Additional activities for the European Biodiversity Partnership: Biodiversa+
European Comission
ExpectedOutcome :
The second instalment of the partnership is expected in continuation to contribute to expected outcomes specified in topic HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01: European partnership rescuing biodiversity to safeguard life on Earth, for continuation of the activities and the continuation of already agreed outcomes.
Scope :
The objective of this action is to continue to provide support to the European Partnership Biodiversa+ identified in the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2021-2024 and first implemented under the topic HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01: European partnership rescuing biodiversity to safeguard life on Earth, and in particular to fund additional activities (which may also be undertaken by additional partners) in view of its intended scope and duration, and in accordance with Article 24(2) of the Horizon Europe Regulation.
The consortium which applied to and received funding under HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01: European partnership rescuing biodiversity to safeguard life on Earth is uniquely placed to submit a proposal to continue the envisioned partnership. Not only did this consortium submit the proposal leading to the identification of the partnership in the Horizon Europe strategic planning 2021-2024, it has also implemented the partnership through co-funded calls in years 2021 and 2022 based on this planning and further to topic HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01. In this context, the current consortium has particular expertise in relation to the objectives of the Partnership, the activities to be implemented in particular FSTP calls or other calls/scope of calls clearly required/envisioned pursuant to initial proposal/partnership, and other relevant aspects of the action. In practice, another consortium could not continue the activities of the Partnership underway without significant disruption to the ongoing activities, if at all.
The scope of the application for this call on the European partnership for Biodiversity Biodiversa+ should focus on the flagship programmes 2023-27 according to the partnership’s co-created strategic research and innovation agenda for seven years, which includes calls for research projects, biodiversity- and ecosystems monitoring and science-based policy advisory activities, and all horizontal activities to allow the Partnership to operate and to achieve its five specific objectives.
It is expected that the partnership continues to organise joint calls on an annual base and therefore it should factor ample time to run the co-funded projects. It should build on, and widen, the data availability in European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud.
The partnership should collaborate closely with the EC ‘Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity’ and with the Science Service project ‘Bio-Agora’, and seek to collaborate with EU space programmes (Copernicus, Galileo) to foster the use of emerging or operational space technologies for policy development. Moreover, the partnership should describe specific activities foreseen in order to strengthen the synergies with other related Missions and Partnerships.
While the award of a grant to continue the Partnership in accordance with this call should be based on a proposal submitted by the coordinator of the consortium funded under HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01 and the additional activities (which may include additional partners) to be funded by the grant should be subject to an evaluation, this evaluation should take into account the existing context and the scope of the initial evaluation as relevant, and related obligations enshrined in the grant agreement.
Taking into account that the present action is a continuation of topic HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01 and foresees an amendment to an existing grant agreement, the proposal should also present in a separate document the additional activities and additional partners, if any, to be covered by the award in terms of how they would be reflected in the grant agreement.
The partnership should pool the necessary financial resources from the participating national (or regional) research programmes with a view to implementing joint calls for transnational proposals resulting in grants to third parties.
The Commission envisages to include new actions in future work programme(s) to continue providing support to the partnership for the duration of Horizon Europe.
Specific Topic Conditions :
The total indicative budget for the duration of the partnership is EUR 165 million.
General conditions
- Admissibility conditions: 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
- 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 .
- Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
The proposal must be submitted by the coordinator of the consortium funded under HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01: European partnership rescuing biodiversity to safeguard life on Earth. This eligibility condition is without prejudice to the possibility to include additional partners.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
Evaluation and award:
Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
The evaluation committee will be composed partially by representatives of EU institutions.
If the proposal is successful, the next stage of the procedure will be grant agreement amendment preparations.
If the outcome of amendment preparations is an award decision, the coordinator of the consortium funded under HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01: European partnership rescuing biodiversity to safeguard life on Earth will be invited to submit an amendment to the grant agreement, on behalf of the beneficiaries.
- Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
This action is intended to be implemented in the form of an amendment of the grant agreement concluded pursuant to topic HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01.
For the additional activities covered by this action:
- The funding rate is 30% of the eligible costs.
- Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties (FSTP). The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants.
- Financial support provided by the participants to third parties is one of the primary activities of this action in order to be able to achieve its objectives. The EUR 60 000 threshold provided for in Article 204(a) of the Financial Regulation No 2018/1046 does not apply.
- The maximum amount of FSTP to be granted to an individual third party is EUR 7 000 000. This amount is justified since provision of FSTP is one the primary activities of this action and it is based on the extensive experience under predecessors of this partnership.
- The starting date of grants awarded under this topic may be as of the submission date of the application. Applicants must justify the need for a retroactive starting date in their application. Costs incurred from the starting date of the action may be considered eligible (and will be reflected in the entry into force date of the amendment to the grant agreement).
Specific conditions
- Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE COFUND)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE COFUND)
MGA
Call-specific instructions
Information on financial support to third parties (HE)
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual