Increasing knowledge flows to practice within Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) via thematic networks

The grant opportunity HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-12 is part of the Horizon Europe initiative, focusing on enhancing knowledge flows within Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) through thematic networks. The aim is to support EU policies related to agriculture, forestry, and rural areas, including climate and biodiversity. This call promotes a multi-actor approach, necessitating a consortium of multiple entities, expected to include researchers, advisors, farmers, foresters, and rural actors.

Eligible applicant types include universities, research institutes, SMEs, agriculture-related organizations, and rural development agencies. The nature of the support provided is a lump sum grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, under HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA). The budget for this specific grant is set at €3,000,000, with an expectation of awarding one grant.

The application process is a single-stage open call, opening on May 6, 2025, and closing on September 24, 2025, by 17:00 Brussels time. There is no explicit co-funding requirement mentioned. The project is anticipated to run for a minimum of three years and should present a long-term maintenance plan for the thematic network and its outputs.

The objective of the funded proposals is to collect and disseminate updated scientific knowledge, innovative solutions, and best practices in ways that are easily accessible to end-users. Successful projects must ensure that knowledge sharing meets the urgent needs of practice while avoiding duplication of existing initiatives. They are expected to use diverse materials and training courses, translated into all 24 official EU languages, thereby ensuring wide dissemination across the EU.

The call emphasizes the importance of bridging research and practical applications in agriculture, aiming to build stronger connections between various AKIS actors and enhancing the effectiveness of the systems at both EU and national levels. The estimated competitive success rates for Horizon Europe grants typically range from 10 to 39%, although specific rates for this call are not detailed.

In summary, the HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-12 grant opportunity aims to foster collaboration and knowledge dissemination among agricultural practitioners to improve the sector's sustainability and resilience, aligning with broader EU mandates like the European Green Deal.

This is a Horizon Europe call, specifically HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-12, aimed at increasing knowledge flows within Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) through thematic networks. The call falls under Cluster 6 of the Horizon Europe program and is a single-stage submission process. The type of action is a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (HORIZON-CSA) with a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] model grant agreement. The call opened on 06 May 2025, with a deadline of 24 September 2025 at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The expected outcome is to support EU policies related to agriculture, forestry, and rural areas, including climate, biodiversity, and environmental policies, by enhancing knowledge flows among AKIS actors, particularly end-users. The thematic network should share existing and new knowledge in an accessible format, building a more informed and interconnected AKIS community.

Project results should contribute to: Presenting research findings, innovative solutions, and best practices in an attractive and understandable way, ensuring they are updated, maintained long-term, and easily accessible to end-users. Widely disseminating practice-ready knowledge and solutions generated by research and innovation, as well as collected from practice, to end-users for implementation. Enhancing the effectiveness of AKIS at EU and national/regional levels, increasing the flow of practice-ready knowledge and solutions between end-users and relevant AKIS actors across the EU, improving cost-effectiveness, and considering territorial differences.

The scope of the proposals should address the insufficient knowledge sharing and use of research findings, innovative solutions, and best practices, despite investments in R&I. It should also tackle the insufficient connection and organization of national/regional and sectoral AKIS for thematic collaboration.

Proposals should: Select a theme in a bottom-up way to address urgent needs from practice. Explain the relevance of the theme to end-users' needs, clarifying the added value and avoiding duplication with existing networks and projects. Collect and compile up-to-date scientific and practical knowledge, best practices, and innovative solutions that are effective and ready for use but not commonly known by end-users, adapting them to diverse local contexts if needed. Develop and widely share useful, applicable, and appealing informative materials and training courses using effective approaches, formats, tools (including audio-visual), and channels to reach advisors and end-users. Translate information into at least all 24 EU official languages for dissemination across the EU. Ensure outputs serve education, training, knowledge exchange programs, AKIS knowledge hubs, and advisory services. Provide a summary of cost-benefit analyses of collected practices for end-users, including these aspects in informative materials and training courses. Feed practice-oriented outputs into EU, national, and regional AKIS dissemination channels, including the EU and National CAP Networks, EU-FarmBook, AKISConnect platform, and relevant advisory networks. Mobilize relevant AKIS actors and use AKIS actions at EU/national/regional and European levels to share project outputs widely. Include a dedicated work package for collecting outputs from EIP-AGRI Operational Group projects (OGs) on the chosen theme, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange. Indicate which OGs could be relevant to the theme. Complement activities with those organized by the EU CAP Network. Implement the 'multi-actor approach' with a balanced consortium activating advisors, farmers, foresters, and rural actors in identifying needs and executing tasks. The project should run for a minimum of 3 years, with a plan for long-term maintenance of the network and its outputs. Consideration of social diversity in dissemination activities is encouraged.

Admissibility conditions include adhering 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 are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries outlined in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. Other eligible conditions require the use of the multi-actor approach, as defined in the Work Programme introduction. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. Evaluation and award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are detailed in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. Legal and financial aspects of the grants state that eligible costs will be in the form of a lump sum, as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021. Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme, with slides available for applicants to understand lump sums.

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreements (MGA) include: Application form templates available in the Submission System, Standard application form (HE CSA), Evaluation form templates with necessary adaptations, Standard evaluation form (HE CSA), HE Programme Guide, Lump Sum MGA, Call-specific instructions, Detailed budget table (HE LS), and Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?".

Additional documents include: HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 9. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 13. 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 budget overview lists various HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE topics with their respective budget, action type (RIA, IA, CSA), opening date (2025-05-06), deadline (2025-09-24), and indicative number of grants. For HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-12, which is a HORIZON-CSA action, the budget is 3,000,000 EUR, and the indicative number of grants is 1.

There are 15 partner search announcements available. LEARs, Account Administrators, and self-registrants can publish partner requests.

To start the submission process, applicants should access the Electronic Submission Service and select the appropriate action type and model grant agreement.

The call aims to bridge the gap between research and practice in agriculture, forestry, and rural areas by creating thematic networks that collect, adapt, and disseminate knowledge to end-users, fostering a more competitive, sustainable, and resilient sector. It emphasizes the importance of a multi-actor approach, involving researchers, advisors, farmers, and other rural actors, to ensure that the networks address the most pressing needs and deliver practical solutions. The call encourages proposals that build upon existing initiatives and contribute to the broader goals of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the European Green Deal.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated, but the call targets a consortium based on a balanced mix of relevant actors with complementary knowledge, clearly activating advisors, farmers and/or foresters and/or rural actors. This suggests that eligible applicants could include research institutes, universities, agricultural organizations, forestry organizations, rural development agencies, advisors, farmers, foresters, and other rural actors. The multi-actor approach is mandatory.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, under HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA).

Consortium Requirement: A consortium of multiple applicants is required. The proposals must implement the 'multi-actor approach', with a consortium based on a balanced mix of relevant actors with complementary knowledge.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU member states and non-EU/non-Associated Countries that have made specific provisions for funding their participants in Horizon Europe projects. The call aims for dissemination across the whole EU, implying that projects should involve partners from different EU regions to ensure a geographically balanced approach.

Target Sector: The program targets the agriculture, forestry, and rural areas sectors. It also includes related climate, biodiversity, and other environmental policies. The focus is on enhancing knowledge flows within the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS).

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are mentioned, but the call emphasizes dissemination across the whole EU, implying that all EU member states are relevant. Non-EU/non-Associated Countries that have specific provisions for funding their participants in Horizon Europe projects are also eligible.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on validation, demonstration, and dissemination of existing research findings, innovative solutions, practical knowledge, and best practices. The call aims to collect and compile up-to-date scientific and practical knowledge, best practices, and innovative solutions that are effective and ready for use in practice.

Funding Amount: The funding amount varies depending on the specific topic within the HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE call. The individual topics range from €3,000,000 to €16,000,000. For the specific topic HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-12, the budget is €3,000,000.

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

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant to support their projects.

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

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants for each topic is provided, allowing for an estimation of the competition level. For HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-12, one grant is expected to be awarded.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, specifically HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-12, focuses on increasing knowledge flows to practice within Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) via thematic networks. The call aims to support EU policies related to agriculture, forestry, and rural areas, including climate, biodiversity, and environmental policies. The primary objective is to enhance knowledge flows among AKIS actors, particularly end-users such as farmers, foresters, and rural communities, by widely sharing existing and new knowledge in an accessible format.

The call requires a multi-actor approach, meaning that consortia must include a balanced mix of relevant actors with complementary knowledge, such as researchers, advisors, farmers, foresters, and rural actors. The projects should select a theme in a bottom-up way, addressing the most urgent needs from practice and avoiding duplication with existing initiatives.

Successful projects are expected to collect and compile up-to-date scientific and practical knowledge, best practices, and innovative solutions, translating and adapting them to diverse local contexts. They should also develop and share informative materials and training courses in all 24 EU official languages, feeding the outputs into EU, national, and regional AKIS dissemination channels.

The funding is provided as a lump sum grant under HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA), with a budget of €3,000,000 for the HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-12 topic and an expectation of awarding one grant. The projects should run for a minimum of 3 years and include an initial plan for long-term maintenance of the thematic network and its outputs. The call is open for submission from May 6, 2025, with a deadline of September 24, 2025. Eligible applicants include entities from EU member states and non-EU/non-Associated Countries that have specific provisions for funding their participants in Horizon Europe projects.