Filter Search for grants
Call Navigation
Call key data
Harnessing the innovation potential and market uptake of successful circular economy water related projects
Funding Program | Horizon Europe - Cluster 6 - Destination 3: Circular Economy and Bioeconomy Sectors | |
Call number | HORIZON-CL6-2023-CircBio-01-3 | |
deadlines | Opening 22.12.2022 | Deadline 28.03.2023 17:00 |
Funding rate | 100% | |
Call budget | € 2,000,000.00 | |
Estimated EU contribution per project | € 2,000,000.00 | |
Link to the call | ec.europa.eu | |
Link to the submission | ec.europa.eu |
Call content
Call objectives | The water sector is facing important transformations in order to ensure resource efficiency, food and water security and meet relevant targets of the EGD. Transitioning to a circular economy and bioeconomy present a big opportunity for that. Past and ongoing EU funded projects demonstrated the benefits of applying circular economy and bioeconomy principles to water systems and provided interesting case studies on various circular water management approaches and business models, and insights on how materials, water, energy, products and components can be managed in such a way, they can maintain their highest possible intrinsic value. However, the uptake of innovative circular water solutions (e.g., recovered products) is hindered by the lack of a common understanding of benefits of systemic solutions and the lack of a systematic analysis of the various, technological, regulatory and social barriers. Raising, for instance, public awareness, stakeholder and business engagement on the use of recovered products (water, nutrients, other resources) is crucial for overcoming social barriers and other regulatory ones as well as for enabling policy developments. There is therefore the need to create a critical mass for knowledge exchange, to further promote the dissemination and exploitation of EU funded research results, to remove social barriers, facilitate their use by various stakeholders, reduce unnecessary duplication of efforts, ensure/demonstrate public and stakeholders engagement in developing business opportunities of circular use of water and identify wider policy implementation opportunities as well as, opportunities to accelerate and scale-up various scientific and technological advances that support greater water efficiency and reuse in various sectors and promote innovation and business development. This action should bring together relevant business representatives, investors water utilities, policy makers, researchers, technology providers, water utilities, and other water users and citizens from past and ongoing successful EU funded R&I projects on the circular use of water, to take stock of the outcomes of major results with regards to technologies, eco-innovative solutions and related business models for sustainable treatment and practices of stakeholders and water managers involvement, recovery and reuse of relevant resources from wastewater and sewage sludge (e.g., nutrients, metals, energy, etc.). The involvement of relevant EU water EU associations and supporting platforms should be encouraged, as they play an important role in bringing together different stakeholders (industry, science, regulators, consumers and downstream users) and different sectors (recycling technologies, waste industry, user industries and agriculture) for knowledge transfer, dialogue and confidence building utility associations. The inclusion of relevant SSH expertise would be also needed to help achieving the social related expected outcomes of this action. For achieving these objectives the action should analyse relevant results and experiences and provide guidance related to the transition pathways that would enable water management authorities and utilities to navigate through water, material and energy pathways. Various business models for future replication, use, policy and market uptake of project results, should be also analysed, as well as related regulatory and/or market barriers. Recommendations for best practices to engaging the public and user industries (such as the food industry for nutrients or the biobased industry for biomasses) in co-design and co-creation processes that can speed up the market uptake of the solutions should be provided, as well as recommendations for future research needs. The action should:
read more |
Expected results | In support of the European Green Deal and EU water-related policies, successful proposals will contribute achieving sustainable and circular management and use of water resources, as well as prevention and removal of pollution, in particular the expected impact of the Destination ‘Circular economy and bioeconomy sectors' to ‘Accelerate transitions towards a sustainable, regenerative, inclusive, just and clean circular economy based on enhanced knowledge and understanding of science’. Projects results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
read more |
Regions / countries for funding | EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Island (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), 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, International organization, Natural Person, 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 | No |
Project Partnership | To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
Applications may be submitted by one or more legal entities, which may be established in a Member State, Associated Country or, in exceptional cases and if provided for in the specific call conditions, in another third country. 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. Specific cases:
|
Additional information
Topics |
Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation, Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management, Circular Economy, Natural Resources |
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 | All proposals 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. Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc. The application form will have two parts:
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. |
Call documents | HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 6, Destination 3 (463kB) |
Contact | National Contact Points for Horizon Europe Website |
To see more information about this call, you can register for free here
or log in with an existing account.
Log in
Register now