Living labs to enhance soil health in Continental, Boreal and Alpine biogeographical regions

The Mission Soil proposes the deployment of living labs as a novel approach to research and innovation in soil health[[Implementation Plans for the EU Missions - European Commission]]. Living labs have the potential to facilitate a green transition by involving multiple actors in real-life sites within a local/regional setting to co-create soil health solutions and achieve large-scale impacts on soil health and soil governance. Projects funded under this topic should deploy a number of living labs to expand and complement the network of soil health living labs initiated in previous Mission Soil topics to gradually establish 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030[[Catalogue 2024 - Mission Soil Living Labs and Lighthouses| Mission Soil Platform]].

Soil health living labs are long-term collaborations between multiple actors to address common soil health challenges in real-life sites at local or regional level[[In this topic, it is recommended to define the living labs location using the NUTS2 division (Eurostat Statistical Atlas).]] (10 to 20 sites in each living lab). Depending on the level at which each living lab operates and the specific context (e.g. land use covered or soil health challenge addressed), applicants can exceptionally propose living labs with fewer sites. Living labs can address soil health challenges in or across different land uses (agricultural, (peri-)urban, (post)-industrial, forest and (semi-)natural). Individual sites can be farms, forest holdings, urban green[[By urban green areas, we refer to green spaces in cities such as parks, gardens, green roofs or walls, green corridors, squares, recreational areas, etc.]] areas, industrial areas, etc., where work is carried-out and monitored under real-life conditions. Sites that are exemplary in their performance in terms of soil health improvement and serve as places for demonstration of solutions, training and communication are lighthouses. Lighthouse sites can be part of a living lab or be situated outside a living lab. Projects funded under this topic are expected to kick-start participatory process or build on existing ones. While normally projects run for four years, the duration of the projects should accommodate longer timescales required to establish participatory processes and/or for soils processes to take place.

Actors working on common shared soil health challenge(s) within and across the living labs of the same project, will be able to compare results, exchange good practices, validate methodologies, replicate actions and solutions and benefit from cross-fertilisation, thereby accelerating the transition towards the shared objective of improving soil health.

More specifically, each of the proposals should:

• Support the setup of four to five living labs at regional or local level in the Continental, Boreal or Alpine biogeographical region[[ Biogeographical regions in Europe according to the European Environmental Agency.]], to work together on common shared soil health challenge(s). Proposals should clearly indicate which of one of these three biogeographical regions they focus on, and should establish the majority of the living labs within the chosen biogeographical region. However, the remaining living labs can be still located in other biogeographical regions outside of the one selected. The living labs should work on relevant soil health challenges in the selected biogeographical region. The living labs should be located in at least three different Member States and/or Associated Countries. Proposals should explain the rationale and mechanism for cooperation within and across the living labs and explain how the work undertaken will contribute to one or more of the Mission’s specific objectives[[Mission Soil specific objectives: reduce land degradation relating to desertification; conserve and increase soil organic carbon stocks, no net soil sealing and increase the reuse of urban soils; reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration; prevent erosion; improve soil structure to enhance habitat quality for soil biota and crops; reduce the EU global footprint on soils; increase soil literacy in society.]]. Proposals with all living labs located in brownfield areas[[See definition of brownfield areas under topic HORIZON-MISS-2025-SOIL-01-02]] are excluded from this topic as a dedicated topic is opened in this work programme (HORIZON-MISS-2025-SOIL-01-02: Living Labs for soil remediation and green redevelopment of brownfields).
• Establish an interdisciplinary, participatory and multi-actor approach in the living labs to co-design, co-develop, and co-implement locally adapted solutions for the common shared soil health challenge(s) taking into account relevant soil health drivers and pressures[[See Soil Needs and Drivers of Change Across Europe and Land Use Types - Booklet from PREPSOIL project]]. Proposed solutions should be adapted to the different environmental, socio-economic and cultural contexts in which the living labs are operating.
• Establish for each living lab a baseline of the soil conditions to allow for an accurate co-assessment of the changes in the different sites over time, and to monitor soil health improvements. The set of soil health indicators/descriptors presented in the proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience should be used, as a basis; proposals may complement with additional indicators depending on the soil health challenge(s) addressed, pedoclimatic conditions, land use, etc.”
• Monitor and evaluate the effects of the proposed solutions on soil health and associated ecosystem services, demonstrating their viability - technical, social, economic, cultural and environmental - scalability and transferability to diverse contexts.
• Identify sites that demonstrate high performance and that may be converted into lighthouses. This can be performed both at proposal stage or later on, during the living lab operation.
• Propose strategies (e.g. financial, organisational) to ensure the long-term sustainability of the established living labs beyond the Horizon Europe funding. Strategies should include the identification of possible business models and actions involving a mix of public or private funding schemes, financial instruments, cooperation with local authorities, engagement of social economy entities, social enterprises, business communities, SMEs, as well as attracting investors and entrepreneurs.

In line with the nature of living labs, projects must adopt the multi-actor approach. The actors involved in each living lab may vary, based on its unique characteristics and may include, among others, researchers, landowners or land managers, industry representatives (e.g. SMEs), public administrators and civil society representatives (e.g. consumers, local residents, environmental NGOs, youth organisations). Care should be taken to describe the capabilities, roles and resources of the different actors involved in the living labs. An effective contribution of social sciences and humanities and the arts (SSHA) is expected to foster social innovation, knowledge transfer and socio-cultural and behavioural change.

To encourage and facilitate the involvement of different types of actors in the living labs, applicants are reminded of the different types of participation possible under Horizon Europe. This includes not only beneficiaries (or their affiliated entities) but also associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors, and recipients of financial support to third parties. Financial support to third parties (FSTP) to facilitate active involvement of small actors (e.g. land managers and landowners such as farmers, SMEs or civil society) in one or more of the living labs of a project, can be provided through calls or, if duly justified, without a call for proposals. Applicants are advised to consult the standard conditions set out in Annex B of the General Annexes including those that apply to FSTP.

Dedicated tasks and appropriate resources should be envisaged to collaborate with SOILL, the structure created to support soil health living labs and lighthouses which offers significant capacity building opportunities for the living labs actors,. Applicants can benefit from the services of SOILL already during the proposal preparation stage. During implementation, collaboration will include, among others regular reporting on living labs performance. The details of the collaboration will be further defined during the grant agreement preparation phase.

Proposals are expected to build on existing knowledge (e.g. data from national soil health monitoring, LUCAS) and solutions developed and tested at national scale or in the frame of other Horizon projects including those funded under the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’. Proposals should therefore include dedicated tasks and appropriate resources for collaboration with relevant projects and initiatives and engage in relevant Mission Soil clustering activities. Proposals are also encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures (ESFRI) and if relevant to cooperate with the Horizon Europe Partnerships on Agroecology and on Sustainable Food Systems and/or relevant networks active at local level, such as the EIP-AGRI operational groups to promote the involvement of key local stakeholders.

Proposals should demonstrate a route towards open access, longevity, sustainability and interoperability of knowledge and outputs through close collaboration with the European Union Soil Observatory (EUSO) and the project SoilWise. In particular, proposals should ensure that relevant data, maps and information can potentially be available publicly through the EUSO. Concrete efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of the funded project is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).

To ensure that all three biogeographical regions are covered (Continental, Boreal and Alpine), grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but also to at least one project focusing on each of the above mentioned biogeographical region, provided that proposals attain all thresholds.