Bioprospecting and optimized production of the terrestrial natural products: new opportunities for bio-based sectors

The EU funding opportunity HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-08 focuses on the bioprospecting and optimized production of terrestrial natural products, aiming to foster a clean, competitive, and sustainable bioeconomy. This initiative is part of Horizon Europe, under the Horizon Innovation Action program. The call includes a single-stage submission process, opening on May 6, 2025, with a deadline for applications on September 17, 2025.

Eligible applicants include research institutions, universities, SMEs, and large enterprises, particularly those engaged in industry-academia partnerships. The funding type is primarily grant-based, specifically categorized under HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based. A consortium of partners from various sectors and countries is required to submit proposals, with geographical eligibility extending to EU member states, associated countries, and possibly third countries with mutual agreements.

The targeted sectors include biotechnology, bioeconomy, and bio-based industries, with particular emphasis on innovative approaches in bioprospecting and biomanufacturing. The expected outcomes include providing sustainable and accessible bio-based products from terrestrial ecosystems, advancing computational tools powered by AI for biodiscovery, and ensuring methodologies align with biodiversity preservation.

Funding amounts for successful projects are estimated to be in the range of €1 million to €5 million, with the overall goal to integrate digital technologies to enhance production processes. The success rates for funding are typically between 10-39%.

The call encourages international cooperation and aims to create innovation pathways in the development of valuable products, ultimately contributing to environmental sustainability and the circular economy. Applicants must ensure their proposals adhere to relevant regulations on biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources while engaging broad stakeholder participation.

Given the focus on ensuring biodiversity, projects should demonstrate tech-economical viability and compliance with EU environmental standards. Proposals need to emphasize the incorporation of AI and other digital methods to optimize biodiscovery, addressing the global resources outlook and integrating safety assessments for end-users and operators.

The EU funding opportunity HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-08, titled "Bioprospecting and optimized production of the terrestrial natural products: new opportunities for bio-based sectors," is a Horizon Innovation Action (HORIZON-IA) under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program, specifically within Cluster 6, Call 01, which is a single-stage call (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01). The opening date for submission is May 6, 2025, and the deadline is September 17, 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The Model Grant Agreement is a HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG].

The expected outcome of successful proposals is to contribute to a clean, competitive, and circular economy and sustainable bioeconomy. This involves integrating bioprospecting/biodiscovery, biotechnology, and biomanufacturing to enable the deployment of innovative, circular, and climate-neutral bio-based materials, processes, and value chains with higher resource efficiency and market value.

Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

Demonstrating a broadened range of more sustainable and accessible natural bio-based products from terrestrial ecosystems with high-value market applications.
Demonstrating advances in the development and/or application of related computational tools and methods or technologies, such as AI, 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, to ensure a sustainable use of genetic diversity.
Raising awareness and creating a better framework for biotechnology and bio-based innovation and uptake through broad stakeholder engagement, supporting the EU biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative.

The scope of the action includes:

Modern biodiscovery approaches: Full integration of digital-driven, ‘-omics’ (e.g., genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) and associated bioinformatic tools, which make possible the identification and further upscaling (optimized production) of bioactive natural compounds. These compounds should have potential high-value applications in various bio-based sectors, including pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food/feed additives, agrochemicals, and cleaning.
Natural products: Defined as biologically active products such as secondary metabolites and enzymes derived from terrestrial organisms. New products should be safe and sustainable, following the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) approach.
Terrestrial micro- and macro-organisms: The scope covers the immense diversity of these organisms and their communities, representing a rich and largely unexplored reservoir of natural products and their base ingredients (e.g., plants, fungi, microorganisms). The biochemical interplay between interspecies communities, such as symbiotic or defense mechanisms, may offer attractive leads and is also in scope.
Biodiscovery pipeline: This may cover in silico prospecting, genomic characterisation, creation of natural product libraries, bioactivity screening, chemical structure elucidation, natural products isolation and purification, and/or optimized production pathways via biotechnology and biomanufacturing approaches (including via gene editing) in suitable industrial facilities (bioreactors/biorefineries, e.g., microbial production), or synthetic biology approaches.
Sourcing of biological resources: Targeted terrestrial biological resources can be sourced from their natural environment (in-situ) and/or from public and private collections and gene-banks (ex-situ).
Integration of digital approaches and tools: The use of AI, computer algorithms such as machine learning, modelling, data science, digital twins 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.
Safety: Safety to the end-users and operators needs to be assessed and guaranteed.
Avoiding overlaps: The action needs to avoid overlaps to past or ongoing topics, consider synergies to parallel actions, as well as funded under topic HORIZON-2020-FNR-11-2020: Prospecting aquatic and terrestrial natural biological resources for biologically active compounds. Also, links to the actions under the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) may be established, as relevant.
Global Resources Outlook: Proposals should take into account the findings of the Global Resources Outlook 2024 of the International Resource Panel.
Industry/SME focus: Projects will have a strong industry/SME focus and include demonstration activities to proof the techno/economic viability of the production of the proposed terrestrial natural product(s) and/or the biodiscovery platform tools combining digital approaches and tools and biotechnologies.
Biodiversity preservation: 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 biotechnological approaches. The aim is to decrease of pressure on wild resources and ensure higher overall sustainability, with policy dialogue with competent authorities; projects need to comply with applicable EU regulations and international rules on access to biological resources, such as UN Convention on Biological Diversity and its Nagoya Protocol, their sustainable use and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from their utilisation.
Sustainability assessment: A sustainability assessment should be carried out to evaluate the environmental, economic and social performance of the developed product(s). Proposals should contribute to understanding of potential trade-offs inherent in the exploitation of ecosystems, and their potential to deliver ecosystem services. Any risks to the ecosystems should be assessed and minimised, along the application of the Do-No-Significant-Harm (DNSH) principle.
Sharing methodologies and findings: Proposals should include a task dedicated to sharing methodologies and findings with projects funded under this topic and with similar recent or ongoing projects.
International cooperation: International cooperation is encouraged, for win-win outcomes and mutual benefits.

The budget overview for this topic and related topics is as follows:

HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-01 (HORIZON-COFUND): Budget of EUR 20,000,000 in 2025, 2026 and 2027. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-02 (HORIZON-CSA): Budget of EUR 4,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-03 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 24,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-04 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 22,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-05 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 18,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 3.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-06 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 16,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 3. Contribution between EUR 5,000,000 and EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-07 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 12,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-08 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 14,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 7,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-09 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 6,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 3,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-10 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 11,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution between EUR 5,000,000 and EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-01 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 10,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 5,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-02 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 8,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 4,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-03 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 8,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 4,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-04 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 10,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 5,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-05 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 12,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-06 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 8,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 4,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-07 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 18,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 9,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-08 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 11,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 5,500,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-09 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 10,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 5,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-10 (HORIZON-CSA): Budget of EUR 2,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1. Contribution around EUR 2,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-11 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 11,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 5,500,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-12 (HORIZON-CSA): Budget of EUR 2,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1. Contribution around EUR 2,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-13 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 8,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 4,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-14 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 12,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-15 (HORIZON-COFUND): Budget of EUR 30,000,000 in 2025 and 2026, and EUR 10,000,000 in 2027. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-01 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 10,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1. Contribution around EUR 10,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-02 (HORIZON-CSA): Budget of EUR 2,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1. Contribution around EUR 2,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-03 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 8,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 4,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-04 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 6,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1. Contribution around EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-05 (HORIZON-RIA): Budget of EUR 12,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-06 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 8,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 1. Contribution around EUR 8,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-07 (HORIZON-IA): Budget of EUR 12,000,000. Single-stage. Indicative number of grants: 2. Contribution around EUR 6,000,000.

There are 17 partner search announcements available for collaboration on this topic.

To start the submission process, applicants should select the appropriate type of action (HORIZON Innovation Actions [HORIZON-IA]) and model grant agreement (HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]) on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Applicants are encouraged to carefully read all provisions before preparing their application and consult the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, and Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ for guidance. Support services such as the Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, and CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks are available for assistance.

This funding opportunity aims to foster a sustainable bioeconomy by leveraging terrestrial natural products through advanced biodiscovery, biotechnology, and biomanufacturing. It seeks to integrate digital technologies like AI and -omics to identify and optimize the production of valuable bioactive compounds. The goal is to create innovative, safe, and sustainable bio-based products for various sectors, while also ensuring biodiversity preservation and promoting collaboration among industry, SMEs, and research institutions. The initiative encourages international cooperation and aims to contribute to a circular, climate-neutral economy.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated in the provided text. However, based on the context of Horizon Europe and the focus on industry and SMEs, eligible applicants likely include: startups, SMEs, large enterprises, universities, research institutes, and possibly other entities depending on the specific call conditions. The text mentions a strong industry/SME focus.

Funding Type: The funding type appears to be primarily grant-based, 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). The type of MGA is HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG].

Consortium Requirement: The text does not explicitly state whether a consortium is required. However, given the scope and nature of Horizon Europe projects, a consortium is likely either required or highly encouraged, especially for Innovation Actions and Research and Innovation Actions. The partner search announcements also suggest that consortia are common.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is primarily focused on EU member states and associated countries. The text mentions that 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.

Target Sector: The program targets the following sectors: clean, competitive and circular economy, sustainable bioeconomy, bioprospecting/biodiscovery, biotechnology, biomanufacturing, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food/feed additives, agrochemicals, cleaning, terrestrial and marine biological resources, digital technologies, artificial intelligence, omics, data science, modelling, bioreactors, biorefineries, synthetic biology, biodiversity preservation, environmental sustainability.

Mentioned Countries: The text does not explicitly mention specific countries, but refers to EU member states, associated countries, and non-EU/non-associated countries.

Project Stage: The project stage varies depending on the type of action:
Research and Innovation Actions (RIA): Likely targets research, development, and validation stages.
Innovation Actions (IA): Likely targets demonstration, commercialization, and scale-up stages.
Coordination and Support Actions (CSA): Supports networking, coordination, and dissemination.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary widely depending on the specific topic and type of action, ranging from €2,000,000 for Coordination and Support Actions to €30,000,000 for Programme Cofund Actions. Some Research and Innovation Actions have budgets around €8,000,000 to €24,000,000, while Innovation Actions range from €8,000,000 to €18,000,000. Specific funding ranges are provided for each topic.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to support their projects.

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

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned in the text.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding may be required for HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions (HORIZON-COFUND), as these actions are designed to leverage additional funding from other sources. The co-funding requirements for other action types are not specified in the text.

Summary: This Horizon Europe Cluster 6 call focuses on "Bioprospecting and optimized production of the terrestrial natural products: new opportunities for bio-based sectors." It aims to foster a clean, competitive, and circular bioeconomy by integrating biodiscovery, biotechnology, and biomanufacturing. The call encompasses a wide range of activities, from research and innovation to coordination and support, and innovation actions. It targets various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food, and agriculture, with a focus on sustainable and safe bio-based products derived from terrestrial ecosystems. The call encourages the use of digital technologies like AI and omics to optimize biodiscovery and biomanufacturing processes. It also emphasizes biodiversity preservation, sustainability assessments, and international cooperation. Funding amounts vary significantly depending on the action type, with a single-stage application process and a deadline of September 17, 2025. Eligible applicants include industry, SMEs, research institutions, and universities from EU member states, associated countries, and potentially non-EU/non-associated countries with specific funding arrangements. The call seeks to broaden the range of novel compounds, lower production costs, quicken the development pipeline, and enable more innovation for the industrial operators, with clear-cut benefits for the final users (consumers and industries).