The European Forest Institute (EFI) – Knowledge to Practice: Develop applications and AI solutions utilizing the ForestWard Observatory
Programme Category
Programme Name
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
FORWARDS is a Horizon Europe project that will prototype the ForestWard Observatory, a pan-European monitoring and evaluation tool that will help demonstrate the impact of climate change on forests and guide decision-making for practical forest management.
Within the FORWARDS Horizon Europe project, forest data from different programs, projects and other initiatives are collected, with a focus on quantifying the impacts of climate change on forests. These datasets are collected by the forthcoming ForestWard Observatory, a pan-European monitoring and evaluation tool that will help demonstrate the impacts of climate change on forests and guide decisionmaking for practical forest management.
Detailed Call Description
This call invites Applicants to propose projects developing applications that utilize or enrich the Forestward Observatory datasets, or systems for data collection that can be integrated, for instance developing web applications that link to the ForestWard Observatory and rely on its datasets to strengthen the outreach of practical knowledge and best practices for effective adaptation and mitigation strategies, including synergies with biodiversity, to practitioners and other end-users.
The developed application must be integrated into the Forestward Observatory as a part of the data pipeline, as an addition to the existing frontend solution, or as an API integration. Applications that should be added as tasks to the data pipeline, it would preferably be as tasks running during data ingestion, or as a nightly task. The backend is based on a GeoDjango solution with a PostGIS database, and Celery is used for scheduling of tasks. For a task to be added to the pipeline, we kindly ask to keep the need for processing resources reasonable, which we mean possible to run on a desktop setup (say 8GB GPU or similar) within minutes. Adaptions of REST API:s for specific applications can be done after dialogue.
Data and results from the supported activities must be made available open access upon completion of the project.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
The maximum grant value is €150.000.
It is expected that up to 2 projects will be funded under this call.
Projects must start no later than June 2026.
Projects have a duration of up to 10 months.
Thematic Categories
- Agriculture - Farming - Forestry
- Environment and Climate Change
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Central Government
- Large Enterprises
- Legal Entities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Semi-governmental organisations
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
Applications can be submitted by one legal entity or a consortium of legal entities. Applicants must, meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for the grant:
- Applicant is a legal entity (legal person). If the application is submitted by a consortium (grouping of legal persons represented by a coordinator), this criterion applies to all the participants. This call is not open for applications from natural persons.
- Applicant eligible for funding under the European Union Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme. If the application is submitted by a consortium, this criterion applies to all the participants.
Furthermore, the following legal entities (legal persons) will NOT be eligible for funding:
- Beneficiary or associated partner of the FORWARDS project under the Grant Agreement No. 101084481 (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101084481)
- Entities subject European Union restrictive measures
- Israeli entities due to activities in the territories occupied by Israel (European Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05)
- Public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity maintained by such a public interest trust (Council Implementing Decision 2022/2506)
- Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine