Bioprospecting and optimised production of marine/aquatic natural products in the omics & artificial intelligence era

The EU funding opportunity HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-14, titled "Bioprospecting and optimised production of marine/aquatic natural products in the omics & artificial intelligence era," is part of Horizon Europe, specifically under Call Cluster 6. This single-stage call aims to leverage marine and freshwater biological resources through blue biotechnology, aligning with the European Green Deal and the bioeconomy strategy.

Eligible applicants typically include universities, research institutes, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large enterprises capable of conducting research and innovation activities. The consortium requirement generally involves at least three independent entities from different EU or associated countries. Geographic eligibility encompasses EU member states, EEA countries, and associated countries, with potential participation from non-EU countries under specific funding arrangements.

The target sectors include biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, food/agrochemicals, nutraceuticals, and environmental conservation. Projects should focus on modern biodiscovery approaches, such as in-silico bioprospecting, integrating digital methods like AI and data science, and ensuring compliance with EU regulations regarding biodiversity and sustainable utilization of genetic resources.

Funding amounts are variable but typically range from €1 million to €5 million per project, with an indicative budget for this call set at around €12 million, anticipating the awarding of approximately two grants. The application process is a single-stage open call, closing on September 17, 2025.

The nature of support consists of monetary grants aimed at R&D activities, with a likely requirement for co-funding. Success rates for such calls generally vary, averaging between 10% and 39%. Projects must demonstrate advances in computational tools for biodiscovery, a commitment to biodiversity preservation, and broad stakeholder engagement for blue biotechnology innovation.

Applicants are encouraged to use available resources, such as partner search announcements, the Electronic Submission Service, and various support services, to strengthen their proposals and ensure they align with strategic EU goals while addressing environmental and societal impacts.

The EU funding opportunity HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-14, titled "Bioprospecting and optimised production of marine/aquatic natural products in the omics & artificial intelligence era," is a Horizon Innovation Action (HORIZON-IA) under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program, specifically within Call Cluster 6 Call 01, which is a single-stage call (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01). The call aims to leverage marine and freshwater biological resources and blue biotechnology for societal benefits, aligning with the European Green Deal, the bioeconomy strategy, and the new approach for a blue economy.

The expected outcomes of successful proposals include:
Demonstrating a broadened range of more sustainable and 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.
Increasing 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.
Raising awareness and creating a better framework for blue biotechnology innovation and uptake through broad stakeholder engagement, supporting the EU biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative.

The scope of the funding opportunity includes:
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.
Identification and production of bioactive natural compounds with potential high-value applications in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food/feed additives, agrochemicals, etc.
Sourcing targeted marine/aquatic biological resources from their natural environment (in-situ) and/or from open access and public/private collections and gene-banks (ex-situ).
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.
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.
Ensuring safety to the end-users and operators.
Guaranteeing biodiversity preservation through propagation of biological material, including by in vitro cultivation, as well as by biotechnology approaches.
Compliance 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).
Conducting a life-cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental, economic, and social impact of the developed product(s).
Understanding 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.
Assessing potential risks to the environment, ecosystems, and society as well as benefits.
Considering the services offered by European research infrastructures such as EU-OPENSCREEN, ELIXIR, EMBRC ERIC, IBISBA or other relevant research infrastructures.

The call opened on 06 May 2025, and the deadline for submission is 17 September 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The indicative budget for this topic is 12,000,000 EUR, and it is expected that around 2 grants will be awarded.

General conditions for participation include:
Admissibility conditions related to proposal page limits and layout, as described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form.
Eligible countries, as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, including provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries.
Other eligible conditions, as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria, as described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Evaluation and award criteria, scoring, and thresholds, as described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Submission and evaluation processes, as described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement, as described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Legal and financial set-up of the grants, as described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA) details:
Application form templates are available in the Submission System (Standard application form HE RIA, IA).
Evaluation form templates will be used with necessary adaptations (Standard evaluation form HE RIA, IA).
Guidance is provided in the HE Programme Guide.
Model Grant Agreements (MGA) use the HE MGA model.
Call-specific instructions and additional documents include: HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 9. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes, HE Programme Guide, HE Framework Programme 2021/695, HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, 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, and Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

The call encourages applicants to view partner search announcements and provides links to the Electronic Submission Service and existing draft proposals. It also offers various support resources, including the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk, ETSI Research Helpdesk, the European Charter for Researchers, and Partner Search tools.

In summary, this EU funding opportunity aims to promote the sustainable exploitation of marine and freshwater biological resources through blue biotechnology, focusing on the discovery and production of high-value natural compounds using advanced digital and biotechnological approaches. It emphasizes biodiversity preservation, compliance with international regulations, and the assessment of environmental and societal impacts. The call is structured to foster innovation and industrial drive, with demonstration activities required to prove the techno-economic viability of proposed solutions. The funding supports a range of activities from research and innovation to coordination and support actions, with a total budget of several million euros allocated across various topics within the Cluster 6 call. The application process is a single-stage submission, with a deadline in September 2025. Applicants are encouraged to seek partnerships and utilize available support resources to develop strong and impactful proposals.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated in the provided text. However, based on the nature of Horizon Europe calls, eligible applicants typically include: universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other organizations capable of conducting research and innovation activities. The specific eligibility criteria are detailed in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Funding Type: The funding types include grants, specifically HORIZON Innovation Actions (HORIZON-IA), HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (HORIZON-RIA), HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) and HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions (HORIZON-COFUND). These are budget-based action grants.

Consortium Requirement: The text does not explicitly state whether a single applicant or a consortium is required. However, given the scope and complexity of the projects, a consortium is more likely, especially for Innovation Actions and Research and Innovation Actions. Partner Search announcements are available, suggesting that consortia are common.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU member states and associated countries. Non-EU/non-associated countries may also be eligible if they have made specific provisions for funding their participants in Horizon Europe projects, as detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Target Sector: The program targets the following sectors: bioeconomy, biotechnology, blue biotechnology, health (pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals), cosmetics, food/feed additives, agrochemicals, marine and freshwater biological resources, environmental conservation, and industrial processes. It also involves digital technologies such as AI, data science, and bioinformatics.

Mentioned Countries: The text refers to EU member states and associated countries, as well as non-EU/non-associated countries that have specific funding arrangements with Horizon Europe. No specific countries are named, but the eligibility extends to the EU and associated countries, with potential participation from other countries under specific conditions.

Project Stage: The project stages range from research and development (RIA) to innovation and demonstration (IA), covering activities from idea to demonstration of techno-economic viability. The program supports activities from biodiscovery to optimized production pathways, including demonstration activities.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the type of action:
HORIZON-COFUND: around €60,000,000 to €70,000,000
HORIZON-RIA: ranging from around €3,000,000 to around €12,000,000, with some projects having contributions between €5,000,000 and €6,000,000 or around €11,000,000
HORIZON-IA: ranging from around €5,000,000 to around €9,000,000, with some projects having contributions around €5,500,000 or around €8,000,000
HORIZON-CSA: around €2,000,000 to around €4,000,000

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage open call.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to support their research, innovation, and coordination activities.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly stated, but the indicative number of grants for each topic provides some insight. For example, some topics indicate only 1 or 2 grants will be awarded, while others may award 3 or more.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding is required for HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions (HORIZON-COFUND). The specific co-funding rates and requirements are detailed in the Work Programme General Annexes and the call conditions.

Summary: This Horizon Europe Cluster 6 call (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01) focuses on "Bioprospecting and optimised production of marine/aquatic natural products in the omics & artificial intelligence era." It aims to support projects that leverage the potential of marine and freshwater biological resources through blue biotechnology. The call seeks to promote sustainable and accessible marine/aquatic natural products with high-value applications across various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food, and agriculture. Projects should demonstrate advances in computational tools like AI for biodiscovery, commit to biodiversity preservation, and foster blue biotechnology innovation. The call includes various types of actions: Innovation Actions (IA), Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), Coordination and Support Actions (CSA), and Programme Cofund Actions (COFUND), each with different funding ranges and objectives. Eligible applicants include universities, research institutes, SMEs, and other relevant organizations from EU member states, associated countries, and potentially non-EU countries with specific funding arrangements. The application process is a single-stage open call with a deadline of September 17, 2025. The call emphasizes the importance of linking project results to European policies such as the European Green Deal and the bioeconomy strategy, as well as contributing to the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters.