This call is relevant for cities and regions seeking to create urban co-creation spaces for driving sustainable food system transformation. Strengthening food systems governance in the urban context is an important area and opportunity for research, innovation and implementation to accelerate sustainability impact in the local context.

The objective of this call is to enhance more coordination and coherent actions, leading to the development of more effective urban policies that ensure food security and nutrition for all without compromising economic, environmental, and social foundations. In order to achieve the expected outcomes, cooperation with legal entities established in widening countries is strongly encouraged. International cooperation is also encouraged.

Any type of organisation can apply for Horizon Europe funding as long as they have the operational and financial capacity to carry out the tasks that they propose. For most calls for proposals, you must apply as a team of at least 3 partner organisations from 3 different EU or associated countries. At least one of the 3 partners must be from an EU country. In addition to these 3 partners, organisations from other countries might be able to join your consortium.

More information in the Horizon Europe programme guide. Further details or exceptions are listed on the pages of the call topics in the Funding & tenders portal.

Proposals should address at least three of the following: create innovative hands-on living labs and co-creation spaces that actively engage all parts of society to enhance skills and capacity building toward healthy, affordable and environment- and climate-friendly diets; and apply randomized controlled trials, for different age groups (especially young people and the elderly), socio-economic groups and their different needs; promote and establish sustainable / regenerative community gardens and indoor and open field small-scale urban agriculture for skills building and network creation and share best practices from other areas/cities not covered by the proposals; enhance participation of vulnerable groups, such as young people (including those not in education or employment), elderly people, migrants, homelessness people, ethnic minorities, pregnant women, and persons with disabilities, in living labs and community gardens to strengthen inclusion as well as intercultural and intergenerational cohesion; enhance attractiveness of safe, healthy, environment-friendly food, for instance by making use of social media and partnering up with different actors (e.g., chefs, nutritionists and dieticians, food scientists and technologists, food industry, start-ups R&D, social/solidarity economy actors, etc.); involve local and regional governance mechanisms to enable structural change, for instance by developing and implementing effective participatory and inclusive processes which enable and stimulate an extensive dialogue on food system transformation and involve diverse stakeholders (e.g., citizens, farmers, consumers, civil society organizations, research institutions, businesses, and public authorities at the local or regional levels); connect different living labs and build networks, also from previous EU funded projects, for joint learning and best practice exchange; establish data monitoring approaches (e.g. through using machine learning approach, AI, etc.) and a test-control approach for impact assessment and evidence-based policy making.

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 12.00 million. The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 6.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.

1. EC publishes calls for proposals on the funding and tenders portal
2. The call is open for an usual period of ca. 5 months where applicants can submit they proposal
3. Proposals can be single or two-stage application processes. A single stage application process requires the filling in of a structured proposal of max. 45 pages including objectives and innovation approach (excellence), tangible impacts that can be achieved through the project (impact) and the project planning and tasks (quality). If a two stage, the aforementioned would be the second stage application while the first is a simplified proposal of max 10 pages including only excellence and impact sections. These documents are to be uploaded to the portal in pdf format alongside filling in the respective parts of the portal with administrative information on the beneficiares, affiliated entities or others. All participants in a project need to possess a Partipant Identification Code (i.e. PIC number, a 9-digit number registered on ECAS). For more information, please see the work programme and the call documents.
4. Proposal submitted within the deadline will be evaluated by experts against evaluation criteria.
5. Winning proposals will be invited for signing a grant agreement with the EC.

Opening: 06 May 2025
 

Deadline: 16 Sep 2025