Horizon Europe info day: Horizontal Activities Nature and Bridging calls
The session will provide participants with targeted guidance on the policy context, supporting applicants in understanding the objectives and opportunities of the Nature and Bridging calls.
Freitag 16 Oktober, 09:30
About the event
The European Commission invites prospective applicants to an information day dedicated to the Nature and Bridging calls under Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027.
The calls are relevant for all Clusters under pillar II.
The session will provide participants with targeted guidance on the policy context, supporting applicants in understanding the objectives and opportunities of the Nature and Bridging calls.
The info day will focus on two parts of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 under Horizontal Activities:
Nature
Acknowledging that humans are part of and fully dependent on nature, this call supports the EU Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’.
The call pursues the objective of increasing the biodiversity spending in Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 by supporting additional R&I activities dedicated to biodiversity across pillar II of Horizon Europe.
The call covers:
- supporting protecting and restoring nature using living labs as open innovation ecosystems designed for real‑world co‑creation
- supporting the digital industry and sectors covered by the Clean Industrial Deal in better assessing their dependencies
- benefits and direct and indirect impacts on biodiversity, mobilising social sciences and humanities that are fundamental to successfully leverage action in a transdisciplinary approach for reaching a nature-positive society
- involving societal values and behaviours, has a strong focus on data collection, mobilisation and management and advantage should be taken of the use of advanced digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) where appropriate to support the global ocean observation system (GOOS)
- data mobilisation to support policies involved in the One Health approach
Bridging
The call on bridging actions includes a series of topics aiming to facilitate a smooth transition between Horizon Europe 2021–2027 and the next EU R&I Framework Programme, Horizon Europe 2028–2034.
These actions will focus on the ‘innovation to investment journey’. This concept reflects the tight links that will exist between Horizon Europe 2028-2034 and the future European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), introducing the ‘innovation to investment journey’, a seamless process from research to market deployment. A horizontal call has been envisaged to pave the way towards ‘fit-for-deployment’ projects, thereby creating a pipeline of innovations ready for market uptake.
In addition, the call seeks to address a number of strategic priorities in a horizontal manner, notably in relation to the Apply AI Strategy and the European Strategy on Research and Technology Infrastructures, while also being relevant to sectoral frameworks such as the EU Adaptation Strategy and the EU Ports Strategy.
The call covers three main areas:
- Knowledge valorisation and data access
- Research infrastructures and data access
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
What can participants expect?
Participants will have the opportunity to:
- learn about the policy background and objectives of the Nature and Bridging calls;
- receive practical information on the topics open for application through live pitches;
- better understand the project design, impact and implementation;
- ask questions live through interactive Q&A Slido sessions
The three topics will be covered at the Research Infrastructures work programme info day in 2027:
- HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-03-04: Supporting the long-term resilience and European sovereignty of critical research data and knowledge repositories and scientific services for the life sciences
- HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-03-06: Access to research infrastructure services to enable R&I addressing industry needs in priority areas
- HORIZON-BRIDGING-2027-03-07: Europe’s world class research and technology infrastructures as strategic assets for talent to Choose Europe
Who should attend?
This info day is intended for:
- potential applicants to the Nature and Bridging calls
- researchers, innovators and project developers
- public and private organisations interested in participating in Horizon Europe proposals
- stakeholders involved in the uptake, scale-up or financing of research and innovation outcomes
- National Contact Points and other research support actors
Ask questions
Ahead of the event, send your questions via Sli.do by using #HORIZONTAL, so they can be answered fully and in priority during the live event.
