AER is happy to share with you some practical information regarding the upcoming calls under Horizon 2020, societal challenge 2, that were discussed on the info day organised by the European Commission in June 2018.

The general context

The 2019 Work Programme has been designed with both global and European commitments – the Sustainable Development Goals, COP 21 agreement, bio economy strategies, the digital single market etc.

Through the launch of calls for proposals, three goals are set:

• managing our resources wisely so as to nourish people sustainably;
• understanding, preserving and valuing oceans;
• developing smarter, greener, circular rural economies.

The first goal will be implemented through the Sustainable food security calls, while the second goal will be implemented through the Blue growth calls. The Rural renaissance calls will put in force the last goal mentioned.

Apart from these three goals, there are three focus areas, which can be easily found while looking for a call thanks to the identifier, mentioned in parentheses below:

• Low-carbon, climate resilient future (LC)
• Circular economy – connecting economic and environmental gains (CE)
• Digitising and transforming European industry and services (DT)

Practical information

Some key information

The deadline to submit project proposals is 23 January 2019.

There are specific requirements that appear in a large majority of topics: multi-actor approach and coordination between projects. The multi-actor approach is about engaging throughout the project a more diverse range of actors, from scientists to users. This is to make innovation more demand driven. Plus, it will facilitate dissemination and acceptance of knowledge. The coordination of projects applies for topics where 2 or more projects are funded. In this case, synergies are expected to take place between the financed projects.

The evaluation process

The evaluation procedure differs from one call for proposals to another. Indeed, some call for proposals will be evaluated following a single-stage process and others based on a two-stage process. In this second case, if your project proposal concept note is approved, the deadline to submit your full project proposal is on 4 September 2019.

The evaluation focuses on various criteria: excellence, impact, quality and efficiency of the implementation. Yet we invite you to read carefully the calls, because sub-criteria are slightly different for each call.

Please check the documents & presentations on the info day session in order to have a more comprehensive overview of the topics above.

Stay tuned to learn more about calls on food security!

If you are planning to participate in these calls within Horizon 2020 and you wish to engage with AER, do not hesitate to contact us.

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