Towards community-driven business models: coastal and freshwaters sustainable tourism
Supporting the implementation of the Restore our Ocean and Waters Mission · HORIZON-IA · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds projects that help coastal, riverside and lake communities build sustainable, locally-run tourism businesses that protect marine and freshwater ecosystems while creating jobs and livelihoods. Projects must test business models in at least three different European locations across one chosen sea or river basin, engaging local communities and tourists in conservation-friendly practices. The goal is to show these community-driven tourism models work economically and environmentally, and can be scaled up elsewhere.
ocean marine · water management · biodiversity · climate adaptation · social innovation · regional development
Who wins this
A multi-partner consortium spanning at least three countries within one sea/river basin, including local community organisations, tourism businesses, and conservation or research partners, aiming to pilot sustainable, community-led tourism business models.
Could you win this call?
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The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €1M–€1.5M
- 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 — at least 3 partners, from 3 countries.
- Also required
- Each proposal must address only one of the four Mission basins (Atlantic/Arctic, Mediterranean, Baltic/North Sea, or Danube/Black Sea), and demonstrate community-driven tourism business models in at least 3 European coastal or freshwater areas across different Member States/Associated Countries; funded projects must openly share in-situ marine data via EMODnet under FAIR principles.
- 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 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 observations, 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