Bioprospecting and optimised production of marine/aquatic natural products in the omics & artificial intelligence era
Not found
Funding Amount
Amount not specified
Deadline
17/09/2025
Eligible Organization Types
Non-profit, Private Business, Research Institution, Public Institution
Trusted by
What is the Bioprospecting and optimised production of marine/aquatic natural products in the omics & artificial intelligence era Call?
Grant Description
Innovation actions to discover and develop high-value natural products from marine and freshwater organisms using modern biodiscovery approaches that integrate digital methods such as artificial intelligence and biotechnological tools, with demonstration of techno-economic viability through industrial pilot activities while ensuring biodiversity preservation, regulatory compliance and sustainability assessments.
Required Results for Successful Funding
Expected Outcomes
Funded projects are expected to:
• Demonstrate a broadened portfolio of sustainable, high-value marine/aquatic natural products (secondary metabolites, enzymes) with applications in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food/feed additives, agrochemicals, etc.
• Show advances in computational biodiscovery tools (AI, machine learning, data science) integrated into the discovery and development pipeline.
• Increase commitment to biodiversity preservation by enabling bioproduction routes (biosynthesis, fermentation, culturing) that eliminate unsustainable wild harvesting and maintain genetic diversity.
• Raise awareness and create an improved framework for blue biotechnology innovation and market uptake through broad stakeholder engagement, supporting the EU biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative.
• Contribute to European Green Deal, bioeconomy strategy and sustainable blue economy objectives, delivering greener industrial products and processes, public health benefits and environmental conservation.
• Demonstrate a broadened portfolio of sustainable, high-value marine/aquatic natural products (secondary metabolites, enzymes) with applications in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food/feed additives, agrochemicals, etc.
• Show advances in computational biodiscovery tools (AI, machine learning, data science) integrated into the discovery and development pipeline.
• Increase commitment to biodiversity preservation by enabling bioproduction routes (biosynthesis, fermentation, culturing) that eliminate unsustainable wild harvesting and maintain genetic diversity.
• Raise awareness and create an improved framework for blue biotechnology innovation and market uptake through broad stakeholder engagement, supporting the EU biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative.
• Contribute to European Green Deal, bioeconomy strategy and sustainable blue economy objectives, delivering greener industrial products and processes, public health benefits and environmental conservation.
Funded areas
Scope Requirements
• Target marine/aquatic micro- and macro-organisms and interspecies communities (symbiotic/defence) in habitats from deep sea to polar to shallow waters.
• Source biological material in-situ or from public/private gene banks (ex-situ).
• Apply modern biodiscovery workflows covering:
– Isolation, taxonomic and genomic characterization of strains/consortia
– Creation of natural product libraries, high-throughput bioactivity screening
– Compound isolation, purification and chemical structure elucidation
– Optimized production routes via biosynthesis, fermentation, culturing, bioreactors/biorefineries
– Synthetic biology and gene editing approaches
• Integrate digital technologies: AI/ML, algorithms, data science, modelling, digital twins, bioinformatics for:
– Identification of biosynthetic gene clusters and metabolic pathways
– Enzyme selection, combinatorial assembly, annotation of sequencing data
– Bioactivity prediction and structure elucidation
– Experimental design optimisation
• Include demonstration activities proving techno-economic viability of products or platform tools.
• Assess and guarantee safety for end-users and operators.
• Avoid overlap with past/ongoing Horizon topics; seek synergies with parallel topics and EU missions.
• Guarantee biodiversity preservation via propagation/in vitro cultivation and biotech approaches.
• Conduct life-cycle assessment to evaluate environmental, economic and social impacts, trade-offs and ecosystem service implications.
• Assess potential environmental, ecosystem and societal risks and benefits.
• Encourage use of relevant European research infrastructures.
• Source biological material in-situ or from public/private gene banks (ex-situ).
• Apply modern biodiscovery workflows covering:
– Isolation, taxonomic and genomic characterization of strains/consortia
– Creation of natural product libraries, high-throughput bioactivity screening
– Compound isolation, purification and chemical structure elucidation
– Optimized production routes via biosynthesis, fermentation, culturing, bioreactors/biorefineries
– Synthetic biology and gene editing approaches
• Integrate digital technologies: AI/ML, algorithms, data science, modelling, digital twins, bioinformatics for:
– Identification of biosynthetic gene clusters and metabolic pathways
– Enzyme selection, combinatorial assembly, annotation of sequencing data
– Bioactivity prediction and structure elucidation
– Experimental design optimisation
• Include demonstration activities proving techno-economic viability of products or platform tools.
• Assess and guarantee safety for end-users and operators.
• Avoid overlap with past/ongoing Horizon topics; seek synergies with parallel topics and EU missions.
• Guarantee biodiversity preservation via propagation/in vitro cultivation and biotech approaches.
• Conduct life-cycle assessment to evaluate environmental, economic and social impacts, trade-offs and ecosystem service implications.
• Assess potential environmental, ecosystem and societal risks and benefits.
• Encourage use of relevant European research infrastructures.
Additional Conditions for Applicants
Special Conditions
• Compliance with EU and international regulations on access, sustainable use and benefit-sharing of biological resources, including:
– Nagoya Protocol
– Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF)
– BBNJ Agreement on marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction
• Avoid overlap with specified past/ongoing topics (e.g. HORIZON-CL 6-2022-CIRCBIO-02-05, HORIZON-CL 6-2023-CIRCBIO-01).
• Link and coordinate with EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and relevant partnerships (CBE JU, climate-neutral blue economy).
• Conduct life-cycle assessments and risk/benefit analysis.
• Guarantee propagation methods to avoid unsustainable wild harvesting.
• Follow Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes for admissibility, eligibility, evaluation, financial and legal provisions.
• Encourage engagement of broad stakeholder groups, including disadvantaged and under-represented categories.
– Nagoya Protocol
– Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF)
– BBNJ Agreement on marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction
• Avoid overlap with specified past/ongoing topics (e.g. HORIZON-CL 6-2022-CIRCBIO-02-05, HORIZON-CL 6-2023-CIRCBIO-01).
• Link and coordinate with EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and relevant partnerships (CBE JU, climate-neutral blue economy).
• Conduct life-cycle assessments and risk/benefit analysis.
• Guarantee propagation methods to avoid unsustainable wild harvesting.
• Follow Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes for admissibility, eligibility, evaluation, financial and legal provisions.
• Encourage engagement of broad stakeholder groups, including disadvantaged and under-represented categories.
Important dates
Open from: 06/05/2025
Deadline:17/09/2025
Application period has ended
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