and farmers and encouraging the collection, wider sharing and use of available knowledge across the EU; (2) organising a substantial amount of activities to improve collaboration between advisors at the EU/national/regional levels, and enable them to effectively and widely share their knowledge, experience and skills, (3) creating and sharing tools, training courses and informative materials useful for advisors and their clients, as well as developing and applying approach(es) to motivate advisors to participate in and make use of them;
- improve and support the understanding and implementation of the interactive innovation model by the advisory community acting as innovation support services, including by (1) illustrating it with practical examples, (2) providing methodology and training for continued professional development, and (3) ensuring regular communication of research and innovation needs collected from practice to the relevant AKIS actors;
- create, regularly update and manage an online platform serving as a reference point for advisors and their clients that includes at minimum: (1) a database of advisors’ contacts and profiles (at least including education, professional experience and specific field(s) of expertise), (2) diverse robust data sources and decision support tools (including tutorials), (3) training courses and informative materials, (4) best practice examples (taking account of the costs and benefits for end-users), and (5) other tools and materials relevant for the target audience. The online platform should integrate the practice-oriented outputs from Horizon and CAP-funded projects useful for advisory services, and its entire content (not only interface) should be translated into all 24 official EU languages.
Proposals should include a dedicated task and appropriate resources to collaborate with, ensure complementarities, avoid duplication of efforts and use efficiently the outputs and activities of the relevant past, existing and future AKIS projects.
Proposals must implement the 'multi-actor approach'. Minimum 50% of the number of the participants involved in the project should be impartial advisors spending at least half of their time on giving advice to farmers. The partners within the consortium should be well networked with advisors overall and have the capacity to involve as many of the advisors professionally active in providing advice to farmers as possible across the EU into the activities of the project.
Proposals should cover a wide range of impartial advisors working on diverse themes of interest for practitioners from all EU Member States and improve collaboration between them, using the countries’ AKIS structures (including the AKIS Coordination Bodies) as intermediaries. To this end, proposals may involve financial support to third parties to ensure the involvement of advisors from across the whole EU in the activities of the advisory network. Consortia need to define the selection process of the advisors / advisory services and/or other relevant AKIS actors.
The project should run for a minimum of seven years. An initial plan for financial sustainability and maintenance of the EU advisory network in the long-term beyond the project duration should be included in the proposal.
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Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- the organisation and integration of impartial advisors (both public and private) within the national/regional and European AKIS is strengthened, and the exchanges between them and other relevant AKIS actors are intensified;
- the impartial advisors are better equipped with the practice-oriented and up-to-date knowledge, skills and tools enabling them to support farmers with high quality and impartial advice covering the three dimensions of sustainability – economic, environmental and social – in line with all objectives of the CAP;
- the sharing and use in practice of existing and new knowledge and solutions by farmers is accelerated and widespread thanks to more competent, skilled and impartial advisors, supporting the transition towards more competitive, sustainable and resilient farming.
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Canada, Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
EU Body, Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
other eligibility criteria
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- Legal entities created under EU law (EU bodies) including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
- Joint Research Centre (JRC)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
- EU restrictive measures — Entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) as well as Article 75 TFEU, are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).
- Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine — Given the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the involvement of Belarus, there is currently no appropriate context allowing the implementation of the actions foreseen in this programme with legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine. Therefore, even where such entities are not subject to EU restrictive measures, such legal entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity. This includes participation as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any). Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons.
With specific regard to measures addressed to Russia, following the adoption of the Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745 of 24 June 2024 (amending Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014) concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, legal entities established outside Russia but whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 50% by a legal person, entity or body established in Russia are also not eligible to participate in any capacity. - Measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary — Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022, no legal commitments can be entered into with Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. Affected entities may continue to apply to calls for proposals and can participate without receiving EU funding, as associated partners, if allowed by the call conditions. However, as long as the Council measures are not lifted, such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties, etc.).In case of multi-beneficiary grant calls, applicants will be invited to remove or replace that entity in any funded role and/or to change its status into associated partner. Tasks and budget may be redistributed accordingly.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
project duration
at least 7 years
Additional Information
Applications must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Applications must be submitted using the forms provided inside the electronic submission system (not the templates available on the topic page, which are only for information). The structure and presentation must correspond to the instructions given in the forms.
Applications must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The limit for a full application (Part B) is 33 pages.
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). It is mandatory to submit a detailed budget table using the template available in the Submission system.
Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.
Call documents
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and EnvironmentHorizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment(kB)
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