New technologies for acquiring in-situ observation datasets to address climate change effects
HORIZON Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-07
- Programme
- Innovative governance, environmental observations and digital solutions in support of the Green Deal
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- October 28, 2021
- Deadline
- March 10, 2022
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €23,000,000
- Keywords
- Environmental monitoring systemsOcean sustainability and blue economyBig dataIn-Situ Instruments / sensorsRemote sensingEOSC and FAIR dataRemote Sensing Instruments / SensorsGeo-information and spatial data analysisEarth and related environmental sciencesDigital AgendaInternational CooperationEarth Observation / Services and applicationsClimate change mitigationAtmospheric allergensOperating Environment Knowledge & Modelling TechnoArtificial IntelligenceInformation technologiesSpace data exploitationGEOSSmeasurement technologiesGEOground observationenvironmental observationhard-to-reach areasCopernicusin-situ observationEuroGEO
Description
Through the development of new technologies a successful proposal will contribute to addressing the lack of ground observation (in-situ observation)[1] necessary to cope with climate change effects in hard-to-reach areas, areas facing extreme physical conditions and critical areas for human health and security. As such contributing to the European Green Deal objectives and a strengthened Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), by deploying and adding value to environmental observation[2].
Proposals are expected to contribute to at least four of the following outcomes:
- Lower cost of in-situ observation in terms of capital cost, deployment/recovery, and maintain leading;
- Improved geographical coverage and long-time series of in situ environmental observations;
- Tested and validated new in-situ measurement technologies in hard-to-reach under-sampled areas;
- Dedicated technical protocols ensuring validation, interoperability, and synchronisation between in-situ and remote sensing systems in compliance with the GEOSS and Copernicus requirements;
- Established collaboration with environmental observation data providers to ensure proper gap filling and adequate responses in terms of acquisition protocols;
- Coherent business model(s) involving industrialists, research centres, and users ensuring the sustainability of systems developed;
- Contribute to reinforcing the in-situ component of the GEO initiative, the Copernicus programme and the EC-ESA initiative on Earth system science, and to strengthen in-situ observations to adequately complement the space-based observations planned through Copernicus Expansion Missions.
The geographical coverage and acquisition of long time series of in-situ observation of the various components of the Earth’s systems should be improved in order to ensure a proper monitoring and modelling of the environmental processes. This is recognised in the context of the Copernicus programme, by the GOOS 2030 Strategy, and was reiterated at global level at the GEO Ministerial Summit[3] in November 2019 in the Canberra Ministerial Declaration[4]. This topic is intended to support innovative technological solutions building on cutting-edge technologies in the domain of measurement and testing, big data and ICT to acquire necessary parameters from in-situ measurements required to ensure an integrated monitoring and model data assimilation necessary to respond to the climate transition and the European Green Deal challenges. This call covers marine and/or terrestrial measurements in hard-to-reach areas or areas with extreme physical conditions such as the polar regions, the tropical regions and desert regions, the deep-sea, and the high-altitude regions where the lack of in-situ data makes global assessment and mitigation of climate change effects very challenging. Proposals could also address geographical and high temporal resolution gaps in observations such as the real-time monitoring of aeroallergens or other atmospheric aerosols affecting health. The proposals should be conducted, inter alia, in collaboration with Copernicus and other, relevant activities[5] and communities in order to guaranty coherent approaches regarding the acquisition of new in-situ data and development of related monitoring systems – in particular in view of supporting the calibration of remote-sensing data. During the development of the systems, special attention should be given to data management, standardisation and dissemination issues.
The development of new in-situ observation systems should be conducted in close collaboration with the commercial sector. The sustainability of the systems beyond the duration of the project should be part of the work plan of the proposal and be the subject of concrete actions with the relevant partners in the proposal (users, industrialists, research organisations, including European research infrastructures).
Specific Topic Conditions:Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
Cross-cutting Priorities:Artificial Intelligence
Ocean sustainability and blue economy
Digital Agenda
International Cooperation
EOSC and FAIR data
[1]All non-space based observations which may include remote sensing from ground-based, marine or airborne platforms
[2]The capacity to observe the environment, including space-based, in-situ-based (air, sea, land) observation, and citizen observations
[3]http://www.earthobservations.org/geoweek19.php
[4]https://earthobservations.org/documents/geo16/MS%204.2_Draft%20Canberra%20Declaration_final.pdf
[5]European research infrastructure, EMODnet, INSPIRE, GEOSS, EGNSS, ESA etc.
Destination & Scope
Transformative changes such as the ones required within the Green Deal are dynamic processes that require appropriate governance. At the same time, to ensure coordination and for collaborative decision-making, governance requires multiple channels and networks that provide readily available data and information coming from different sources.
R&I activities under this destination aim at both: experimenting with new ways to govern the transition process and modernising the governance, in particular by making information and knowledge available and accessible. R&I for governance to support the Green Deal shall provide insights into institutional barriers such as lock-ins, path dependency, political and cultural inertia power imbalances and regulatory inconsistencies or weaknesses.
Innovative governance supporting the Green Deal objectives needs to recognise, cope with and promote resilience in the face of on-going shocks and disruptions both globally and across Europe, whether these be climatic, ecological, economic, social, geo-political or related to health. Critical risk assessment and reduction strategies need to be incorporated, including the diversification of infrastructures, resources and knowledge through more self-sufficiency and autonomy.
Taking advantage of the use, uptake, deployment and exploitation of environmental observations[[The capacity to observe the environment, including space-based, in-situ-based (air, sea, land) observation, and citizen observations]] as well as digital solutions, assessed through the “do not harm” principle of the Green Deal, is key for innovative governance models and a more science-based policy design, implementation and monitoring. To maximise impacts of R&I on the ground and spark behavioural and socio-economic change, the knowledge and innovation produced throughout the whole cluster should be widely disseminated to key stakeholders of the relevant sectors of the cluster. In particular, the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) needs to be reinforced to accelerate the required transformative changes.
Data and information obtained through Environmental Observation is of great value when assessing the state of the planet and is delivering crucial information to support the Green Deal and the climate and ecological transition. Integration of this information from different sources (space-based, airborne including drones, in-situ and citizens observations) with other relevant data and knowledge while ensuring (better) accessible, interoperable or deployable information, delivers information necessary for shaping the direction of the development of policies in the broad context of Cluster 6 of Horizon Europe. A strong link to the European Earth observations programme Copernicus (in Cluster 4) and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth observation programme, as well as support to the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), its European regional initiative (EuroGEO) and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) is foreseen for topics on environmental observations under this destination. R&I activities relevant to ocean, seas and coastal waters will complement and support the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and UN Decade on Restoration, the G7 Future of the Seas and Oceans Initiative, the pan-Commission Destination Earth initiative, the European Global Ocean Observing System (EOOS) and the GOOS 2030 strategy.
Digital innovation, in complementarity with Cluster 4 and Digital Europe Programmes activities, should bring benefits for citizens, businesses, researchers, the environment, society at large and policy-makers. The potential of the ongoing digital transformation, and its wider impacts, positive and negative, need to be better understood and monitored in view of future policy design and implementation, governance, and solution development
This destination will develop innovative digital and data based solutions to support communities and society at large, and economic sectors relevant for this cluster to achieve sustainability objectives. R&I activities will add value to the knowledge and cost-effectiveness of innovative technologies in and across primary production sectors, food systems, bioeconomy, ocean and biodiversity.
Knowledge and advice to all actors relevant to this cluster are key to improve sustainability. For instance, primary producers have a particular need for impartial and tailored advice on sustainable management choices. Knowledge and Innovation Systems are key drivers to enhance co-creation and thus speed up innovation and the take-up of results needed to achieve the Green Deal objectives and targets. This will include promoting interactive innovation and co-ownership of results by users, as well as strengthening synergies with other EU Funds in particular the CAP, reinforcing the multi-actor approach and setting up structural networking within national/regional/local AKISs. AKIS goes beyond agriculture, farming and rural activities and covers environment, climate, biodiversity, landscape, bio-based economy, consumers and citizens, i.e., all food and bio-based systems including transformation and distribution chains up until the consumer.
Expected impact
Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to innovative governance and sound decision making in policy for the green transition, and more specifically to one or several of the following impacts:
- Innovative governance models enabling sustainability and resilience notably to achieve better informed decision-making processes, societal engagement and innovation;
- Green Deal related domains benefit from further deployment and exploitation of Environmental Observation data and products ;
- A strengthened Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)[[The European Commission is a member and co-chair of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), as such the European Commission adopted the GEO Canberra Declaration (https://earthobservations.org/canberra_declaration.php and Commission Decision C(2019)7337/F1) and committed to contribute to the GEO objectives, including to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).]];
- Sustainability performance and competitiveness in the domains covered by Cluster 6 are enhanced through further deployment of digital and data technologies as key enablers;
- More informed and engaged stakeholders and end users including primary producers and consumers thanks to effective platforms such as Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS)
- Strengthened EU and international science-policy interfaces to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
When considering their impact, proposals also need to assess their compliance with the “Do No Significant Harm” principle[[as per Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No 2020/852 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment (EU Taxonomy Regulation)]] according to which the research and innovation activities of the project should not be supporting or carrying out activities that make a significant harm to any of the six environmental objectives of the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
Topics under this destination will have impacts in the following areas: “Climate change mitigation and adaptation”; “Clean and healthy air, water and soil”; “Enhancing ecosystems and biodiversity on land and in water”; “Sustainable food systems from farm to fork on land and sea”; “High quality digital services for all”; and “A Competitive and secure data-economy”.
Social innovation is recommended when the solution is at the socio-technical interface and requires social change, new social practices, social ownership or market uptake.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. 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
2. 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.
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
5. 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
- Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
7. 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 RIA, IA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 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
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