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INNOVATIVE CO-CREATION SOIL HEALTH LIVING LABs

Project description

Restoring Europe’s degraded soils

European soils are facing a severe health crisis, with 60-70 % classified as unhealthy. Pollution, urbanisation, and intensive agriculture, worsened by climate change, are the main contributors to this degradation. The impacts include declining land productivity, biodiversity loss, and increased land abandonment. Restoring soil health is a slow process, often taking centuries, making urgent action essential. To address this issue, the EU-funded iCOSHELLs project will create six Soil Health Living Labs (SHELLs) across Europe. These labs will serve as hubs to develop, test, and scale solutions, engaging stakeholders and promoting innovative soil recovery methods. iCOSHELLs also redefines Living Labs, emphasising real-world application and broad collaboration to improve soil health across the EU.

Objective

European soils face pressing conditions for their health. An alarming 60-70% of EU soils are considered unhealthy, attributed to factors such as pollution, urbanization, and intensive agriculture, further exacerbated by climate change. This degradation results in economic, societal, and environmental repercussions, including decreased land productivity, migration, land abandonment, and biodiversity loss. Addressing this challenge necessitates holistic measures, especially since soil restoration can take centuries. The project initiative, aligning with various EU policies, emphasizes the importance of comprehensive soil restoration efforts. It plans to establish six Soil Health Living Labs (SHELLs) across diverse EU climatic zones, including Sweden, Spain, Spain-France, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria. These labs are envisioned as innovation hubs, tailored to address the EU's specific soil health objectives, notably objectives 4, 6, and 8. Through collaborative efforts within these SHELLs, the goal is to develop, test, and validate potential solutions, ensuring scalability beyond their immediate regions. iCOSHELLs places a strong emphasis on inclusive stakeholder engagement, from researchers to landowners. Its systematic approach includes building stakeholder capacities, bridging gaps between science and practical applications, deepening understanding of soil indicators, replicating effective soil recovery methods, and championing supportive soil health policies. Additionally, iCOSHELLs seeks to redefine the concept of Living Labs (LLs). Challenging the traditional model, which often revolves around isolated research entities, iCOSHELLs envisions LLs rooted in co-creation, broad engagement, and real-world application. This transformative vision aims to evolve existing SHELLs into standardized, widely recognized labs, setting a foundational blueprint for future LLs. Moreover, as a comprehensive soil data repository, iCOSHELLs promotes collaboration, ensuring replicable.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MISS-2023-SOIL-01

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Coordinator

RISE RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF SWEDEN AB
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 412 397,50
Address
BRINELLGATAN 4
501 15 Boras
Sweden

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Region
Södra Sverige Västsverige Västra Götalands län
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 412 397,50

Participants (36)

Partners (4)

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