Regional (sea-basins) components of the EU Digital Twin Ocean
Supporting the implementation of the Restore our Ocean and Waters Mission · HORIZON-IA · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds projects that build regional versions of the EU's Digital Twin Ocean, gathering local ocean data and models for specific sea-basins (Atlantic/Arctic, Mediterranean, Baltic/North Sea, Danube/Black Sea) and turning them into digital tools that help manage marine environments and support blue economy activities. Winning projects will collect and integrate hard-to-find local data, build tailor-made digital services for regional challenges like coastal resilience and fisheries, and engage local stakeholders to co-design decision-support tools. One project per sea-basin will be funded to ensure balanced coverage across Europe's seas.
digital twins · environmental monitoring · ocean marine · climate adaptation · biodiversity · artificial intelligence
Who wins this
This call is best suited to consortia of research organisations, public bodies and industry partners with strong regional ocean/marine data and modelling expertise who can lead a sea-basin-specific digital twin project and engage local stakeholders.
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The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €4M–€4.8M
- Funding model
- Budget-based — reimbursement of actual eligible costs
- Submission
- Single-stage submission (full proposal at once)
- Type of action
- HORIZON Innovation Actions
- Partners
- Required. The call asks for a consortium — a group applying together, typically 3+ organisations from 3+ countries.
- Eligible applicants
- international organisations with headquarters in a Member State or associated/non-associated third country
- Also required
- Projects must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS if using satellite-based earth observation or positioning data; in-situ and marine observation data must be made openly available via EMODnet under FAIR principles; grants will be awarded to ensure at least one top-ranked proposal per sea-basin (Atlantic/Arctic, Mediterranean, Baltic/North Sea, Danube/Black Sea), one project per sea-basin lighthouse.
- Eligible countries (45)
- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, IL, TR, UA, RS, MK, ME, AL, BA, XK, GE, AM, MD, TN, NZ
Read the full conditions from the official call ›
General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible Countries described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 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. 3. Other Eligible Conditions If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or associated country/non-associated third country are exceptionally eligible for funding as several international institutions are active in the management of regional sea-basins and could both contribute to the regional DTOs with their own assets and be the end-users. described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds To ensure a balanced portfolio covering the 4 different Mission basins[[For the purposes of Mission Ocean and waters, Member States/Associated Countries, are considered to be part of a given sea/river basin if they have a coast/riverbank on the relevant sea/river or contain river basins flowing into the relevant sea]] (1. Atlantic and Arctic sea basin, 2. Mediterranean Sea basin, 3. Baltic and North Sea basin, 4. Danube River basin, including Black Sea), grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to one proposal that is the highest ranked within each sea basin, provided that the applications attain all thresholds. are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants Beneficiaries will be subject to the following additional obligations regarding open science practices: if projects collect in-situ data and marine observation, beneficiaries must make them openly available through the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet), based on the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the topic conditions
Who has won calls like this
Organisations that most often win this call family · 92 past winners