Horizon Europe European Union
Neutral-Atom Platform Technologies
This action aims to establish European leadership in neutral-atom quantum simulation and digital quantum computing by delivering: • Fully programmable industry-ready quan…
Horizon Europe · European Union
Living labs driving transformative change via knowledge integration and inclusive governance
Opens 20 Apr 2027
The EU's Horizon Europe programme expects to make 2 awards of €7 million each, from a total budget of €14 million. Applications close on 22 Sep 2027 (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time). Organisations in EU member states and Horizon Europe associated countries such as Türkiye can usually take part; the topic conditions control.
- Deadline
- 22 Sep 2027 (in 311 days)
- Opens
- 20 Apr 2027
- Grant amount
- €7 million per project
- Total budget
- €14 million
- Funding rate
- 100% of eligible costs Standard rule for this programme; the call can differ.
- Total budget
- €14 million
- Expected awards
- 2
- Type of action
- HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions · HORIZON Lump Sum Grant
- Likely applicant types
- Companies, SMEs / start-ups, Non-profits, Universities & research, Public bodies From source categories or programme rules; the call decides.
- Funder
- Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- Reference
- HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-BIODIV-06
- Call
- HORIZON-CL6-2027-01
- Last checked
- 14 Nov 2026
Expected outcome
Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
• society and decision-makers are provided with enhanced governance frameworks that integrate knowledge across ecosystems (terrestrial, freshwater and marine) and/or societal challenges, helping overcome institutional barriers, power asymmetries, and policy fragmentation to accelerate transformative change towards a nature positive economy and support EU climate goals;
• practitioners and public authorities co-create and have access to living labs as innovation hubs for testing, and scaling both governance and socio-economic models that integrate diverse knowledge systems, actively engage stakeholders and support bottom-up and participatory approaches.
Scope
As nature positive actions gain momentum and biodiversity is increasingly integrated into policies, it is essential to ensure governance frameworks can support large-scale, coordinated implementation. Relevant stakeholders should be actively involved in shaping new solutions adapted to different and local contexts.
Living labs have the potential to empower a green transition and a transformative change towards nature positive society and economy by developing solutions in a co-creative manner and involving actors in real life settings to achieve large-scale impact and foster collaboration between sectors and communities.
Proposals should align with key policies including the European Green Deal and the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), the Paris Agreement, the European Climate Law and the One Health approach.
Read the full text
Proposals should:
• establish living labs as real-world testing environments to experiment with policy solutions, stakeholder engagement, and new economic models, while strengthening collective capacities and well-being, and identifying and overcoming barriers that limit participation in living labs;
• develop inclusive, intersectional and adaptive governance strategies that foster systemic transformative change, based on both biodiversity and socio-economic metrics and emphasising equity and sustainability.
In particular, actions are expected to:
• conduct a comprehensive review and analysis of policies related to both direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss, with the aim of identifying conflicting or competing objectives and informing more coherent, nature positive policy frameworks;
• analyse the legal, financial and institutional barriers to inclusive governance in Europe, including the assessment of political and economic obstacles and of active strategies by actors and develop proposals to pilot and test innovative policy instruments, such as citizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting and, if and when relevant, nature credits as proposed in the Nature Credits Roadmap [1] , to foster transformative change;
• develop multi-level governance models and policy proposals to integrate all relevant nature positive actions (including protection and restoration of ecosystems, Nature-based Solutions, circular economy, sustainable bioeconomy, regenerative agriculture, agroecology, agroforestry, bioremediation, etc.) into all relevant EU policies and strategies in a synergetic and coherent way;
• identify relevant existing EU funded communities of practices, such as the Nature-based Solutions hubs, the circular economy hubs and the adaptation hubs, and group them per ecosystem or societal challenge;
• set-up living labs to co-develop enabling pathways for transformative change and test them to ensure positive impacts on the ground, drawing on best practices (including emerging nature positive actions), identifying knowledge gaps and addressing…
Who can apply
Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries, at least one in a Member State (Horizon Europe standard rule).
Applicant categories are a starting point. The official call decides eligibility.
Topics
Biodiversity conservation Biological sciences Circular economy Economics and Business Environment Environmental change and society Environmental sciences Environmental sciences (social aspects) Fight against threats to the Environment Nature Nature-based solutions Participatory/Participation Plastics, Marine Litter and Circular Economy EU biodiversity strategy for 2030
Timing
Single-stage call. Next deadline 2027-09-22. The portal states the exact cut-off time (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time).
How to apply
- Read the full topic on the Funding & Tenders Portal: expected outcome, scope, type of action and the topic conditions, including any country restrictions.
- Register each participating organisation in the Funding & Tenders Portal to get a PIC.
- Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries (Horizon Europe standard rule; Türkiye is associated). Confirm in the topic conditions.
- Prepare Part A (administrative forms and budget, completed in the portal) and Part B (the technical description on the official template for this type of action).
- Submit in the portal before the cut-off time on the deadline day. Late submissions are not accepted.
From the call text
- Who can apply
- Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
- Company stage
- Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
- Single applicant or consortium
- Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.
- Where applicants must be based
- Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.
- Where to apply
- Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.
Where these facts come from
| Fact | Value | How we know | Taken from the source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deadline | 22 September 2027 “Single-stage call. Next deadline 2027-09-22. The portal states the exact cut-off time (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time).” | official data field | 15 Nov 2026 |
| Amount per applicant | Unknown — not stated in the source we hold | unknown | — |
| Total budget | €14 million | official data field | 15 Nov 2026 |
| Funding rate | 100% of eligible costs | programme standard rule | 15 Nov 2026 |
| Who can apply | Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries, at least one in a Member State (Horizon Europe standard rule). | programme standard rule | 15 Nov 2026 |
| Where to apply | Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route. | read from the official text | 15 Nov 2026 |
Official sources
Facts on this page come from the funder’s official data, taken on 14 Nov 2026. The funder's own documents, including later amendments, always take precedence.
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