New genomic techniques (NGT): understanding benefits and risks – focus on bio-based innovation
Programme Category
Programme Name
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.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
There is a need to enable major advances in the life sciences and biotechnology, in new genomic techniques, such as gene/genome editing. This aims to ensure they can contribute safely and sustainably addressing the grand societal challenges of our age, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, improved resource efficiency by industry and throughout various sectors of the economy. This covers their applicability for bio-based sectors. These advances must be aligned with the relevant EU legal framework, while aiming to support the climate ambition of zero net emissions by 2050, as well as biodiversity protection and resource efficiency goals.
Detailed Call Description
Proposals should:
- Advance new genomic techniques in bio-based innovation (purely medical applications such as the therapeutical/clinical applications are excluded), to understand and increase their impact, as related, for instance, to the origin of feedstocks and its other features and its applicable conversion pathways (e.g. via biorefinery processing), storage, logistics, enhanced functionalities and environmental sustainability, safety/non-toxic nature and improved end-of-life behaviour (e.g. reuse/reprocessing), etc. for specific applications.
- Develop future scenarios taking into account in different environmental, social and economic drivers, to assess potential critical impacts and bottlenecks with respect to the EU and international governance frameworks. This should take into account the expected demand of primary resources needed to satisfy the growing bio-based economy (especially sustainable biomass), the need to protect and restore biodiversity, as well as the increasing environmental pressures under climate change conditions.
- Develop new approaches to design innovative aspects of the production process, screening procedures, molecular tools and digital applications.
- Outline the necessary scale-up production processes for novel bio-based innovations in order to reach a critical mass for a given application, to achieve economies of scale, address different market segments and applications, etc.
- Ensure transparent and inclusive engagement of all actors, including industry and SMEs, scientific community, regulatory institutions, and broader civil society, to ensure necessary impact.
- Where relevant, proposals should seek synergies and capitalise on the results of past and ongoing research projects.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
EU contribution per project: €5,00 million
Thematic Categories
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
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: 20/09/2021-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