Land-based bioprospecting and production of bioactive compounds and functional materials for multiple bio-based value chains

Closed

Programme Category

EU Competitive Programmes

Programme Name

Horizon Europe (2021-2027)

Programme Description

Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

Programme Details

Identifier Code

HORIZON-CL6-2023-CircBio-01-4

Call

Land-based bioprospecting and production of bioactive compounds and functional materials for multiple bio-based value chains

Summary

Global terrestrial biodiversity remains a largely untapped source of natural bioactive molecules and compounds, often combined with interesting potential functional properties of high economic and social value. There are still significant opportunities to improve the biodiscovery process as well as understanding of specific biochemical pathways leading to high-value applications, especially with those with a reduced Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, in various sectors, based on novel biochemicals and functional bio-based materials.
This will increase capacity in the European biotechnology sector and other industries to respond to society’s needs. The challenge is to match sustainable sourcing and processing with efficient and cost-effective use. This calls for close cooperation between industrial and academic partners, with due consideration for health/safety and environmental legislation, and informed public engagement.

Detailed Call Description

Activities should address:

  • Technical improvements of the bioprospecting of any land-based organisms for potential bioactive compounds and functional materials, based on identified suitable sources of feedstock. The bioprospecting may be “bio-guided” by the study of chemical ecology interspecific interactions (symbiotic/defence) such as, for instance, plant-insects, or microbial-insect/plant/fungus interactions.
  • Addressing sustainable biodiscovery, including by advanced detection methods, such as in silico database analysis, microfluidics/lab-on-chip, high-throughput screening, machine learning, etc, overcoming the issues of low concentrations of target molecules, and their general scarcity, and use of natural biological resources from diverse terrestrial environments and ecosystems, allowing better assessment of the selected bioactivity/functional property potential.
  • Defining and assessing the optimal further production routes via innovative approaches and systems/platforms (e.g., biotechnology, hydroponics, bioreactors), as well as economic feasibility assessment of these options for resulting bioactive compounds and functional materials, ensuring full valorisation of biomass and all by-products in the production routes, and biomass’ sustainable supply, and, if appropriate, proposing an outline of continuation of the end-product development beyond the project timeline and its present resources.
  • Assessing and clearly communicating, by inclusive communication and dissemination strategies, the environmental and climate benefits (e.g., by lowering the pressure on the natural habitats (decrease of harvesting in situ), supporting nature conservation, and increase overall resource efficiency and sustainability), while expanding the range of natural ingredients for the new applications in industrial sectors.
  • Covering the environmental, climate and safety/health impacts of the developed ingredients or processes, using Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies based on available standards, certification, and accepted and validated approaches. Estimate of possible negative environmental impacts and trade-offs should be provided. The need to guarantee biodiversity preservation and compliance with relevant international rules on access to biological resources, their sustainable use and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from their utilisation, with the national regulations in the source countries and with the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Nagoya Protocol.

Call Total Budget

€4,00 million

Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan

100%

EU Contribution per project: €4,00 million

Thematic Categories

  • Environment and Climate Change
  • Other Thematic Category
  • Research, Technological Development and Innovation
  • Rural development

Eligibility for Participation

  • Farmers Unions
  • Other Beneficiaries
  • Private Bodies
  • Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
  • Semi-governmental organisations
  • Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
  • State-owned Enterprises

Call Opening Date

22/12/2022

Call Closing Date

28/03/2023

National Contact Point(s)

Research and Innovation Foundation

29a Andrea Michalakopoulou Street, 1075 Nicosia
T.Th. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
+357 22205000
Email: support@research.org.cy

Contact Persons:
Marcia Trillidou
Scientific Officer A’
Email: trillidou@research.org.cy

Dr. Mary Economou
Scientific Officer
Email: meconomou@research.org.cy

(Publish Date: 15/02/2023-for internal use only)

EU Contact Point

European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/research-and-innovation_en#contact