Restoring Ocean and Waters in waterfront Cities and their Ports

The Horizon Europe call titled "HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-05: Restoring Ocean and Waters in Waterfront Cities and their Ports" seeks to engage and support waterfront cities and their ports to achieve the objectives of the "Restore our Ocean and Waters" mission. This program aims to test and demonstrate innovative solutions for environmental restoration, pollution prevention, and fostering a sustainable blue economy.

Eligible applicants include public bodies managing waterfront cities, port authorities, and other entities contributing to the mission's goals. It is encouraged that projects involve multiple partners from various countries, particularly from regions surrounding the Atlantic and Arctic Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic and North Sea, and the Danube River, including the Black Sea. The call is structured for collaboration between cities and ports that face similar challenges, with a strong emphasis on public body involvement.

The funding type is primarily through Innovation Actions, covering up to 70% of eligible project costs. The estimated funding for this call is approximately €15 million per project, with a total budget of €120 million allocated across several topics. Other budget ranges for different actions under the call include varying amounts depending on specific action types.

The application process is a single-stage open call, with submissions accepted until September 24, 2025. Proposals must assess the economic, social, and ecological impacts while identifying innovative solutions and facilitating stakeholder involvement. Successful projects should align with existing EU strategies and demonstrate strong potential for impact within urban ecosystems.

Co-funding through synergies with other funding sources is encouraged, promoting a collaborative approach to achieve the mission's objectives. Overall, this opportunity aims to stimulate effective solutions for marine and freshwater ecosystem restoration and enhance the resilience of urban communities against climate change impacts.

This is a Horizon Europe call, specifically "Supporting the implementation of the Restore our Ocean and Waters Mission (HORIZON-MISS-2025-03)". The call focuses on engaging and supporting waterfront cities and their ports to achieve the objectives of the "Restore our Ocean and Waters" Mission. The call is structured around several topics, each with its own budget, action type, and expected number of grants. The opening date for submissions is May 7, 2025, and the deadline is September 24, 2025, at 17:00 Brussels time.

The main goal is to accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions in waterfront cities and ports to meet the Mission's targets. Projects should test and demonstrate solutions that protect and restore ecosystems, prevent pollution, and promote a carbon-neutral and circular blue economy.

Demonstration activities must occur in at least 8 waterfront cities or ports, with at least 2 in each of the four sea and river basins: Atlantic and Arctic, Mediterranean, Baltic and North Sea, and the Danube River (including the Black Sea). Strong involvement of public bodies managing waterfront cities and port authorities is essential.

Projects should assess the economic, social, and ecological impacts of proposed measures, identify and adapt innovative solutions, facilitate citizen and stakeholder involvement, develop new funding approaches, monitor solution effectiveness, and leverage synergies with other relevant programs.

Collaboration between cities and ports facing similar challenges is highly encouraged to maximize impact and facilitate replication. Proposals should identify potential barriers to implementation and strategies to overcome them, enhancing knowledge transfer to other cities and ports.

Successful solutions should align with River Basin Management Plans, Marine Strategy Framework Directive measures, national Nature Restoration Plans, and existing mechanisms like coastal restoration contracts or Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). Projects should be based on solid knowledge of coastal and riparian ecosystems, including mapping and assessment of habitats and species.

Synergies with other funding sources (ERDF, LIFE) are encouraged through Cooperation Working Arrangements to support a common approach to urban waterfront ecosystem restoration, knowledge transfer, and scaling up of solutions.

Projects should build on existing solutions from EU and national programs (Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, EMFAF, INTERREG, LIFE) and link with related topics such as community-led actions and support for the Coalition of waterfront cities. Collaboration with the Lighthouses CSAs and the Mission Implementation Platform is also required.

The term "city" refers to a subnational jurisdiction governed by a local government, with a minimum of 50,000 inhabitants (or 10,000 in specific countries).

The call includes various types of actions with different budget allocations:

HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-01: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) with a budget of EUR 5,000,000 and an indicative grant amount of EUR 4,000,000 to EUR 5,000,000 (1 grant).

HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-02: HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) with a budget of EUR 22,000,000 and an indicative grant amount of EUR 4,500,000 to EUR 5,500,000 (4 grants).

HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-03: HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) with a budget of EUR 23,300,000 and an indicative grant amount of EUR 5,000,000 to EUR 5,825,000 (4 grants).

HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-04: HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) with a budget of EUR 15,000,000 and an indicative grant amount of around EUR 15,000,000 (1 grant).

HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-05: HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) with a budget of EUR 15,000,000 and an indicative grant amount of around EUR 15,000,000 (1 grant).

HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-06: HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) with a budget of EUR 13,500,000 and an indicative grant amount of around EUR 13,500,000 (1 grant).

HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-07: HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) with a budget of EUR 14,200,000 and an indicative grant amount of EUR 3,000,000 to EUR 3,550,000 (4 grants).

HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-08: HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) with a budget of EUR 12,000,000 and an indicative grant amount of around EUR 6,000,000 (2 grants).

The call provides various resources and support services, including an Online Manual, the Horizon Europe Programme Guide, a Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, a Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), the Enterprise Europe Network, an IT Helpdesk, the European IPR Helpdesk, and CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks. Partner search tools are also available to help applicants find suitable partner organizations.

In summary, this Horizon Europe call aims to stimulate and support waterfront cities and ports in their transition towards achieving the EU's "Restore our Ocean and Waters" Mission. It encourages collaborative, innovative, and sustainable solutions that address ecosystem restoration, pollution prevention, and the blue economy, while also enhancing the resilience of waterfront communities to climate change. The call provides substantial funding and resources to facilitate the development and implementation of effective and replicable solutions across Europe's diverse sea and river basins.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types for this opportunity include public bodies managing waterfront cities, port authorities, and other entities that can contribute to the objectives of the Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters". The participation of public bodies managing waterfront cities and port authorities as full partners of the consortium is strongly encouraged. The term city refers to a geographical subnational jurisdiction such as a town or a city that is governed by a local government as the legal entity of public administration. Cities must have at least 50,000 inhabitants, but this threshold is lowered to 10,000 inhabitants for Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia, and Slovakia.

Funding Type: The funding type for this opportunity includes HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (HORIZON-RIA), HORIZON Innovation Actions (HORIZON-IA), and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA). The Model Grant Agreement type is HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG].

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity requires a consortium of multiple applicants. Collaborations to demonstrate, test, and deploy effective innovative solutions between cities and ports facing similar challenges are highly encouraged.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes waterfront cities and ports located in the four sea and river basins: Atlantic and Arctic Sea basin, Mediterranean Sea basin, Baltic and North Sea basin, and Danube River basin, including Black Sea. 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.

Target Sector: The target sectors for this program include environment, climate, blue economy, and urban development, with a focus on restoring ocean and waters, preventing pollution, and promoting a carbon-neutral and circular blue economy.

Mentioned Countries: Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia, Atlantic and Arctic Sea basin, Mediterranean Sea basin, Baltic and North Sea basin, and Danube River basin, including Black Sea.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on testing and demonstrating effective solutions to achieve the Mission’s specific objectives and targets in waterfront cities and ports. This includes demonstration, testing, and adaptation of innovative solutions.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific action type:
HORIZON-RIA: EUR 4,000,000 to EUR 5,000,000
HORIZON-IA: EUR 4,500,000 to EUR 5,825,000, around EUR 6,000,000, around EUR 13,500,000, around EUR 15,000,000
HORIZON-CSA: EUR 3,000,000 to EUR 3,550,000

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage open call. The submission session is now available.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money to implement their projects. Public and private investment is encouraged and leveraged at urban level to protect and restore degraded ecosystems, to prevent and eliminate pollution, and make the blue economy carbon-neutral and circular, and mitigate the impact of climate change on urban communities.

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

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants varies per topic, with some topics indicating 1 grant and others indicating 2 or 4 grants.

Co-funding Requirement: Public bodies managing cities and port authorities participating in the project are encouraged to pool and enhance synergies with other sources of funding (e.g. structural, cohesion funds such as ERDF, or LIFE) for implementing and deploying innovative solutions, through e.g. the conclusion of a Cooperation Working Arrangement.

This opportunity is part of the Horizon Europe program and aims to support the "Restore our Ocean and Waters" mission by engaging waterfront cities and ports in demonstrating and accelerating the transitions needed to achieve the mission's objectives. The projects should focus on testing and demonstrating effective solutions for protecting and restoring marine and freshwater ecosystems, preventing pollution, and promoting a sustainable blue economy. The program encourages collaboration between cities and ports, citizen involvement, and the development of innovative funding approaches. The funding is provided through various Horizon actions, including Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), Innovation Actions (IA), and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA), each with different budget ranges and objectives. Eligible applicants include public bodies managing waterfront cities and port authorities, with a focus on projects that implement systemic transitions across all Mission objectives and enablers. The geographic scope includes the Atlantic and Arctic Sea basin, Mediterranean Sea basin, Baltic and North Sea basin, and Danube River basin, including the Black Sea. The application process is a single-stage open call, and the program encourages synergies with other EU, national, or regional programs. The overall goal is to encourage public and private investment at the urban level to protect and restore degraded ecosystems, prevent and eliminate pollution, and make the blue economy carbon-neutral and circular, thereby mitigating the impact of climate change on urban communities.