Developing EU advisory networks on water use

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-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-15

Call

Developing EU advisory networks on water use

Summary

The successful proposal will focus on EU-wide consultancy exchanges to increase the speed of knowledge creation and exchange, capacity building, demonstration of innovative solutions, and contribution to their implementation, which accelerates the transitions required. The Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) in which consultants are fully integrated are key drivers for accelerating innovation and acceptance of research results by farmers. This particular issue focuses on the important role that advisors can play in addressing the effects of climate change on water scarcity, water pollution and the avoidance of saline soils, a rapidly coming issue in the most sustainable agriculture of the future.

Detailed Call Description

Proposals should address the following activities:

  • Connect advisors having a broad and extensive network of farmers across all EU Member States in an EU advisory network dedicated to water use, including avoiding water shortage and pollution, with a view to sharing experiences on how to best tackle the issues.
  • Share effective and novel approaches among the EU advisory network on water use, which are sustainable in terms of economic, environmental and social aspects.
  • Collect and document good examples in this regard, connecting with farmers, intermediates and consumers in Member States to be able to take into account financial aspects and local conditions. Select the best practices, learn about the key success factors, possible quick wins and make them available for (local) exploitation, to ensure financial win-wins for producers, citizens and water companies.
  • Integrate the advisors of the EU water use network into their Member State AKIS as much as possible. They should encourage as innovation brokers innovative projects on water use solutions in European innovation partnership “Agricultural productivity and sustainability” (EIP-AGRI) Operational Groups. They should give hands-on training to farmers and local advisors, lead national thematic and learning networks on the subject, deliver and implement action plans to make water use more efficient, reduce farmers’ water use and pollution, inspire new and incoming farmers or farms at the cross-roads of intergenerational renewal, connect with education and ensure broad communication, support peer-to-peer consulting, develop on-farm demonstrations and YouTube demo films, and provide specific back-office support for generalist advisors within the national / regional AKIS.
  • Explore if the activities of the EU advisory network on water use can be up scaled at the level of a number of Member States under a cooperative format. Wherever possible, develop digital advisory tools for common use across the EU. Seek if common tools can be created to incentivise the implementation of the learnings from this project.

Call Total Budget

€8,00 million

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

100%

EU contribution per project: €4,00 million

Thematic Categories

  • Agriculture - Farming - Forestry
  • Environment and Climate Change
  • Rural development

Eligibility for Participation

  • Central Government
  • Farmers, Agriculturalists
  • Producer Associations
  • State-owned Enterprises

Call Opening Date

28/10/2021

Call Closing Date

15/02/2022

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

George Christou
Contact Phone: 22 205 030
E-mail: gchristou@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/

Charalambos Papatryfonos
Contact Phone: 22 205 016
E-mail: cpapatryfonos@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/

(Publish Date: 09/11/2021-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