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Bioprospecting and optimised production of marine/aquatic natural products in the omics & artificial intelligence era
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Call number
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-14
deadlines
Opening
06.05.2025
Deadline
17.09.2025 17:00
Funding rate
70%
Call budget
€ 12,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 6,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
Successful proposals should contribute to reaching the impacts of this destination, and European policies, in particular the European Green Deal, the bioeconomy strategy, the new approach for a blue economy. They should help harnessing the full potential of marine and freshwater biological resources and blue biotechnology is leveraged to deliver societal benefits, such as greener more environmentally friendly industrial products and processes, support public health and environmental conservation.
Call objectives
The immense diversity of marine/aquatic micro- and macro-organisms and their communities represents a rich and largely unexplored reservoir of natural products and their base ingredients. To survive in habitats ranging from deep-sea sediments to polar regions or shallow waters, marine organisms have developed a broad spectrum of structures, defense mechanisms and metabolic pathways resulting in natural products with vast chemical diversity and wide range of biological activities. The biological interplay between interspecies communities, e.g. symbiotic or defence mechanisms, may offer attractive leads and is also in scope. For the coverage of terrestrial bioprospecting see parallel topic HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-08: Bioprospecting and optimized production of the terrestrial natural products: new opportunities for bio-based sectors.
The action covers modern biodiscovery approaches including, in-silico bioprospecting and the full integration of digital methods (e.g., statistics, algorithms, AI, data science, modelling, digital twins) with bioinformatics and biotechnological tools, which make possible the identification and production of bioactive natural compounds with potential high-value application in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food/feed additives, agrochemicals, etc. In the context of this topic, natural products are understood as biologically active products such as secondary metabolites as well as enzymes derived from marine/aquatic organisms.
Targeted marine/aquatic biological resources can be sourced from their natural environment (in-situ) and/or from open access and public/private collections and gene-banks (ex-situ).
The aim is to broaden the range of novel compounds, lowering the production costs, quicken the development pipeline, and enable more innovation for the industrial operators, with clear-cut benefits for the final users. Projects should have a strong industry drive and include demonstration activities to proof the techno/economic viability of the production of the proposed marine/aquatic natural product(s) and/or the biodiscovery platform tools combining digital and biotechnologies.
The scope covers relevant steps of the biodiscovery process such as isolation and characterization of microbial strains and consortia, genomic characterisation, creation of natural product libraries, bioactivity screening, natural products isolation and purification, chemical structure elucidation or optimized production pathways via biotechnology and biomanufacturing approaches in suitable industrial facilities (bioreactors/biorefineries, e.g. for microbial production), synthetic biology or gene editing. The integration of digital approaches (AI, computer algorithms such as machine learning, modelling, data science etc) on optimizing the biodiscovery processes such as identification of biosynthetic gene clusters and metabolic pathways, enzyme selection, combinatorial assembly and annotation of high-throughput DNA sequencing data, bioactivity prediction, elucidation of the structure of compounds, experimental design etc is in scope. Safety to the end-users and operators needs to be assessed and guaranteed.
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Expected effects and impacts
Proposals should avoid overlaps with past or ongoing topics (e.g. projects funded under the topic HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-02-05-two-stage: Life sciences and their convergence with digital technologies for prospecting, understanding and sustainably using biological resources, topic HORIZON-CL6-2023-CIRCBIO-01: Broadening the spectrum of robust enzymes and microbial hosts in industrial biotechnology), consider synergies to parallel actions (e.g. HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-08: Bioprospecting and optimized production of the terrestrial natural products: new opportunities for bio-based sectors as well as funded under the topic HORIZON-2020-FNR-11-2020 - Prospecting aquatic and terrestrial natural biological resources for biologically active compounds). The action is expected to establish links with relevant projects funded under the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters.
The action needs to guarantee biodiversity preservation. This can be addressed, inter alia, by covering propagation of biological material, including by in vitro cultivation, as well as by biotechnology approaches. The action needs to comply with applicable EU regulations and international rules on access to biological resources, their sustainable use and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from their utilisation, including the Nagoya protocol, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), and the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). A life-cycle assessment should be carried out to evaluate the environmental, economic, and social impact of the developed product(s). Proposals should contribute to the understanding of potential trade-offs inherent in the exploitation of ecosystems, their potential to deliver ecosystem services and ideally provide solution approaches to address these trade-offs. Potential risks to the environment, ecosystems, and society as well as benefits should also be assessed under this topic.
Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the services offered by European research infrastructures such as EU-OPENSCREEN, ELIXIR, EMBRC ERIC, IBISBA or other relevant research infrastructures.
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Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- demonstrating the broadened range of more sustainable and more accessible marine/aquatic natural products with high value applications;
- demonstrating advances in the development and/or application related computational tools such as AI etc. in the biodiscovery pipeline;
- increased commitment to biodiversity preservation and conservation through enabling bioproduction routes (biosynthesis, fermentation, culturing) of natural products, ensuring that the biodiscovery of new compounds does not lead to unsustainable harvesting from the wild and a sustainable use of genetic diversity;
- awareness raised and creation of a better framework for blue biotechnology innovation and uptake through broad stakeholder engagement, supporting the EU biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative.
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)
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 45 pages.
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project.
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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